National Research Foundation

The National Research Foundation exists because of a law. Parliament created the NRF through the National Research Foundation Act, No. 23 of 1998, after a system-wide review of science funding carried out for what was then the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. The new body absorbed the functions of the research funding agencies that came before it.

Registered name

National Research Foundation

Type

Statutory research funding agency

Fields funded

Honours, master’s and doctoral research in all disciplines

Website

nrf.ac.za

Email

info@nrf.ac.za

Phone

+27 12 481 4000

What the NRF Act asks the foundation to do

Section 3 of the Act sets the NRF’s object: to contribute to national development by supporting, promoting and advancing research and human capacity development in all fields of science and technology, including the humanities and social sciences. In practice the NRF funds researchers, pays for postgraduate students, and runs national research facilities.

The NRF also works with private partners. In 2026 the foundation announced successful applicants for the Black Academics Advancement Programme, which the NRF runs with the FirstRand Empowerment Foundation to help black academics complete doctorates and build research careers.

How NRF postgraduate funding reaches students

The DSI-NRF Postgraduate Scholarship is the largest postgraduate funding scheme in South Africa, and students apply for it on the NRF Connect system. Universities, not the NRF, set the first deadline: each institution screens and ranks its own applicants before passing them on. For 2027 funding, most universities closed first-time master’s and doctoral applications between June and August 2026.

This two-step process catches out many students. An honours student who reads a national closing date and ignores the university’s internal date can lose a year of funding. Speak to your university’s postgraduate funding office as soon as you decide to continue studying.

NRF opportunities on BursariesAfrica

iThemba LABS, the NRF’s accelerator-based science centre, produces medical isotopes and runs nuclear physics research. iThemba LABS also runs its own undergraduate bursary for second-year engineering and computer science students, and no 2027 closing date had been published when BursariesAfrica checked. Email bursaries@tlabs.ac.za and read the students section of tlabs.ac.za before relying on dates from other sources.

Students planning honours, master’s or doctoral study can find other funders on our Postgraduate Bursaries page.