Agreements
MIT/FAPESP - 2011 Call for Proposals
Public Call for Proposals by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Brazil and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America.
1. Introduction:
FAPESP and MIT 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, who are Principal Investigators of ongoing research projects funded by FAPESP within the following schemes: Regular Research Awards, Thematic Projects, Young Investigators, or Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (CEPIDs/RIDCs), to submit projects for the exchange of researchers between the State of São Paulo, Brazil and the USA, under the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth.
2. Purpose:
The purpose of this Call is to define the conditions for the submission of proposals for the exchange of researchers from the São Paulo State and from MIT.
3. Eligibility:
Researchers regarded as eligible within the scope of this Call:
a) By FAPESP: Principal Investigators of ongoing research projects funded by FAPESP within the following schemes: Regular Research Awards, Thematic Projects (Coordinator or Principal), Young Investigators, or Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (CEPIDs/RIDCs).
b) By MIT: Researchers working within MIT, following the MIT Brazil Seed Fund Program eligibility criteria.
4. Fields of knowledge:
This Call for Proposals invites research proposals in all disciplines.
5. Timeline:
| Call announced on FAPESP and MIT websites | 6 June 2011 |
| Deadline for submitting proposals | 19 September 2011 |
| Successful proposals notified | December 2011 |
6. Duration of the project for the exchange of researchers:
The exchanged activities foreseen in this project must be carried out within the timeframe starting from January 2012 through August 2013, i.e. up to 20 months.
7. Funding principles:
a) FAPESP and MIT will provide combined funding of up to US$30.000 per project (US$20.000 for researchers and postdocs and US$10.000 for graduate and undergraduate students), for the period established in the award, necessarily and exclusively to cover mobility expenses (travel costs, living allowances).
1) Researchers from São Paulo may request support for insurance for the period of their trips (according to FAPESP standard values available at www.fapesp.br/2921)
2) Researchers from MIT may include meeting and workshop costs in their request.
b) FAPESP will provide the selected proposals with funds for travel (air tickets), health insurance, and living allowances for researchers from the State of São Paulo travelling to the USA.
c) MIT will provide the selected projects with funds for travel (air tickets), and living allowances for researchers from MIT travelling to the State of São Paulo, and expenses for workshops.
8. Proposal characteristics:
a) The proposals must be submitted simultaneously to FAPESP by the researcher from the State of São Paulo and to MIT by his/her collaborator from USA. Each Party will select the proposals according to its own procedures. Only the proposals selected by both Parties will be jointly funded.
b) The proposal to MIT should use the standard PDF form for MISTI Seed Fund Applications (http://mit.edu/misti/mit-brazil/faculty/seed.html)
c) The proposal submitted to FAPESP must be in the form of Regular Research Award related to the ongoing project (which must be indicated in the submission form). This grant must be exclusively directed to this call and abide to its rules.
ATTENTION - only the following customized FAPESP Submission Form and Budget Worksheet can be used
d) The proposal submitted to FAPESP must contain:
1) Submission Form and Researcher’s Registration Form.
2) Summary of the Curriculum Vitae of the Principal Investigators from FAPESP and MIT and of each Researcher (including Postdocs) on the Brazilian side (instructions available at www.fapesp.br/5266 and in English at www.fapesp.br/en/6351).
3) Budget worksheets specifically designed for this Call (please enclose detailed budget according to FAPESP standards).
4) A printed copy of the MISTI MIT submission form filled by the MIT partner and submitted to MISTI MIT.
5) Workplan, written in English, with a maximum of five (5) pages of scientific content, including the following items:
i) Summary of the project to which the proposal is related, including current and expected results;
ii) Description of which lines of activity of the ongoing project related to the proposal will benefit from the exchange;
iii) Description of each researcher and institution involved on the MIT side;
iv) Description of the expected academic gains for the project as a result of the proposed cooperation with the MIT team, emphasizing their singularity and specificity;
v) Details of the activities foreseen in the exchange, objectively described, including justification and relevance, and the definition of the corresponding performance indicators. The role of the technical team from the executing institution must be explained;
vi) Actions to add to the impact of the exchange in the research activity in the State of São Paulo, by means of seminars, short courses, visits to other institutions that carry out research activities in cognate areas;
vii) Timeline of each mission listing its duration and traveller’s name and title, provided that the total amount of missions per year do not surpass the funds stipulated in the seventh clause of this call for proposals;
viii) Possible actions to seek and obtain additional support for joint research with the MIT partners.
9. Submission of Proposals:
Proposals must be submitted simultaneously to FAPESP (in paper form) and to MIT (according to the procedures for MISTI Seed Fund proposals (http://mit.edu/misti/mit-brazil/faculty/seed.html).
Submission to FAPESP:
a) The proponents must submit their proposals until the closing date set in the item 5 of this Call.
b) No proposal 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 MIT.
c) All proposals, either related to grants processed via FAPESP’s electronic system (SAGe) or not, shoud be sent to FAPESP in hard copy, to the following address: Rua Pio XI, 1500, Alto da Lapa, CEP 05468-901 – São Paulo/SP, with “Chamada FAPESP/MIT 2011” written on the envelope, posted no later than the closing date.
10. Analysis and selection by FAPESP:
a) The process of analysis and selection of the proposals received by FAPESP will be carried out by an ad hoc committee especially appointed by the Foundation’s Scientific Director.
b) The proposals will go through an initial stage of analysis to check if they comply with the terms of this Call and, subsequently analysed by ways of a competitive process which will evaluate the merit and relevance of the project and the academic excellence of the candidate, the relation of the proposed project to the researcher’s ongoing project funded by FAPESP, and the interest of the institution that will host the researcher.
c) Proposals which do not comply with the terms of this Call will be rejected.
11. Result of the analysis:
Final results will be announced on FAPESP (www.fapesp.br/5677) and MIT (http://mit.edu/misti/faculty/seed.html) web portals and by means of a communication to the interested parties.
12. Contract for selected projects:
The selected proposals will be the subject of an Amendment that must be signed by FAPESP researchers.
13. Grant cancellation:
FAPESP may cancel funding if, during grant implementation, a fact is of sufficient gravity to justify cancellation, at the Scientific Board of Directors’ discretion, without prejudice of any other appropriate actions.
14. Appeals:
The FAPESP proponent who does not appeal against the terms of this Call for Proposals until the second weekday previous to the closing date set for proposal submission will forfeit the right to do it. The appeal filed by the proponent who, having accepted the Call without objection, points out fortuitous failures or imperfections after the analysis shall not be effective as an appeal.
15. Contact:
All questions related to this Call for Research Proposals must be directed to:
a) FAPESP: Alexandre Roccatto, Assistant for Partnerships; e-mail: chamada-MIT-fapesp@fapesp.br
b) MIT: Dr. Karina Xavier, Coordinator for MIT Brazil; e-mail: kxavier@mit.edu
(The FAPESP e-mail above, used specifically for this call for proposals, is no longer valid)