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National Research Foundation, Singapore (NRF)
Parliamentary Replies

Grant Management and Investigator-led Projects

5 October 2026

Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat asked about RIE2025 grant scope changes, investigator-led research funding, and flexibility under RIE2030. Mr Gan Kim Yong, responding for the Prime Minister, said investigator-led projects made up 14% of academic research funding under RIE2025, that scope change requests are generally approved if aligned with grant objectives, and that the number of such requests is not tracked.

Date: For Parliament Sitting on 6 Oct 2026

MPs Speaking: Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat, Mr Gan Kim Yong


Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) how many requests to change the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan (RIE2025) grant's scope were approved and refused annually since 2021; (b) what proportion of its academic research funding was investigator-led, which the plan undertook to increase; and (c) whether RIE2030 will fund investigators and teams for a programme of research in a domain, free to change direction, rather than a fixed proposal.

Mr Gan Kim Yong (for the Prime Minister): In RIE2025, investigator-led projects, which are research proposals initiated by individuals on an individual project basis, rather than as part of a larger research programme, accounted for approximately 14% of academic research funding.

Grant recipients may propose changes to their project scopes where these are warranted due to scientific developments or other operational reasons. Such requests are generally considered favourably when the proposed changes remain aligned with the grant objectives. We do not track the exact number of requests for variations as this is not meaningful.