Agreements

Joint Call for Proposals: Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry of Colombia (MinCiencias) and FAPESP 2020 Versão em português

NOTE: The deadline for submission of proposals was postponed to August 18, 2020


Summary

Call announcement:

30 June 2020

Deadline for submission:

18 August 2020 (15:00 in Colombia, 23:59 in São Paulo)

Results:

5 November 2020

FAPESP Support Opportunity:

Regular Research Grant (with exceptionalities according to item 5.2)

Maximum duration of the projects:

24 months

Eligibility:

Researchers affiliated with Higher Education or Research Institutions in the State of São Paulo

Submission:

To FAPESP via SAGe and to MinCiencias via SIGP

FAPESP Contact Details:

www.fapesp.br/converse/

MinCiencias Contact Details:

atencionalciudadano@minciencias.gov.co

MinCiencias Announcement of Opportunity:

https://minciencias.gov.co/convocatorias/internacionalizacion/convocatoria-proyectos-investigacion-conjunta-con-grupos


1. Introduction

FAPESP and MinCiencias signed in March 2020 a Memorandum of Understanding aiming to promote and strengthen collaboration between researchers from the State of São Paulo and from Colombia.

Under the scope of this Agreement, FAPESP and MinCiencias launch the present Call for Proposals to push forward and consolidate this partnership. This opportunity is open to researchers affiliated to Higher Education and Research Institutions in the State of São Paulo and to researchers and Research Institutions in Colombia.

In terms of research efforts, it is envisaged that applications will be for a balanced partnership, not specifically in monetary terms but with equivalent research commitment and efforts from both sides. Each proposal should be an integrated Colombian-Brazilian research project with both partners from Colombia and the State of São Paulo who join their strengths to execute a joint research project. The research should be carried out both in the State of São Paulo and in Colombia.

The researchers from the State of São Paulo who are interested in applying to this present Call must follow the instructions described in these guidelines. Colombian researchers must follow the instructions described in these guidelines and additional instructions from MinCiencias at https://minciencias.gov.co/convocatorias/internacionalizacion/convocatoria-proyectos-investigacion-conjunta-con-grupos.

2. Research Themes

The present Call invites Research Proposals in the fields of security and defence, environment and agricultural sciences

3. Eligibility of Researchers

3.1. Eligible researchers for FAPESP:

Researchers eligible for FAPESP funding under the scope of this Call must be employees of public or private Higher Education or Research Institutions in the State of São Paulo and must meet the FAPESP eligibility requirements for the Regular Research Awards, described at www.fapesp.br/apr.

3.2. Eligible researchers for MinCiencias:

Researchers eligible for MinCiencias funding under the scope of this Call must be Researchers with an employment status in universities or Research Institutions in Colombia recognized by Minciencias.

4. Characteristics of Proposals under this call

4.1. Each proposal must have a Principal Investigator in the State of São Paulo and one Principal Investigator in Colombia

4.2. The research project must be jointly conceived and written by the proponents from the State of São Paulo and from Colombia, in two versions with the same content in Portuguese and Spanish

4.3. The joint research project cannot exceed 15 pages and shall include:

a. Title of the project

b. Thematic line

c. Duration

d. Place of execution

e. Principal investigator in São Paulo and in Colombia

f. Formation and trajectory of the members of the alliance

g. Background

h. Executive summary (maximum 300 words)

i. Statement of the problem and the research question

j. State of the Art.

k. Justification

l. Objectives (general and specific)

m. Methodology

n. Expected results of the research

o. Expected products of the research

p. Possible evaluators

q. Environmental impact

r. Bibliography

s. Keywords

t. Schedule

u. Action plan (where the cooperation component must be determined)

5. Funding modalities and eligible costs

5.1. FAPESP and MinCiencias will fund a maximum of four proposals in this call.

5.2. FAPESP will cover the costs to the research team based in the State of Sao Paulo to the maximum of R$200,000.00, and MinCiencias will cover the costs to the research team based in Colombia to the maximum of 200,000,000COP, per proposal.

5.3. Eligible costs for MinCiencias:

5.4. All costs have to be specified in the Colombian proposal, and must be written in accordance with MinCiencias rules stipulated in the terms of reference “8. Contents of the Project”.

a. Scientific personnel

b. Equipment

c. Materials and supplies

d. Bibliography

e. Technical services

f. Field visits

g. Research mobility for the two years for up to $33.920.000 COP

h. Publications and patents

i. Operation costs (up to 7% of the funding asked to Minciencias; if the alliance is led by an autonomous center or by public institutions of research and technological development, it may ask for up to 15% of the fundable amount, according to the policy of actors of the National System of STI)

j. Follow-up and evaluation (3%).

