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Public Call for Proposals by theSão Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) joinly with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

FAPESP and GSK make public this Call for Proposals and invite interested researchers, working within public or private Higher Education or Research Institutions in the State of São Paulo, to submit projects under the cooperation agreement between FAPESP and GSK, under the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth.

The conditions for participation in this call will be strictly enforced. Proposals that violate any of the conditions will be excluded. It is strongly recommended, therefore, their careful reading.

1 General Information

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this Call is to define the conditions for the submission of proposals for research projects that generate knowledge about new techniques, methodologies, processes and technologies of interest from FAPESP and GSK, described below.

1.2 Fields of Knowledge

This Call for Proposals invites research proposals in following topics:

a) Metabolic Diseases

b) Tropical and Neglected Diseases

c) Infectious Diseases

d) Respiratory Diseases

e) Inflammation and Immunology

f) Biopharmaceuticals and Vaccines

2 Eligibility

In order to qualify for this Call for Proposals in the GSK – FAPESP Agreement, the proponent should satisfy in the following requisites:

a) The conditions and restrictions of the FAPESP Program for Cooperative Research for Technological Innovation (PITE) described at www.fapesp.br/pite are applied here, excluding those restrictions and conditions explicitly excepted in this CFP. 

b) The proposals may be submitted by researchers from Higher Education or Research Instituions in the State of São Paulo.

c) Proposals that are incomplete, inaccurate, or are otherwise not responsive to the terms and conditions of this CFP will, at the sole discretion of the Joint Steering Committee for the GSK-FAPESP cooperation, be excluded from consideration.

3 Funds

a) The total amount available for this CFP is US$ 600.000 (with a maximum of US$ 200.000 per project).

b) The appropriateness of the requested funding in relation to the proposal goals and qualification of the proposing team is a primary review consideration.

c) FAPESP and GSK reserve the right to propose lower funding levels for projects.

4 Research proposal characteristics

Proposals should target some or all of the following research goals:

a) Novel and Creative Solutions: The intention of the project is not to enable incremental engineering projects with a known outcome, but rather to explore and invent new technology and knowledge that will benefit underserved communities. FAPESP and GSK encourage bold, novel, and unconventional approaches to the core science and technology challenges in the topics listed in section 1.2.

b) Immediate Relevance: FAPESP and GSK are seeking academic research projects that are highly complementary to a broad community need. Goals should be specific, measurable, and result-oriented with tangible metrics.

c) Intellectual property of Results: The intellectual property rights on the results will be subject of a specific clause in the Terms of Agreement between FAPESP, GSK and the Host Institution of each selected project.

d) Dissemination and Communication: Research results are expected to be widely communicated through relevant scientific communities using established academic channels, such as international conferences and refereed journals. All funded projects should result in a detailed Web presence and relevant conference publications or presentations. Other channels for community development include regional workshops, graduate seminars, and curriculum components such as courses or course materials. The conditions for communication and dissemination will be established in cooperation agreement to be signed by FAPESP, GSK and Institution of each selected project to allow broad dissemination of knowledge without prejudice to the safeguarding intellectual property.

5 Project duration

The duration of selected projects will be of up to 24 months.

6 Proposal preparation

Each proposal must contain the following items (to see the complete checklist of requested documents, please access the submission form, item 16, page7):

a) FAPESP-GSK proposal submission form, in Portuguese (form available at www.fapesp.br/en/7860)

b) FAPESP Summary of CV, in English, for the PI and each Associated Investigator, including those from GSK, when applicable (Instructions for elaborating the Summary of the CV of the Principal Investigator available at www.fapesp.br/en/6351).

c) Research team: listing of all contributing researchers, in English, including Host Institution, Entity. For each one, his or her role in the research project must be defined succinctly, as well as the weekly workload. Each participant must sign his or her agreement to participate in the project  www.fapesp.br/en/7860).

