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Guidance to researchers based in the state of Sao Paulo

Applicable to all Councils - AHRC / BBSRC / ESRC / EPSRC / MRC / NERC

Summary: The cooperation agreement between FAPESP and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) aims to support the development of joint research projects proposed by researchers from research institutions in the UK and in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.
Closing date:	Projects are accepted throughout the year.
FAPESP Support Opportunity:	Regular, Thematic, or Young Investigator Grants, with the exceptionalities as described in the announcement of opportunity below.
Maximum duration of the project:	According to the chosen funding scheme.
Eligibility:	Depending on the criteria of the chosen support opportunity. Consultation of eligibility to FAPESP is mandatory. Reconsiderations or reformulated proposals will not be accepted.
Submission:	The joint proposal must be submitted by research partner based in the UK to the chosen Research Council (according to the theme of the proposal), and by the researcher based in São Paulo to FAPESP.
Contact:	www.fapesp.br/converse

The cooperation agreement between FAPESP and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) aims to support the development of joint research projects proposed by researchers from research institutions in the United Kingdom and in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Under this agreement, joint research proposals may be submitted at any time (responsive mode submission), according to the deadlines of each Research Council. The proposal must be written jointly by researchers from the UK and from São Paulo. Both researchers must meet eligibility requirements of the respective funding agency.

1. Fields of Knowledge covered in this funding opportunity

This funding opportunity will accept proposals in all fields of knowledge. The Research Councils members of UKRI are divided in fields of knowledge as follows:

i. AHRC: Arts and Humanities Research Council
ii. BBSRC: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
iii. ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council
iv. EPSRC: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
v. MRC: Medical Research Council
vi. NERC: Natural Environment Research Council
vii. STFC: Science and Technology Facilities Council

2. Financing

2.1 Costs to be incurred by the research team based in the state of Sao Paulo will be covered by FAPESP whilst UKRI will cover the costs incurred by the team based in the UK. The budget requested to FAPESP should be prepared based on the norms related to the FAPESP support opportunity chosen, with the exceptionalities described in item 3 (below).

2.2 Applicants do not need to apply the same values ​​to both agencies. The difference in values ​​should reflect the items covered by each agency and local prices. It is expected that the proposals show a balanced partnership not specifically in monetary terms, but equivalent impairment research effort from each of the two branches.

2.3 In order to aid understanding of the composition of the budget of the two agencies, reported that in the UK the research costs are estimated to FEC - "Full Economic Costs", as defined below by UKRI:

"FEC is defined as" a cost that is measured by the full program of an organization, the total cost would reflect (direct, indirect and total), including recurrent and adequate investment in the organization's infrastructure. "Applicants should demonstrate the full economic costs of the project, regardless of who is funding. The costs may include the institution's facilities, property, direct costs and indirect costs. FEC costs should also include expenditure figures for salaries of the research team, including faculty and staff, in proportion to the weekly hours devoted to the proposed project. Individual forms of each funding agency will provide more information on this subject. According to the UKRI policy, the UK councils will contribute up to 80% of the FEC."

Warning: Note that the FAPESP budget will follow the rules for the development of the chosen support oportunity, not including therefore many of the items mentioned above, financed by UKRI.

3. FAPESP Support Opportunity

3.1 Funding of FAPESP will be through the Regular, Thematic, or Young Investigator Grant and follow strictly all the rules on the support opportunity chosen by the applicant, except for the following considerations:

a) Regular Grant: www.fapesp.br/apr.

"Exceptionally under this agreement , proposals to Regular Grant FAPESP may be financed for a period of up to 4 years, and stipulated a maximum budget of up to R$150 thousand per year. The final budget should include all scholarships and overheads costs."

b) Thematic Project Grant: www.fapesp.br/tematico.

c) Young Investigator Grant: www.fapesp.br/jp.

