NAFOSTED Vietnam: Funding Overview for International Researchers

NAFOSTED (the National Foundation for Science and Technology Development) is Vietnam’s principal state-run funding body for scientific research, operating under the oversight of Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). Established under Decree 122/2003/ND-CP and operational since 2008, NAFOSTED is a distinct legal entity — not a ministry department — with its own governing council, scientific committees, and treasury accounts, modeled loosely on Western-style peer-reviewed grant foundations rather than the top-down state-planning funding common elsewhere in Vietnam’s research system.

For research administrators and international researchers, the practical question is usually not “how do I get NAFOSTED funding” in the direct sense most national funders allow, but “how does NAFOSTED fit into a collaboration with a Vietnamese partner.” This guide covers what NAFOSTED funds, how it is structured, and — the part most searches on this topic fail to answer clearly — exactly how international researchers can and cannot participate.

What NAFOSTED Is, and What It Isn’t

NAFOSTED is Vietnam’s closest equivalent to a Western national science foundation (comparable in function, though not scale, to bodies like Thailand’s NRCT or Indonesia’s BRIN, both covered separately on CASRAI — see the related guides below). Its stated mission is to strengthen Vietnam’s national science and technology capacity: funding foundational research, supporting the development of core and high technologies, nurturing early-career and leading research groups, and building internationally recognized centers of research within Vietnam.

It is not the same body as MOST itself, and it is not Vietnam’s only research funder — other channels exist through line ministries, provincial science and technology departments, and university-level funds — but NAFOSTED is the closest thing Vietnam has to a competitive, peer-reviewed, foundation-style grant-making body, and it is the one most likely to intersect with international collaboration.

Domestic Funding Programs

NAFOSTED organizes its core funding into a small number of programs, evaluated through discipline-based Scientific Committees of nominated experts:

• Basic Research in Natural Sciences and Engineering — the foundation’s flagship program, covering mathematics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, computer science, mechanics, life sciences (biology, agriculture, biomedicine, pharmacology), and earth sciences. Eligibility is restricted to scientists affiliated with universities and research institutions of science and technology based in Vietnam.
• Basic Research in Social Sciences and Humanities — a parallel track funding foundational research across the social sciences and humanities disciplines, under the same host-institution model.
• Applied Research and Technology Development — funding oriented toward translating research into applicable technology and addressing national development priorities, generally involving closer alignment with state-identified strategic technology areas.

Across all three tracks, NAFOSTED’s evaluation model has historically placed real weight on international publication output — project outcomes are commonly assessed in part against publication in journals indexed by recognized international databases such as Scopus or Web of Science — a distinguishing feature relative to some other Southeast Asian national funders and a significant contributor to Vietnam’s rapid growth in international-journal output over the past decade.

Can International Researchers Apply to NAFOSTED Directly?

Generally, no — not as lead or sole applicant. Like most of NAFOSTED’s core basic-research and applied-research programs, eligibility for direct, standalone funding is restricted to researchers affiliated with a university or research institution based in Vietnam. A foreign researcher without a Vietnam-based host affiliation cannot submit a standard NAFOSTED application as principal investigator.

This is the single most common point of confusion for international researchers and research offices scoping a Vietnam collaboration, and it is the reason a plain “how do I apply to NAFOSTED” search is the wrong question for most non-Vietnam-based applicants. The right question is whether the collaboration fits one of NAFOSTED’s bilateral cooperation programs (below), or whether the international partner’s role is as a named co-investigator, host of a short-term research internship, or co-author on a Vietnam-led project — none of which require the international researcher to hold NAFOSTED funding directly.

NAFOSTED’s Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation Programs

This is the actual mechanism most international researchers engage NAFOSTED through. NAFOSTED has signed memoranda of understanding with a number of national funding agencies to run joint, co-funded calls — each side typically funds its own researchers’ costs under a shared review and project-selection process, so a Vietnamese team and an international team on the same joint project are each funded by their own national agency rather than one agency funding both sides. Publicly documented bilateral partnerships include:

• FWO (Research Foundation – Flanders, Belgium) — MOU originally signed in 2009, renewed multiple times since (2012, 2016, 2022); supports joint research projects across all fields.
• DFG (German Research Foundation) — MOU signed in 2010, supporting joint research projects and short-term research internships across all fields.
• British Council and UK national academies (United Kingdom) — MOUs signed in 2014 and 2017, supporting short-term researcher exchange/internships between the UK and Vietnam.
• RCUK / UKRI (United Kingdom) — separate MOU signed in 2016, supporting joint research projects in fields agreed between the two sides.
• NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia) — MOU signed in 2015, focused on health and medical research fields.
• SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) — MOU signed in 2020, supporting joint research projects across all fields.