d) Research Proposal: proposals should be submitted in English. The proposal should cover items from d.1) to d.6) below in no more than 20 pages, using font Arial size 10 and double spacing. Section d.7) is not counted under this page limitation. Please address the sections listed below, from d.1) to d.6) under separate numbered headings:

d.1) Problem Statement: What is the problem addressed by the proposal and why is it important? What is the potential contribution to the field of the project if successful? Cite relevant work in the field as appropriate

d.2) Expected outcomes: What new science will be created or produced as a result of the proposed project? How will the results of this project be disseminating to others?

d.3) Scientific and technical challenges and the ways and means to overcome them: This is a critical part of the proposal. Describe the scientific and technical challenges that the project will face in order to reach the proposed goals. Describe the proposed methods and means. Cite references that can help reviewers to ascertain that such challenges were not yet overcome (or were not adequately overcome) and that they can be overcome with the proposed methods and means.

d.4) Schedule: When is the project to be completed? What milestones will be used to measure progress of the project and when will they be completed? If the project described is part of a larger ongoing research program, estimate the time for completion of this project only.

d.5) Dissemination and Evaluation: How will the results of this project be evaluated (if appropriate), and how will they be disseminated to others?

d.6) Other Support: List other contributions by the Host Institution to this project (cash, goods, or services), if any, but not including items such  as the use of university facilities otherwise provided on an ongoing basis. Note that authors of selected proposals will be required to present an original letter on university letterhead signed by the director of the Host Institution certifying the commitment of any additional support.

d.7) Fellowships: The proposed budget may include costs for Scientific Initiation, Masters or Post-Doctoral fellowships. The ending dates for each fellowship must happen at or before the ending date of the project. Fellowships can be covered with funds from GSK depending on the analysis of the proposal and the availability of resources, to be verified at the time of selection of proposals. For each requested fellowship a work plan with up to two pages must be submitted together with the research proposal. Work plans must include: Title for the Fellowship research project, Summary, and Description of the plan. It is not necessary to nominate the holder of the fellowship. If the grant is approved the Principal Investigator will be in charge of organizing a public selection process to select the appointees for the fellowships through amerit review process.

e) Requested budget description: proposals must include separate budget descriptions for the items requested to FAPESP and to GSK. It is desirable to keep the fraction of the total amount requested for each of the parties at around 50%. Such a balance is desirable but not mandatory, and may deviate from 50% due to specific circumstances to be justified.

e.1) The budget items that may be requested to FAPESP are those traditionally supported by the Foundation and described in www.fapesp.br/1656.

e.2) The budget items that can be covered with funds from GSK should be limited to:

e.2.i) Resources invested in capital goods or equipment associated with the project if they are donated to the Higher Education and Research Institutions in the State of Sao Paulo; 

e.2.ii) Resources  invested in Scientific Initiation, Masters or Post-Doctoral fellowships with values at least equal to the grants from FAPESP for these fellowships;

e.2.iii) Resources invested in consumables and services of third parties when directly associated with the project;

e.2.iv) Resources  invested in infrastructure associated with the project;

e.2.v) Resources for the temporary hiring, during the period of the project, of researchers and technical support staff dedicated to the project in the Host Institution.

e.2.vi) Resources for salary complementation of researchers participating in the project employed by the Host Institution;

e.2.vii) Special cases documented by a detailed justification within the proposal, will be analyzed in each case by the Joint Steering Committee.

e.3) The budget request must be presented using specific spreadsheets (available at www.fapesp.br/en/7860) which include:

e.3.i) Consolidated Budget Request, classified by types of expense and font sources (FAPESP, GSK and other sources);

e.3.ii) Separate Budget Request spreadsheets for FAPESP and GSK, by types of expense, following FAPESP standards;

e.3.iii) Spreadsheets for financial and physical schedule (FAPESP and GSK).

IMPORTANT: it is necessary to attach three quotes for each capital and equipment expense requested (national or imported). If it is not possible to obtain the 3 quotes requested, please attach a clarification letter.

