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Established between:

The Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (hereinafter referred to as “FAPESP”); and

The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA (hereinafter referred to as “OSU”); both referred to hereafter as “the Parties”.

The purpose of this Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is to foster American-Brazilian collaboration in scientific research and it aims to fund joint research projects conducted by teams from both countries parties.

This MOA sets out the principles and procedures to be adopted by the Parties in:

a) opening call for proposals;

b) receiving joint proposals;

c) setting up peer review and selection procedures;

d) providing funding for the proposals selected based on mutual agreement.

1 General Description and Context

a) FAPESP and OSU have agreed to establish a scheme for joint funding of Brazilian-American collaborative research projects. The fields to be covered include but are not limited to: Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, Engineering, Business, Law, Dentistry, Agriculture, Veterinary Sciences, Public Health, Pharmacy, Library Sciences. Proposals in other fields might be considered.

b) The aim of the funding cooperation is to strengthen the collaboration between scientists in São Paulo, Brazil and OSU, USA, to achieve world-class scientific and technical results that contribute to the advancement of knowledge and/or that might lead towards new innovative technologies. Both parties welcome, encourage and support joint research which involve research teams from research organizations in both countries.

2 General Governance

a) The Parties will form a two-member Joint Steering Committee (JSC) composed of one member appointed by each respective party. The JSC will have oversight responsibility for the overall strategic relationship between the Parties and the Collaborating Research Institutions in accordance with this Agreement. The JSC members will communicate periodically, not less than twice a year, to discuss research directions that may be of interest and benefit to the Parties, review Research Proposals as provided hereunder, review ongoing Research Projects, define and approve changes in research direction and activities as may be appropriate, manage any differences that may arise between the parties, and make other decisions related to Research Projects under this Agreement. Meetings of the JSC may be by whatever means that the Parties may agree upon (e.g., face-to-face, telephone conference, and/or video conference). Either party may replace its JSC member at any time by providing written notice to the other party. Any information received by FAPESP regarding the selected proposals, including reports, cancellations and other correspondence, must be shared timely with the JSC.

b) The JSC will work together to create Calls for Research Proposals ("CFRPs") for research projects. General guidance for the preparation of CFRPs is included in the Annex.

3 Submission of Proposals

a) FAPESP and OSU will prepare and issue calls for proposals and will encourage submission of American -Brazilian projects.

a.1) FAPESP and OSU will establish the framework for the submission, conditions, eligibility rules and evaluation process of such projects, following the Guidelines outlined in the Annex to this MOA.

b) The applicants from OSU must comply with OSU’s eligibility rules for research grant applications.

c) The applicants from the State of São Paulo must comply with FAPESP’s eligibility rules for research grant applications.

d) The scientists from OSU will be subject to OSU rules and the scientists in the State of São Paulo will be subject to FAPESP’s rules.

e) The proposals must be written jointly by collaborating teams from OSU and the State of São Paulo; identical copies, except for the submission forms, must be submitted, before the announced deadlines, to OSU and FAPESP.

e.1) Proposals submitted to only one party will not be eligible.

f)  The proposals shall be written in English.

g) After closure date for the Call for Proposals OSU and FAPESP will exchange a listing of the proposals received by each institution.

h) Each proposal must have a Principal Investigator at OSU and a Principal Investigator in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, designated in the submission forms to each agency.

3.1  Proposal formatting

Each party will use its own submission forms to meet its internal requirements. The content of the proposals submitted to OSU and to FAPESP must be identical.

4 Evaluation of Project Proposals

a) OSU and FAPESP will evaluate the proposals according to their own evaluation procedures, and will rank the proposals based on scientific quality and interest.

b) The most important evaluation criteria are:

b.1)  Scientific quality and originality of the joint research plan

b.2)  Added value to be expected from the research collaboration between the parties.

c) Other important evaluation criteria:

c.1) Feasibility of the joint research plan

c.2) Competence and expertise of the research teams in the State of São Paulo, Brazil and at OSU

c.3) Balanced cooperation

d) Based on the scientific evaluation ranking and on a consensus reached through discussions, the Parties will agree on the joint projects to be funded.

5 Funding

a) For the selected proposals OSU will fund the part to be developed by scientists at OSU and FAPESP will fund the part to be developed by the scientists in the State of São Paulo.

b) The funding might cover the costs of research expenses, fellowships for graduate students and post doctoral position fellows, and travel expenses.

c) The funding decisions will be made independently, but based on the mutual agreement, according to the Parties’ respective rules, regulations and practices.

d) Each project will be funded for a period of up to three (3 ) years

e)  Each party will make the following Contributions:

e.1) FAPESP: the equivalent of Six hundred ninety three thousand dollars ($693,000) USD;

e.2) OSU: Six hundred ninety three thousand dollars ($693,000) USD (plus tuition support from the Fisher College of Business and the Moritz College of Law).

f)  Each party's Contribution will be made available over the term of this MOA and will be managed in accordance with the administrative policies and procedures of that party. For greater certainty, no funds will be transferred among the parties in connection with activities contemplated by this MOA unless otherwise agreed in writing.

f.1)  Travel Costs. Subject to Section e), each party will fund the travel expenses and the applicable per diem allowances for its Project personnel when they are working in the other party's country.

f.2)  Cooperation. Each party shall cooperate with the other parties with any financial audit or other enquiries reasonably requested by the other party, including any enquiries relating to third party co-funding sought or obtained by a party for its work under a Project.