NAFOSTED has also pursued co-funding partnerships with domestic and international universities operating in Vietnam, and maintains broader international-cooperation activity aimed at academic exchange, joint conference hosting, and engagement with Vietnamese researchers based overseas. Because bilateral programs open and close calls on their own schedules and MOUs are periodically renewed or lapse, a research office scoping a specific collaboration should confirm current, open calls directly with NAFOSTED’s International Cooperation division and, in parallel, with the relevant partner-country funder (e.g. FWO, DFG, UKRI) rather than relying on any single historical list, including this one.

How to Get Involved as an International Collaborator

In practice, an international researcher or research office interested in a NAFOSTED-linked collaboration has three realistic paths:

1. Join a bilateral joint call if your national funder has an active MOU with NAFOSTED (see the list above) — apply through your own national agency’s matching call, with a Vietnamese co-applicant identified in advance.
2. Partner as a named co-investigator or collaborator on a Vietnam-based team’s NAFOSTED application, without holding NAFOSTED funds directly — common for basic-research and applied-research proposals where international expertise strengthens the proposal but the host institution and lead PI remain Vietnam-based.
3. Host or receive a short-term research internship under one of the internship-oriented MOUs (DFG, British Council/UK academies), which move individual researchers rather than funding a joint project outright.

In every path, the operative document is the specific MOU or open call text, not NAFOSTED’s general program rules — bilateral programs carry their own eligibility, budget, and reporting terms distinct from NAFOSTED’s domestic basic-research program.

Practical Notes for Research Administrators

• Funding flows separately, not jointly. Under NAFOSTED’s bilateral model, each country’s agency typically funds its own nationals’ costs — plan budgets and compliance separately for each side rather than assuming a single combined award.
• A Vietnam-based host institution is required for the Vietnamese side of any collaboration — verify the institution is an eligible university or research institution under NAFOSTED’s rules before scoping a proposal.
• Publication-indexing expectations matter to project evaluation. If advising a Vietnamese partner on target journals for a joint output, factor in NAFOSTED’s historical emphasis on internationally indexed (Scopus/Web of Science) publication as an evaluation criterion.
• Confirm current MOU status before assuming a bilateral route is open. MOUs are periodically renewed, expanded, or allowed to lapse; treat any published list (including this one) as a starting point for verification, not a current call.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a researcher based outside Vietnam be the lead applicant on a NAFOSTED grant?

Not under NAFOSTED’s standard basic-research and applied-research programs — these require the applicant to be affiliated with a university or research institution based in Vietnam. International researchers typically participate as named collaborators, through a bilateral joint-call program, or via a short-term research internship arrangement instead.

Is NAFOSTED the same organization as Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology?

No. NAFOSTED is a distinct legal entity — a funding foundation with its own governing structures — that operates under MOST’s policy oversight rather than functioning as a ministry department itself.

Which countries currently have bilateral research funding agreements with NAFOSTED?

Publicly documented MOUs include Belgium (FWO), Germany (DFG), the United Kingdom (British Council/UK academies, and separately RCUK/UKRI), Australia (NHMRC), and Switzerland (SNSF). Confirm current, open calls directly with NAFOSTED and the relevant partner funder before assuming a specific program is currently active.

Does NAFOSTED require publication in Scopus- or Web of Science-indexed journals?

NAFOSTED’s evaluation approach for basic-research funding has historically placed significant weight on publication in internationally indexed journals as part of assessing project output — a notable feature relative to some peer funders in the region. Applicants should confirm the exact publication expectations against the current call documentation for the specific program.

How does NAFOSTED compare to other Southeast Asian national research funders?

NAFOSTED’s peer-reviewed, foundation-style structure is broadly comparable in function to Thailand’s National Research Council (NRCT) and Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), though each operates under its own legal framework, funding scope, and international-cooperation model — see the related guides below for each.

Related CASRAI Resources

For adjacent national and regional funder coverage, see CASRAI’s guides to NRCT Thailand’s funding role, BRIN Indonesia’s funding and governance overview, Malaysia’s FRGS and MOHE grant schemes, Singapore’s National Research Foundation, China’s NSFC, and Korea’s National Research Foundation. For the broader research-administration context these funders sit within, see the CASRAI grants management hub.