TÜBİTAK — the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu) — is Türkiye’s principal national funder of academic research and industrial R&D, and the country’s lead public body for science, technology, and innovation policy. For a research administrator working with a Turkish co-investigator, a subrecipient at a Turkish university, or an institution weighing a bilateral or Horizon Europe collaboration, TÜBİTAK is the counterpart institution to know: it plays a role roughly analogous to the U.S. National Science Foundation for academic grants and, through a separate directorate, functions like a national innovation agency for company R&D, with a fellowships arm layered on top of both.
Established in 1963 and headquartered in Ankara, TÜBİTAK is a public legal entity affiliated with Türkiye’s Ministry of Industry and Technology. It funds research indirectly, through competitive grant and fellowship programs administered by its directorates, and directly, by operating a network of national research institutes. This guide covers how TÜBİTAK is organized, its main funding directorates and programs, how the application process works, and where it fits into international research collaboration.
What TÜBİTAK is and how it is organized
TÜBİTAK sits at the center of Türkiye’s national research and innovation system in two distinct capacities. First, it is a policy body: it advises the Turkish government on science and technology strategy and helps set national research priorities. Second, and of more direct relevance to a research administrator, it is a funding body: it disburses competitive grants, industry R&D support, and personal fellowships through a small number of specialized directorates, each with its own applicant pool and program numbering system.
The three funding-facing directorates a research administrator will encounter most often are:
- ARDEB (Academic Research Funding Programs Directorate) — funds investigator-led and programmatic research at universities and public research institutions, the closest functional counterpart to a national science-agency grants directorate.
- TEYDEB (Technology and Innovation Funding Programs Directorate) — funds R&D and innovation projects carried out by private-sector companies, not universities, positioning TÜBİTAK as an industrial-innovation funder alongside its academic-research role.
- BİDEB (Directorate of Science Fellowships and Grant Programs) — administers individual scholarships and fellowships, covering everyone from undergraduate and doctoral students to postdoctoral researchers and internationally recruited senior investigators.
Beyond these three, TÜBİTAK also directly operates a network of national research institutes and centers rather than only funding external investigators — among them the Marmara Research Center (MAM, covering energy, materials, chemistry, environment, and biotechnology), the Informatics and Information Security Research Center (BİLGEM), the Defense Industries Research and Development Institute (SAGE), and the Space Technologies Research Institute (UZAY). A research administrator is far more likely to interact with ARDEB, TEYDEB, or BİDEB as funding sources than with these institutes directly, but their existence is part of why TÜBİTAK’s remit is broader than a typical grant-making agency’s: it is simultaneously a funder and a performer of research.
ARDEB: academic research funding programs
ARDEB is the directorate that funds investigator-initiated and programmatic academic research, comparable in function to how a national science foundation runs its core research-grant portfolio. Its programs are identified by number rather than by name, and the flagship program is 1001 — The Scientific and Technological Research Projects Funding Program, TÜBİTAK’s general-purpose competitive research grant open to all disciplines.
Under the 1001 program, the principal investigator must hold a doctorate, an arts proficiency, or a medical specialty qualification, and must be permanent or full-time staff at a public institution or higher-education body resident in Türkiye; non-Turkish citizens can serve as principal investigator if employed at a Turkish institution, and researchers based outside Türkiye can join a project team where their expertise fills a gap the local team cannot cover on its own. High-level institutional officials — rectors, ministers, and similar office-holders — cannot serve as principal investigator while in office, though they may participate as team researchers on a limited number of projects. As of the 2026-1 call period, project budgets can run up to 3,000,000 Turkish lira (excluding project incentive bonuses and overhead) with no separate annual sub-limit, and a maximum project duration of 36 months; applications are submitted electronically, in a fixed format (Arial 9-point, capped page count), through TÜBİTAK’s ARDEB project-tracking system (ardeb-pbs.tubitak.gov.tr), and evaluated on scientific merit, methodology, project management, and expected impact.