6 Liaison Office

Each Party shall designate a person or office to serve as a liaison responsible for implementation and coordination of the activities of this agreement.

7 Timetable and Announcement of Decision

a) The Parties agree to ensure that all decisions on proposals to be funded will be made according to timetables to be agreed upon in each case.

b) FAPESP and OSU will synchronize the communication on the selected projects

8 Intellectual Property

a) Any ownership of inventions will be determined pursuant to applicable patent laws.

b) A Collaboration Agreement will be agreed and signed between OSU and each one of the Host Institutions to the selected projects before any grant funds are disbursed by FAPESP and OSU.

9  Export Control

It is recognized and understood that this Agreement is subject to all applicable US export control laws and regulations controlling the transfer of technical information or items out of the US. The transfer of certain technical information or items may require a license from the US Government. All parties must comply with all applicable export control laws and regulations and no party may export or allow the export or re-export of any information or item when to do so would constitute a violation of those laws or regulations.

It is recognized and understood that this Agreement is subject to all applicable Brazilian export control laws and regulations controlling the transfer of technical information or items out of Brazil. The transfer of certain technical information or items may require a license from the Brazilian Government. All parties must comply with all applicable export control laws and regulations and no party may export or allow the export or re-export of any information or item when to do so would constitute a violation of those laws or regulations.

10 Reporting

a) Each Party’s coordinator on behalf of their participating teams will submit to the other Party a common brief yearly scientific progress report on the overall project complemented by a brief report from each team.

b) At the end of each project a formal final report should be submitted to each Party according to its reporting rules.

c) Due acknowledgement of support received from the FAPESP and the OSU should be made in the publication of any research resulting from this program.

11 Miscellaneous

a) Each Party covers its own administration costs regarding its contribution to the call, unless otherwise jointly decided.

b) This Memorandum of Agreement is subject to the availability of funds in the budget of the Parties and the applicable laws and regulations of their respective countries.

c) This Memorandum of Agreement is drawn up in English and Portuguese and all documents and notices and meetings pertaining to this Memorandum of Agreement shall be in English, with Portuguese translation when necessary.

d) This Memorandum of Agreement may only be amended by a document signed by both Parties and identified as an Addendum to this Memorandum of Agreement.

e) The Parties shall maintain the highest ethical and legal standards in funding research under this Memorandum of Agreement.

12 Term of this Memorandum of Agreement

a) This MOA shall take effect from the date of last signature hereto and shall be valid for five (5) years.

b) The MOA may be renewed for an additional five (5) years if both institutions, acting independently, agree in writing to renew it at least six (6) months before it expires.

c)  The MOA may be terminated by either party by giving three (3) months’ notice in writing of its desire to do so to the other Party, subject to the proviso that any ongoing projects under the MOA will be allowed to continue to their conclusion.

13 Signatories

For: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa no Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)	For: The Ohio State University
Celso Lafer  Date President, FAPESP	Caroline C. Whitacre Date Vice President for Research
	Geoffrey S. Chatas Date Senior Vice President for Business and Finance and CFO

 

 

Annex – Guidelines for proposals

OSU-FAPESP Partnership

The Ohio State University (OSU) and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) will contribute equally to a research partnership that builds on - and complements the strengths of - researchers at OSU and researchers in the State of São Paulo (SP).  This research partnership is intended to be wide-ranging, extending to a variety of disciplines.

There already exist well developed collaborations between researchers at OSU and researchers in the State of São Paulo. Owing to the broad and comprehensive research strengths of the two communities, there is great potential for growing additional research collaborations.

Accordingly, we envision two types of funding mechanism: one that builds the base and one that leverages existing collaborations between researchers via a competitive proposal process.

Build the Base

a) Smaller awards, e.g., up to $50K per year for two years

b) Intended to encourage formation of new research collaborations

c) May be used: 

c.1) for conferences to introduce OSU and SP researchers and to identify common interests and complementary strengths

c.2) for short term exchanges of faculty, students and postdocs

c.3) to support other, creative interactions of an exploratory or preliminary nature

Leverage Existing Collaborations

a) Larger awards, e.g., up to $150K per year for three years, including graduate and post-doctoral fellowships.

b) Intended to support collaborations that have a well-defined and focused research agenda with a view towards securing additional support from US and Brazilian funding agencies.

c) May be used:

c.1) for gathering preliminary data or initial results or “proof of concept” projects

c.2) to expand well-developed collaborations in new directions

c.3) to support graduate students and postdoctoral researchers

c.4) to exchange personnel between OSU and SP research groups

c.5) to build appropriate infrastructure; e.g., supplies, instruments, equipment, etc.

Competitive Proposal Process

Streamlined proposal submission and review process to be developed jointly by OSU and FAPESP/SP

Desirable features may include:

a) One submission date per year with a common date for all research disciplines;

b) Short proposals, commensurate with each one of the modalities highlighted above;

c) Joint review by OSU and FAPESP personnel;

d) Establish succinct reporting and evaluation processes.

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