Findable Accessible Interoperable Reusable Open Science | 25 533

FAIROS (NSF) Grant Opportunity FAQs

What is the NSF FAIROS program?

FAIROS stands for Findable Accessible Interoperable Reusable Open Science. It is an NSF discretionary grant opportunity focused on improving how research outputs are managed, shared, discovered, preserved, and reused, with the goal of strengthening the full FAIR lifecycle for research products.

What does "FAIR" mean in this program?

In this context, FAIR refers to making research products easier to find, access appropriately, combine with other resources (interoperate), and reuse over time. The program is designed to improve practical, end-to-end FAIR outcomes across the research lifecycle.

How is FAIROS connected to the NSF Public Access Initiative?

FAIROS is closely tied to the NSF Public Access Initiative. Projects are expected to align with broader federal goals to make the products of publicly funded research more available and more useful to the public and the research community.

What kinds of activities does FAIROS support?

FAIROS supports activities across the cyberinfrastructure ecosystem, including technical development and socio-technical work. This can include improving tools and platforms as well as addressing policies, incentives, workflows, and community practices that help technology be used and sustained in real settings.

Does FAIROS fund research data management (RDM) capacity building?

Yes. Examples of desired work include building research and education capacity around sustainable research data management (RDM).

Does the program support building or improving cyberinfrastructure for FAIR practices?

Yes. FAIROS seeks development or improvement of cyberinfrastructure that enables FAIR practices at scale, including efforts that strengthen discoverability, preservation, sustainability, and reuse of research outputs.

Are socio-technical efforts (policies, incentives, workflows) in scope?

Yes. FAIROS explicitly includes socio-technical work, recognizing that policies, incentives, workflows, governance, and community practices are often required for technical solutions to be usable and sustainable.

What is the program looking for in terms of open science adoption?

The program is interested in practical approaches that help disciplines adopt open science norms, including work that lowers real-world barriers to data sharing and reuse.

Does FAIROS encourage projects that rethink scientific communication or publishing?

Yes. The program encourages pilot efforts that rethink scientific communication and publishing to make dissemination more efficient and accessible. Examples include experimenting with new publication workflows, discovery tools, or models that better connect papers to underlying data, software, and code.

What barriers is FAIROS trying to reduce?

FAIROS emphasizes lowering practical barriers that prevent data sharing and reuse, especially when data are large, complex, sensitive, or fragmented across disciplinary silos.

What kinds of improvements are considered competitive for data sharing and reuse?

Competitive projects may focus on making it easier to curate data, integrate and link datasets across sources, manage and store data over long periods, and provide reliable access for downstream users.

Is the program limited to data, or does it include other research outputs?

FAIROS covers a broader set of "research products," including software, code, and other digital artifacts that affect reproducibility and reliability.

How does FAIROS relate to reproducibility?

The program seeks improvements that raise confidence that results can be reproduced or validated by others, including better management and availability of data, software, code, and related digital artifacts.

What proposal tracks are available under FAIROS?

Applicants must choose one of two tracks: Disciplinary Improvements or Cross-Cutting Improvements.

What is the Disciplinary Improvements track?

The Disciplinary Improvements track targets the needs of a specific scientific community or domain. Proposals should reflect the realities of that field, such as its data types, standards, repositories, privacy constraints, workflows, and governance.

Is there a recommended pre-submission contact for Disciplinary Improvements proposals?

Yes. NSF strongly recommends that prospective principal investigators contact the program officer in the NSF directorate most closely aligned with the discipline before submitting, to confirm that the scientific scope and budget fit the solicitation.

What is the Cross-Cutting Improvements track?

The Cross-Cutting Improvements track is intended for work that can benefit many disciplines or the broader research enterprise, such as generalizable tools, shared services, common standards, interoperability layers, or scalable approaches to FAIR data and open science.

Is there a recommended pre-submission contact for Cross-Cutting Improvements proposals?

Yes. NSF strongly recommends contacting the cognizant program officer in the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) for cross-cutting proposals.

What proposal types are accepted under this solicitation?

FAIROS only accepts standard research proposals under this solicitation. Submissions are expected to follow NSF's standard research proposal format and expectations rather than special proposal types.

What is the Funding Opportunity Number for FAIROS?

The Funding Opportunity Number is 25-533.

What is the funding instrument for this opportunity?

The opportunity uses the grant funding instrument.

What activity category does this opportunity fall under?

It falls under science and technology and other research and development activity categories.

Which CFDA numbers are associated with this opportunity?

The listed CFDA numbers include 47.041, 47.049, 47.050, 47.070, 47.074, 47.075, 47.076, 47.079, 47.083, and 47.084.

How many awards does NSF anticipate making?

NSF anticipates making around 10 awards.

When was this opportunity posted?

The posting date is January 7, 2025.

What is the closing date for submissions?

The original closing date is April 9, 2025.

Is there an award ceiling listed?

An award ceiling is not specified in the provided details.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is limited to specific applicant types, including: (1) U.S.-based non-profit, non-academic organizations directly connected to education or research activities (such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, and professional societies); (2) U.S. Institutions of Higher Education, including accredited two-year and four-year colleges and universities with a campus located in the United States submitting on behalf of their faculty; and (3) Federally recognized Tribal Nations, including American Indian or Alaska Native tribes, bands, nations, pueblos, villages, or communities recognized under the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994.

Can federal agencies or FFRDCs participate?

Other federal agencies and federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), including NSF-sponsored FFRDCs, may participate, but they must follow the specific eligibility and limitation guidance described in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), Chapter I.E.2.

Are there special requirements for international branch campuses?

Yes. If project funds would support work performed at an international branch campus of a U.S. higher education institution (including via subawards or consultants), the proposal must clearly explain why doing that work at the branch campus benefits the project and why the same activities cannot be performed at the U.S. campus.

What kind of outcomes is FAIROS aiming for?

FAIROS is geared toward projects that move beyond isolated improvements and deliver durable, community-relevant advances in open science practice, infrastructure, and research data management that can be adopted, sustained, and reused after the award period ends.