Collaborative Calls for Proposals
FAPESP/NSFC – National Natural Science Foundation of China Versão em português
Sustainable Development International Cooperation Program (SDIC) – 2022 Call for Proposals
Guidance to researchers based in the State of São Paulo
Under the cooperation agreement between FAPESP and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), researchers from the state of São Paulo and researchers from China can submit collaborative research projects to the two institutions. Proposals may be submitted up to June 30 2022
|
Closing date: |
June 30, 2022 |
|
FAPESP Support Opportunities: |
Regular or Thematic Project Grants, with the exceptionalities as described in the announcement of opportunity below. |
|
Maximum duration of the project: |
Exceptionally, up to 36 months for Regular and Thematic Project Grants |
|
Eligibility: |
Depending on the criteria of the chosen support opportunity. Consultation of eligibility to FAPESP is mandatory for Thematic Project Grants. |
|
Submission: |
The joint proposal must be submitted by research partner based in China to NSFC, and by the researcher based in São Paulo to FAPESP. |
|
Contact: |
Chamada-nsfc@fapesp.br (FAPESP) and rongnh@nsfc.gov.cn or tangrd@nsfc.gov.cn (NSFC) |
Information on the procedures for preparing and submitting research proposals to FAPESP is below. For more information, please see the complete call at the NSFC webpage, available at https://bic.nsfc.gov.cn/Show.aspx?AI=1623.
1. Background
1.1 A systematic understanding of the synergies and conflicts among Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is of great significance for balancing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development and for the ultimate realization of the SDGs. With the theme of “human-environment system dynamics and UN’s SDGs”, NSFC has launched the Program on Sustainable Development International Cooperation (SDIC) to contribute to the global effort for a sustainable future.
1.2 Under the scope of this program, FAPESP and NSFC promoted a joint workshop in November 2021, called “The Synergy on Climate Change Research in China and Brazil”, with presentation of scientists from both countries who are involved in actions to combat climate change as its impacts. Please see here the webpage of the workshop, where all the presentations are available.
1.3 For the year 2022, the SDIC program launches, in partnership with several international funding partners (including FAPESP), the call for proposals on the topic: The dynamics of surface earth system and their relationship with sustainable development.
2. Priority themes
2.1 Projects that contemplate the themes below will be given priority for funding:
The response and adaptive management of ecosystem to climate change
a) Evolution of biodiversity, structure, function, services of ecosystems under the influence of climate change and human activities.
b) Reciprocal feedbacks between ecosystems and climate systems, carbon sequestration in forest and agricultural ecosystems and their regulatory mechanisms.
c) Impact mechanisms of atmospheric pollution and extreme climate events on the coupled cycle of carbon, nitrogen and water in the ecosystems; response of the food system to climate change and rising atmospheric greenhouse gases concentration.
d) Responses of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in tropical forest ecosystems to global warming, especially the carbon sink pattern and their carbon sink potential of tropical forests under different climate change scenarios, and the assessment of the stability and the risk of tipping point of tropical forests carbon sink.
e) Carbon accumulation process and their effects on in tropical peatlands, and the impact of methane emissions from peatlands on the Holocene atmospheric methane concentration.
The impacts of climate change on ecosystems, including coastal areas, agroforestry ecosystem and human health and their response.
f) Resilience and adaptability of cities to climate change, based on natural solutions including spatial heterogeneity of urban heat island effects, thermal exposure of different urban vulnerable groups, spatial planning of urban green infrastructure.
g) Responses, feedbacks and change prediction of ocean systems in the context of global change, including the role of ocean waves in global sea-air energy fluxes and heat fluxes, the improvement of ocean-atmosphere coupled models, the development of climate simulation and prediction systems; the study of the relationship between the open ocean and coastal processes, i.e. the impact of climate change on coastal sea level change, saltwater intrusion and extreme marine meteorological disasters.
h) Future change prediction and risk averaging of extreme climate events. For China and Brazil, develop predicting technologies and methods for different time periods in the future, make refined prediction of future changes and risks of extreme climate events at the regional scale, improve the accuracy of predictions in order to support the adaptation and sustainable development of the region.
i) Carbon sink processes of sea shelf. Compare the key processes and regulatory mechanisms of carbon sequestration and carbon storage in China and Brazil coastal (shelf sea) ecosystems, improve the accuracy of the assessment of coastal carbon sequestration and carbon storage capacity, and explore the impact of climate change and human activities on carbon sequestration and carbon storage capacity of shelf sea ecosystems.
j) Comparative research on the variation patterns of the East Asian monsoon and the South American monsoon and the change projections under different temperature rise scenarios, improve the prediction accuracy of climate change in the two monsoon regions including extreme precipitation and extreme temperature, and study the response to the change.
2.2 Further description of the themes might be found in the complete call, available at https://bic.nsfc.gov.cn/Show.aspx?AI=1623.
3. Financing
3.1 Costs to be incurred by the research team based in the state of Sao Paulo will be covered by FAPESP. The budget requested to FAPESP should be prepared based on the norms related to the FAPESP support opportunity chosen (Regular Grant or Thematic Project Grant). The budget limit on FAPESP side for this Call is exceptionally up to R$ 450.000,00 for Regular Grants and up to R$ 1.700.000,00 for Thematic Project Grants.
3.2 NSFC will cover the costs incurred by the team based in China, according to their own funding rules. Researchers from a third State or country can be included in the proposal as partners of the research project, with the costs covered by it. The budget limit on NSFC side is up to US$ 100.000,00 for capacity-building project which provides seed money to enable further research and collaboration including collaborative research, researcher mobility, networking, workshops, training, fieldwork, and etc. (equivalent to a Regular Grant at FAPESP) and up to US$ 300.000,00 for key project which addresses key aspects of challenges to the SDGs through joint research (equivalent to a Thematic Project Grant at FAPESP).
