Multilateral Partnerships Leveraging Excellence
NSF funds U.S.-led research teams to build ambitious multilateral international collaborations on urgent global research or societal challenges that require partners in at least two non-U.S. countries.
⚑ Must involve at least two countries other than the U.S. · Funds support the U.S. research team; foreign partners are not funded by this award. · Proposals must fall outside existing NSF OISE/directorate programs; nonresponsive submissions may be transferred or returned without review. · MultiPLEx DCLs may set priority areas; otherwise proposals can be submitted any time.
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 80 strong | technical depth: substantial; funds basic research |
| IPPRA | 58 good | portfolio topics: energy, climate_weather; signature methods: community engaged; social/behavioral work is minor; funds basic research |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 10 none | deep-tech content; no commercialization signal |
Description
Many of the most pressing challenges in research and innovation require collaboration across national and disciplinary boundaries to achieve important advances. A growing number of topics are best addressed on a multilateral basis, building partnerships that leverage diverse expertise, data, infrastructure, and perspectives to advance understanding on critical topics of regional or global importance. At the same time, funders, research organizations, and researchers alike typically have limited experience with multilateral partnerships.
The Office of International Science and Engineering’s MultiPLEx program seeks to support visionary, and ambitious international multilateral research partnerships that are required to hasten progress in addressing grand challenges by leveraging research excellence in the U.S. and around the globe. The program also seeks to advance understanding of effective multilateral collaboration.
MultiPLEx welcomes proposals that
Address urgent research and/or societal challenge of global importance (including but not limited to critical and emerging technology research) and require an inherently international multilateral approach to achieve impactful research results, partnering with at least two countries other than the U.S. Proposals that engage partners across distinct geographic regions are an area of interest.
Make clear how the proposed international collaboration will enable research advances and broader impacts that go beyond what can be accomplished by a narrower team.
Include a diverse group of U.S. institutions and/or individuals, leveraging the full range of talent that society has to offer
MultiPLEx funds support the U.S. research team. Research partners should seek funding from their own national funding agencies or from other sources. A typical MultiPLEx award will be up to three years in duration.
The MultiPLEX program is not intended to replace existing OISE or directorate programs. Proposals submitted to MultiPLEX must fall outside the scope of existing OISE or directorate programs. Any proposal submitted to MultiPLEx that is not responsive to this Program Description may be transferred to another OISE program or returned without review.
OISE may periodically issue a Dear Colleague Letter inviting MultiPLEx proposals in specific priority areas. PIs interested in submitting proposals that do not respond to a DCL are strongly encouraged to consult a MultiPLEx program director prior to submission to confirm appropriateness. Unless specified in a DCL, MultiPLEx proposals may be submitted any time.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: National Science Foundation <grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · National Science Foundation conventions SEE AN NSF EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — National Science Foundation's document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.