FOM | Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter

The Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) promotes, co-ordinates and finances fundamental physics research in the Netherlands. It is an autonomous foundation responsible to the physics division of the national research council NWO. Its annual budget is 82 million euros.

FOM employs about 1140 people, of who about 460 are PhD students and 190 are postdocs. They work at FOM research institutes and in university laboratories. The foundation also finances and operates a number of research facilities at and in collaboration with universities.

More than 50 percent of all Dutch physics professors receive financial support from FOM. About half of all Dutch publications in the field of physics originate from FOM researchers, and more than half of the total annual number of PhD's in physics is awarded to students supported by FOM. The foundation thus plays an important role in directing physics research in the Netherlands and contributes substantially to the strong position of Dutch physics nationally and internationally.

FOM's tasks are performed in other countries by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in Great Britain, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France and the Max Planck Gesellschaft (MPG) and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in Germany.