ARDEB runs a family of other numbered programs alongside 1001 for narrower purposes — a rapid-response mechanism for smaller, faster-turnaround projects, and 3001 — the Starting R&D Projects Funding Program, aimed at early-career investigators building an initial independent research track record, functionally comparable to an early-career or starter-grant mechanism at other national funders. A research administrator advising a Turkish-based early-career PI, or a U.S. or European PI proposing a joint project with one, should expect 3001 rather than 1001 to be the more likely entry point before that investigator has an established funding history.
TEYDEB: industry and innovation funding
TEYDEB is TÜBİTAK’s counterpart directorate for the private sector: it funds R&D and technological-innovation projects undertaken by companies rather than by university researchers. Where ARDEB evaluates academic merit and publishable scientific contribution, TEYDEB evaluates commercial R&D content, technological risk, and innovation potential in a company’s project — the kind of applied, product- or process-oriented development work that in other national systems is more often supported through an innovation agency or an SBIR/STTR-style mechanism than through a university-facing science-funding directorate. For a research administrator, TEYDEB matters mainly in industry-partnered projects: a company partner on a joint academic-industry collaboration in Türkiye may be applying to TEYDEB in parallel with a university PI’s ARDEB application, and the two funding streams run on separate eligibility rules, review criteria, and timelines even when they fund complementary halves of the same collaboration.
BİDEB: fellowships and scholarships
BİDEB administers TÜBİTAK’s individual fellowship and scholarship programs, spanning the full academic career pipeline from undergraduate study through senior, internationally recruited research positions. Its best-known programs, widely referenced in Turkish higher-education and international-mobility contexts, include a national domestic doctoral scholarship program (commonly cited by its program code, 2211), a postdoctoral research fellowship supporting Turkish researchers to work abroad (2219), and the International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers program (2232), which is specifically designed to recruit accomplished researchers — including members of the Turkish research diaspora — into positions at Turkish institutions, a mechanism sometimes described informally as a reverse-brain-drain program. A research administrator hosting an inbound BİDEB-funded fellow, or advising an outbound researcher applying for a BİDEB award, should confirm the current eligibility rules and stipend levels directly with TÜBİTAK, since fellowship terms and currency-denominated stipend amounts are revised on TÜBİTAK’s own schedule and are not standardized the way, for example, a Fulbright or Marie Skłodowska-Curie stipend structure is.
How to apply: process and eligibility, in practice
Two practical points distinguish TÜBİTAK’s application mechanics from a typical U.S. federal or UKRI submission for a research administrator coordinating an international team:
- Institutional residency of the PI. ARDEB’s core programs generally require the principal investigator to be resident in Türkiye and employed full-time by a public or higher-education institution there; a foreign PI cannot lead an ARDEB-funded project the way, for example, a foreign co-PI can sometimes hold a subaward role on a U.S. federal grant. International participation is instead structured through project-team membership, formal international collaboration agreements between funders, or a Turkish co-PI holding the award while foreign partners are named as collaborating researchers.
- Program-number specificity. Because TÜBİTAK organizes its offerings as a numbered catalog of programs (1001, 3001, 2211, 2219, 2232, and others) rather than a small set of broad award types, the first task in any TÜBİTAK-linked collaboration is identifying the correct program number for the applicant’s career stage, discipline, and institutional role — the eligibility rules, budget ceilings, and review criteria differ meaningfully program to program, in the same way an NIH activity code (R01 versus K99 versus F31) determines an entirely different eligibility and review pathway at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Applications are submitted through TÜBİTAK’s own online systems rather than a shared international portal, and formatting requirements (font, page limits, required attachments) are specified per program and enforced at submission.