5.5. Eligible costs for FAPESP:

5.6 Funding and eligible costs must be in accordance with FAPESP norms for the Regular Research Awards (www.fapesp.br/apr).

Eligible costs to FAPESP are:

a) Consumables

b) Services

c) Small equipment (below R$100.000,00)

d) Travel costs of Brazilian researchers going to Colombia

e) Technical Training Fellowships (www.fapesp.br/bolsas/tt)

f) Research Overhead (Fringe Benefits, Direct Research Infrastructure Costs and Institutional Research Infrastructure)

6. Submission

6.1. The Principal Investigator from São Paulo must submit the collaborative proposal to FAPESP and the Principal Investigator from Colombia must submit the collaborative proposal to MinCiencias.

6.2. The closing date for the submission of proposals is 18 August 2020. No proposals will be accepted after the closing date for submission, nor will any addendum or explanation be accepted, unless those are explicitly and formally requested by FAPESP or MinCiencias. Proposals not received before the deadline or not in conformity to the specifications herein will be declared ineligible. Proposals submitted with missing signatures, lacking mandatory documentation or using templates other than those provided by FAPESP or MinCiencias will be returned

6.3. Proposals must be submitted to both agencies through their online systems:

Submission to FAPESP: The specific path for this opportunity in the SAGe system is: Nova Proposta Inicial > + Outras Linhas de Fomento > + Acordos de Cooperação> MinCiencias - Ministerio de Ciencia Tecnología e Innovación da Colômbia> + MinCiencias - Projeto de Pesquisa - Regular> + Chamada de Propostas (2020).

Submission to MinCiencias: The proposal must be submitted by Colombian PI through the website https://minciencias.gov.co/scienti (all the information of the application is in “9. Registration procedure”).

6.4. After the deadline, MinCiencias and FAPESP will check whether the proposals have been submitted simultaneously in Colombia and the State of São Paulo. They will inform each other of the results. If a proposal is submitted in only one country and/or received after the deadline, it will be declared ineligible.

7. Application timeline

Launching of call: 30 June 2020

Submission deadline: 18 August 2020 (15:00 in Colombia, 23:59 in Sao Paulo)

Results announced: 5 November 2020

8. Assessment and Selection

8.1. Evaluation Procedure

The applicants shall respect the evaluation procedure outlined by MinCiencias and FAPESP. Proposals that do not comply with the rules established in this Call will not be qualified for merit analysis. Proposals considered eligible for this opportunity will be evaluated using a three-step procedure:

1) FAPESP and MinCiencias will perform peer-review analyses according to the standard procedures of each Institution. The systematic of analysis used by FAPESP is available at https://fapesp.br/1480. Meanwhile, each eligible application submitted at MinCiencias will be peer-reviewed by Colombian expert panels and international external referees.

2) After the peer-review analysis, the proposals proceed to an Evaluation Panel in each Agency, who evaluate the proposals on the following overarching criteria:

a) International scientific level of the research groups

b) Complementarity of the research teams of each country and their level of expertise

c) Methodology

d) Originality and innovative nature of the project

e) Importance of the project

f) Purpose of the project

g) Feasibility, and focus of the project

h) Collaboration and coordination between research departments

i) Scientific context (appropriateness, expertise, and infrastructure) of the research departments

j) Necessity of the resources budgeted

In addition, great importance is attached to the added value of the international collaboration, the complementarity/synergy between the partners, the contribution/coordination of research tasks, and to the exchange of researchers.

3) The partner agencies will then exchange recommendations and will jointly determine which proposals will be recommended for funding.

The funding recommendation is final and no appeals will be accepted.

8. Intellectual property

8.1. In case of approval of the proposal, a Letter of Agreement (or “Consortium Agreement”) must be signed between the partner Host Institutions (from Colombia and from the State of São Paulo), establishing how Intellectual Property rights, confidentiality and publications will be treated jointly, in accordance to the policies of each Funding Agency and each Host Institution. Please note that no specific format for this agreement will be provided by MinCiencias or FAPESP.

8.2. The presentation of this Letter of Agreement is required for signature of the grant contract by FAPESP.

9. Contact information

Researchers from the State of São Paulo: specific questions to FAPESP about the Call for Proposals should be sent to 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 the call for proposals` submission deadline.

Researchers from Colombia: specific questions to MinCiencias about the Call for Proposals should be sent to atencionalciudadano@minciencias.gov.co.