4. Eligibility for submission of proposals

SP researchers – The pre consultation is mandatory and must be done before submitting the joint proposal at UKRI

4.1 Joint proposals should involve researchers considered eligible by FAPESP as well as UK researchers considered eligible by chosen Council. Therefore, the principal investigator from the state of São Paulo should consult FAPESP in order to obtain a FAPESP Eligibility Letter that will be attached to the proposal at the time of submission by the British researcher.

4.2 Eligibility queries for submissions should be sent to ukri-agreement@fapesp.br, containing the following information in either Portuguese or English:

i. Curricular Summary of the Principal Investigator of the State of São Paulo (as described in www.fapesp.br/sumula)

ii. Intended FAPESP support opportunity (Regular, Thematic Project or Young Investigator Grant)

iii. Duration of the proposal

iv. Time devoted to the project by the Principal Investigator in SP (hours/week)

v. Name and Institution of the UK Researcher Partner. It is not necessary to include any other member of the British team in this eligibility analysis.

vi. Title of the proposal to be submitted

vii. Budget to be requested to FAPESP

viii. UK Research Council intended (AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, or NERC)

Important: Eligibility queries will be answered within a period of up to 14 working days upon receipt of the e-mail.

4.3 FAPESP will not reply to queries about eligibility of the UK researcher, whom should search for guidance in the UK Research Council. Contact details in item 7.2 below.

5. How to draft your research proposal

5.1 The proposal must contain a research project (Case for Support) jointly written and conceived by the researchers from the UK and from Sao Paulo. This document must be sent to FAPESP by the Sao Paulo PI and to the Research Council by the UK PI.

5.2 The research project must have a clear and objective description f the planned collaboration (distribution of tasks, and implementation methods), as well as what is expected to gain from the collaboration. The research project must be written in English and follow the guidance of the UK Research Council.

6. How to apply to FAPESP

6.1 The joint proposal must be submitted by the Principal Investigator in São Paulo to FAPESP and by the research partner based in the UK to the chosen Research Council (according to the theme of the proposal), following its rules and timelines.

6.2 Researcher from the state of São Paulo will submit the proposal exclusively through SAGe system in English language (New Proposal > Continuous Funding Stream > + Other Funding Line > Agreements > UKRI - UK Research and Innovation > UKRI - (…).).

6.3 Important: the PI from the UK must also create a complete login in SAGe system, This can be done by accessing SAGe in English in the option “Not registered?”. The researcher must fill out all fields marked as mandatory “ * ”. After having been nominated as a participant in the research proposal, the UK Pi must confirm participation in the project in SAGe.

6.4 After completing the SAGe online form and submitting the proposal to FAPESP, the Sao Paulo PI must generate a PDF copy of that proposal, and this will be attached by the UK PI in his application to the UK Research Council.

7. How to apply to UKRI

7.1 The researcher from the UK should apply to UKRI via “Responsive Mode Applications”, and must include the specific documentation for FAPESP on Je-S (UK online submission system) as "non-UK components".

7.2 Specific guidance for submission at UKRI can be found in the link below: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/collaborate-with-researchers-in-brazil/

8. Analysis and Selection

8.1 In the context of this collaboration, UKRI will receive and assess collaborative proposals from eligible applicants in both countries on behalf of both organisations. FAPESP nominated Ad hoc Reviewers will be involved with the peer review and decision making process throughout.

8.2 The views expressed by Ad hoc Reviewers nominated by FAPESP will be formally incorporated into the UK peer review process. The selection processes, as a whole, remain a process of the applicable UK Research Council.

8.3 For this reason, the status of analysis of the proposal should be followed by the UK PI in the UK Research Council.

8.4 Following the UKRI guidelines, reconsiderations or submissions of reformulated proposals that had been previously rejected (after being eligible at FAPESP) will not be accepted.

10. Contact details

Specific questions to FAPESP about the Call for Proposals should be sent to www.fapesp.br/converse. Considering the large number of queries received by Converse, we request researchers to send their queries with time in advance, avoiding urgent requests close to UKRI`s submission deadline.

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