TÜBİTAK and international research collaboration
Türkiye became formally associated with Horizon Europe on October 27, 2021, meaning Turkish researchers, institutions, and companies can participate in and coordinate Horizon Europe consortia under the same conditions as participants based in EU member states, rather than as third-country partners with restricted funding eligibility. TÜBİTAK serves as the coordinating national body for that participation, including hosting Türkiye’s Horizon Europe National Contact Point network, which supports Turkish applicants and helps match them into European consortia. This matters directly for CASRAI’s audience: a European or North American institution assembling a Horizon Europe consortium that includes a Turkish partner should expect that partner’s home-institution costing and reporting obligations to route back through TÜBİTAK-linked national rules layered on top of the standard Horizon Europe grant agreement terms — see CASRAI’s guidance on the Horizon Europe lump-sum grant model, work packages, and person-months reporting for how the consortium-level mechanics work regardless of any individual partner’s national funder.
Beyond Horizon Europe, TÜBİTAK maintains bilateral and multilateral research-cooperation agreements with a number of national funding bodies, supporting joint call mechanisms in which TÜBİTAK funds the Turkish side of a collaborative project while a partner-country funder funds its own nationals working on the same joint proposal — a common structural pattern across national science funders generally, and one a research administrator should confirm the specifics of directly with TÜBİTAK’s international cooperation office for any given partner country, since which countries have an active joint-call agreement in a given cycle changes over time.
Where TÜBİTAK fits among national research funders
For a research administrator building a mental map of international funders, TÜBİTAK is most usefully understood as a hybrid: an ARDEB grant functions like a national science-foundation research grant (compare to how CASRAI covers the U.S. federal grants-management lifecycle generally), TEYDEB functions like a national innovation agency’s industry R&D support, and BİDEB functions like a national fellowships council layered on top of both — three functions that in other systems are sometimes split across entirely separate agencies (for example, a national science foundation, a separate innovation agency, and a separate scholarship board) but that TÜBİTAK houses under one institutional roof. That structure is worth keeping in mind when comparing TÜBİTAK’s role to funders CASRAI covers elsewhere, including the European Research Council and the broader grants-management lifecycle that applies once an award — Turkish or otherwise — is in hand.
Frequently asked questions
What does TÜBİTAK stand for?
TÜBİTAK is the acronym for Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu — the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye. It is both Türkiye’s national science and technology policy body and its principal public research-funding agency.
What is the difference between ARDEB and TEYDEB?
ARDEB funds academic research carried out at universities and public research institutions, evaluated primarily on scientific merit. TEYDEB funds R&D and innovation projects carried out by private-sector companies, evaluated on commercial and technological criteria. They are separate directorates with separate applicant pools, eligibility rules, and review processes, even when they fund complementary sides of the same academic-industry collaboration.
Can a foreign researcher lead a TÜBİTAK-funded project?
Generally no, not as principal investigator on ARDEB’s core academic programs — the PI is normally required to be resident in Türkiye and employed full-time by a Turkish public or higher-education institution, though non-Turkish citizens employed at a Turkish institution can serve as PI. Foreign researchers based outside Türkiye typically participate as named project-team members or as partners under a separate international collaboration or joint-call agreement rather than as the lead applicant.
What is TÜBİTAK program 1001?
Program 1001, formally the Scientific and Technological Research Projects Funding Program, is ARDEB’s general-purpose, all-disciplines competitive research grant — the program most comparable to a standard investigator-initiated research grant at a national science funder, with a project cap of up to 3,000,000 Turkish lira (as of the 2026-1 call, excluding overhead and incentive bonuses) and a maximum duration of 36 months.
Is Türkiye part of Horizon Europe?
Yes. Türkiye has been formally associated with Horizon Europe since October 27, 2021, allowing Turkish institutions, researchers, and companies to participate in and coordinate Horizon Europe projects under the same funding conditions as participants from EU member states. TÜBİTAK coordinates Türkiye’s participation and hosts the national Horizon Europe contact-point network that supports Turkish applicants.
Does TÜBİTAK fund researchers directly, or only through institutions?
Both. ARDEB and TEYDEB grants are awarded to a project led by an eligible institutional applicant (a university-based PI or a company, respectively), while BİDEB fellowships and scholarships are awarded directly to individual students, doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers, or senior investigators, independent of a specific institutional research grant.