7 Submission of proposals

a) Proposals should be submitted in one paper copy accompanied by plus a CD with one a unique PDF file of the complete proposal.

b) Proposals that are incomplete, inaccurate, that request funds in excess of the maximum award available, or are otherwise not responsive to the terms and conditions of this CFP will not be excluded from consideredation.

c) The envelope containing the proposal should be addressed to:

d) Proposals will not be accepted by any other means.

e) All submitted proposals under this CFP will not be returned to the proponents. For record-keeping and administrative purposes, the copy will be archived by FAPESP.

f) No proposals will be accepted after the closing date for submission, nor will any addendum or explanation be accepted, unless those explicitly and formally requested by FAPESP or GSK.

8 Information and clarification

All questions related to this CFP must be directed to: chamada-fapesp-gsk@fapesp.br.

Please, put “CFP FAPESP-GSK” in the subject line of your e-mail to ensure a prompt and proper response

9 Analysis and selection of the submitted proposals

All received proposals adherent to the terms of this Call for Proposals will be analyzed.

The selection process is based on merit review and comparative analysis. To this end FAPESP will use reviewers' reports and the Foundation’s Area and Supervising Panels.

The criteria used will be that applied to the selection of proposals in the FAPESP Program for Cooperative Research for Technological Innovation (PITE), with the addition of the analysis by the Joint Steering Committee for the FAPESP-GSK cooperation.

Researchers participating in any submitted proposal will not take part in the analysis and selection process.

All proposals will be analyzed and selected using the following criteria:

a) Adherence to the terms of this CFP;

b) Novelty and Ambition of the proposed academic research project, as it relates to the goals of this CFP;

c) Qualification of the research project, in the specification of clear goals, of the challenges to be overcome and the scientific, technical and material means and ways for this, in relation to the state-of-the-art in the fField, including interface definitions, testing methodology, and plans for experimental deployment;

d) Adequate existing institutional infrastructure, offered by the Hhosting Iinstitution;

e) Qualifications of Principal Investigator and his team, including previous history of work in areas relevant to this CRFP, successful completion of previously funded projects, teaching awards, and publications, all of those items being demonstrated in the Curricular SummariesSummary of the CV of the Pprincipal Iinvestigators;

f) Ability to complete the project, including the adequacy of available resources available, institutional support, reasonableness of timelines, and number and qualifications of identified contributors; value, which encompasses the efficient use of requested resources and funding;

h) Formation of new researchers and professionals, as a result of the execution of the Project;

i) Potential for technological innovation involving market analysis, potential difficulties for industrial implementation and ways to overcome them, comparisons with competing technologies and the reasons for the technology appears to be more beneficial than we currently use.

10 Schedule

Event	Date
Launching of the CFP at FAPESP Web site	June 17th, 2013
Last date for receiving proposals	August 2nd, 2013
Publication of results of the analysis and selection process	October 31th, 2013

11 Announcement of results

The results of the selection process will be announced in FAPESP’s Web Site at www.fapesp.br and by communication to the proponents.

12 Contracting of the selected proposals

For each research proposal selected, the relations between FAPESP, GSK and the Principal Investigator Institution will be determined by an agreement o in which will be defined:

a. Schedule of disbursements and financial reporting on the amounts disbursed;

b. Definition and timing of expected results at each stage of the project;

c. Intellectual property, confidentiality and possible exploitation of project results;

d. Term;

e. Legal venue.

13 Cancellation of the award

The award might be canceled by GSK and FAPESP by mutual agreement, in the event of justifiable cause, on the basis of evaluation by the Scientific Director of FAPESP and GSK. Cancellation does not preclude other measures that might be deemed necessary.

14 Grants, progress analysis and evaluation

If the application is approved, a Grant Contract will be made, which will be signed by the Principal Investigator and the Host Institution´s representative.

The results will be evaluated by progress reports and financial reports that should be submitted on the dates established in the Grant Contract.

15 Agreement to Terms and Conditions

By submitting an application under this CFP, applicants confirm that they have read, understood and agreed to the terms and conditions of the CFP and the conditions attached to any successful awards.

 

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