3.3 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 teams.
4. FAPESP Support Opportunity
4.1 Funding of FAPESP will be through the Regular or Thematic Project Grant and follow strictly all the rules on the support opportunity chosen by the applicant, with exceptionalities of duration (up to 36 months for both support oportunities) and budget limit (as described on item 3.1 above):
a) Regular Grant: fapesp.br/apr
b) Thematic Project Grant: fapesp.br/en/thematic
5. Eligibility for submission of proposals
5.1 The principal investigator from the state of São Paulo must consult FAPESP regarding his/her eligibility for Thematic Project Grants. For submissions to Regular Grants, the consultation is not necessary.
5.2 Eligibility inquiries must be sent exclusively through the SAGe System, through the Menu “Nova Proposta Inicial” > “Chamadas Vigentes” > “NSFC – Projeto Temático” > “Chamada 2022”. The following information must be provided, attaching the appropriate documents where indicated:
a) Title and summary of the project, indicating the duration of the proposal to be submitted;
b) Curriculum Summary of the Researcher of the state of São Paulo (as described in fapesp.br/en/6351);
c) List of current FAPESP projects or proposals under analysis, justifying any potential simultaneity;
d) Name and Institution of the foreign PI;
e) Estimated time to be spent on the project by the Researcher from the state of SP (hours/week).
5.3 Important: Eligibility queries will be answered within a period of up to 14 working days after submitting the inquiery to SAGe.
5.4 Researchers considered eligible for the Call will receive instructions for submission of the complete proposal via diligence through SAGe. The full proposal must be submitted by June 30, 2022.
5.5 Proposals for Regular Grants do not require an eligibility analysis. All mandatory documents requested by SAGe must be sent by June 30, 2022.
6. How to apply to FAPESP
6.1 The joint proposal must be submitted by the Principal Investigator in São Paulo at SAGe and by the research partner at NSFC by ISISN. The research partner should also create a SAGe login.
6.2 Important: The Chinese PI must also create a complete login in SAGe system. This registration is needed so that the Chinese researcher can confirm participation in the project proposal in SAGe.
6.2.1 The researcher must fill out all required fields (*) in SAGe, otherwise his/her registration will not be valid to be included as Partner Researcher.
6.2.2 After having been nominated as a participant in the research proposal, the Chinese PI must confirm participation in the project in SAGe.
6.2.3 Within SAGe, under the “Guides” link, it is possible to find documents that explain how to register users.
7. How to apply to NSFC
7.1 Chinese applicants must submit a completed online application to the NSFC’s Internet-based Science Information System (ISISN), available at (isisn.nsfc.gov.cn/egrantweb/). Specific information on how to apply to NSFC can be found in the complete Call, available at https://bic.nsfc.gov.cn/Show.aspx?AI=1623.
8. How to draft your research proposal
8.1 The proposal must contain a Research Project jointly written and conceived by the researchers from China and from Sao Paulo, and will be submitted to FAPESP and to NSFC.
8.2 The research project must describe with clarity and objectively the planned collaboration (distribution of tasks, and implementation methods), as well as what is expected to gain from the collaboration.
8.3 The research project must be written in English and follow the guidance of the chosen FAPESP’s Support Opportunity’s guidelines regarding the format and number of pages.
9. Criteria and Principles for Project Selection
9.1 Projects should address the multiple dimensions of sustainability in an integrated way (meet two or more SDGs);
9.2 The research should focus on the scientific questions in their respective fields and also deal with the scientific challenges of sustainable development, and specifically focus on the dynamics of environmental-social-economic systems and the interplay between the environmental system and social system for achieving SDGs in developing countries;
9.3 Projects should pursue research excellence, especially innovative ideas, methodologies, and approaches;
9.4 Projects should give specific focus to young researcher training and international partnership building (especially multilateral cooperation);
9.5 Project teams must be international in composition and provide added value by working across disciplinary boundaries.
10. Analysis and Selection
10.1 Proponents must respect the evaluation procedure described by NSFC and FAPESP. Proposals that do not comply with the requirements of NSFC and FAPESP in this Call for Proposals will not be eligible for merit analysis and will be immediately notified of their disqualification. Proposals deemed eligible for this opportunity will be evaluated using a three-step procedure:
I. FAPESP and NSFC will proceed with a peer review analysis by ad hoc reviewers, in accordance with the standard procedures of each institution. The analysis system used by FAPESP is available at fapesp.br/analise;
II. Their opinions will substantiate the analysis of proposals by the Scientific Coordination of FAPESP (area coordinators and associate coordinators);
III. The final recommendation of these coordinations will be reviewed jointly by the two agencies, who will report the results to researchers from both countries at the same time.
10.2 The funding recommendation is final and therefore no recourse is possible.
11. How to find partner researchers in São Paulo
11.1 FAPESP maintains an online database (BV FAPESP - Research Supported by FAPESP) with all funded grants and fellowships, in all areas of knowledge. Searches can be done on researchers’ profiles and their granted projects, references of scientific articles, host institutions, theme-oriented programs, subjects and others.
12. Contact details
12.1 Specific questions to FAPESP about this funding opportunity can be sent to chamada-nsfc@fapesp.br.
12.2 Specific questions to NSFC about this funding opportunity can be sent to Mr. RONG Nianhe, rongnh@nsfc.gov.cn, or Mr. TANG Rongda, tangrd@nsfc.gov.cn.