The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is the organization within the U.S. Navy which supports basic and applied S&T projects for the Navy and Marine Corps.

In order to bring foreign expertise to bear on naval R&D programs, ONR has an international office, ONR Global, which is headquartered in London and has additional offices in Tokyo, Singapore, Santiago, Sao Paolo, and Prague. ONR Global is staffed with around 25 scientists who function as technology brokers, matching advances in international S&T to domestic naval research programs.

ONR Global (ONRG) has three programs which it uses to connect foreign researchers to scientists within the broader Naval Research Enterprise (NRE): the Visiting Scientist Program (VSP), the Collaborative Science Program (CSP), and the Naval International Cooperative Opportunities in Science and Technology Program (NICOP).

The Visiting Science Program (VSP) is essentially a travel grant program which we use to bring a scientist to the US for 1 - 2 weeks so that he/she can present their research ideas to their American colleagues, often university-based scientists who are receiving some US Navy funding.  Oftentimes, a foreign scientist will have a contact at one of the larger Naval labs, such as the Naval Research Laboratory located in Washington, DC, so they visit them. In addition to meeting with scientists, foreign researchers often attend a relevant conference while they're in the US. A VSP grant is typically in the $5000 range.

The Collaborative Science Program (CSP) program is used to co-fund international conferences (located outside the US) in topics of interest to ONRG.  ONR’s contributions are normally between $5000 and $15,000.

The Naval International Cooperative Opportunities in Science and Technology Program (NICOP) is a joint research project often lasting 1 - 3 years, with total funding around $100,000 to $150,000.  In this case, ONRG is providing seed money to see if the proposed project will be successful to the point that the larger NRE is willing to further pursue it.  Quite commonly, program managers at ONR and at the labs have committed their money for several years in advance, so that if they find a new idea, they need new, outside money to fund it.  As a result, ONRG provides the bulk of the NICOP funding the first year, while our contribution falls in subsequent years and that from ONR or, for example, a university increases. 

All of the work at ONRG is unclassified and the scientists ONRG supports usually publish their findings.

Contact:
John C. Zimmerman, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Office of Naval Research Global, U.S. Embassy Prague, Trziste 15, 118 01 Prague 1, Czech Republic
Tel: 420-257-022-031
E-mail: John.C.Zimmerman35.civ@mail.mil or ZimmermanJC@state.gov