Calls for Proposals
Joint Call for Proposals: FAPESP and Institut Pasteur of São Paulo Versão em português
Note 2: the deadline for submission of pre-proposal has been extended until January 5, 2024
Note 1: The Pasteur-USP Scientific Platform (SPPU) is now transformed into ‘Institut Pasteur de São Paulo’.
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Call announcement: |
November 03, 2023 |
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Deadline for submission of pre-proposal: |
December 15, 2023 |
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Selection result of pre-proposal announcement: |
January 31st, 2024 |
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Submission of full proposal: |
March 15, 2024 |
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FAPESP Support Opportunity: |
Young Investigator Grant (Institut Pasteur G4 Group) |
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Maximum duration of the projects: |
48 months, with the possibility of a 12-month extension. |
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Submission of pre-proposal: |
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Call announcement at Pasteur: |
1. Introduction
This call is launched by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP, Institut Pasteur and the University of São Paulo – USP, as a result of their Cooperation Agreement signed in December 2021.
This is an international call for applications for young researchers in the life sciences to lead a four-year research group (“G4”) within the Institut Pasteur of São Paulo (previously The Pasteur-USP Scientific Platform), hosted by the University of São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil.
A G4 is a programme for supporting a new structure in an institute belonging to the Pasteur Institut Network.
The applicant should ideally be an early to mid-career post-doctoral scientist (between 5 - 10 years of Post doctoral position), wishing to establish a research group as an independent researcher in relation with the scientific strategy of the host institute. The proposed research project should be innovative and timely yet realistic within the 4-year timeframe of the award. He/she should be able to conduct his/her research in an independent manner, initiate collaborations, and will have demonstrated his/her capacity to secure international funding.
As for any research group, the G4 award holder will be encouraged to develop and strengthen his/her capacity to manage a team and to welcome and supervise Masters and PhD students, as well as interns. A G4 Principal Investigator (PI) can also supervise postdoctoral researchers. The G4 team, as staff of this institute, must adhere to its rules and regulation.
The G4 program will propose to the G4 PI, a mentorship and to attend to the Laboratory Leadership for Group Leaders course.
2. Research Themes
Research must be focused on monitoring viral respiratory diseases in humans/animals with epidemic/pandemic potential, the priorities will be given to Pandemic Grippe and Avian Flu. A particular attention will be payed to the candidate expertise on exploring infectious and (immuno) pathological processes, discovery of new pathological markers; development of preventive measures/ effective control strategies.
3. Eligibility criteria
To be eligible to submit a proposal to this call, a researcher must:
a) Comply with the eligibility requirements of FAPESP’s Young Investigator Grant, as specified in www.fapesp.br/en/yia;
b) Have ideally between 5 to 10 years post-doctoral experience in national or internationally ranked laboratories;
c) Be fluent in English;
d) Not have a permanent position at Institut Pasteur de Sao Paulo, FIOCRUZ or USP;
This call is open to all nationalities.
4. Characteristics of Proposals under this Call
a) Candidates must follow the FAPESP’s rules and guidelines for submitting proposals for the Young Investigator Grant (www.fapesp.br/en/yia);
b) The research project must be written in English;
c) Adequacy of the Project with the research objectives of the Institut Pasteur de São Paulo, as described above (item 2.)
4.1 Duration of the Grant
a) The duration of the proposed project must be 48 months. The duration may be extended up to 12 months, when requested at the end of the third year, and depending upon a successful merit review by FAPESP and Institut Pasteur.
b) During the development of the research project, it is expected that the Young Investigator will apply to opportunities for permanent hiring in positions open at the host institution in the state of São Paulo (tenure track option).
c) After the conclusion of the project, if the Young Investigator obtained a permanent position in a university or research institution in the state of São Paulo, he/she can continue his/her research activities by applying for funding through FAPESP regular lines.
4.2. Support offered by FAPESP:
a) Items allowed by FAPESP as described in item 7 of the Young Investigator Grant Guidelines (www.fapesp.br/en/yia);
b) A Young Investigator Fellowship, to be paid for up the duration of the grant or until the Young Investigator obtains a permanent position at the host institution in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The fellowship lasts for 24 months, with the possibility of a 24-month extension and a last 12-month extension, always depending upon a successful merit review. The monthly value of the scholarship is announced at www.fapesp.br/3162 ;
c) Exceptionally for this Call it is allowed to request one Post-Doctoral (PD) scholarship, for a candidate to be selected by the Young Investigator. FAPESP’s rules for the Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program, as described at www.fapesp.br/en/5427 must be observed and followed.
4.3. Support offered by Institut Pasteur:
a) Institut Pasteur will allocate a maximum amount of fifty thousand Euros (€)50.000 per year to the G4 for the duration of the G4. The funds allocated shall be used to cover the following expenses:
- staffing costs, corresponding to 30% to 50% of the total amount per year travels and missions of the G4 scientific members (participation to workshops and meetings),
- operating costs, and
- equipment.
Management costs are NOT eligible.
5. Submission of pre-proposal
5.1 The pre-proposal must be sent in English exclusively to the e-mails pasteur-usp@fapesp.br and paola.minoprio@pasteur.fr including the following information:
a) CV in English;
b) A brief summary of previous scientific achievements and how they contribute to the current proposal (1 page);
c) Summary description of the Research Project;
d) Estimated budget to be requested from FAPESP and from Pasteur Institut;
e) The contribution that will be given by the PI addressed to the priorities of the Institut Pasteur de Sao Paulo as defined in item 2 (1 page). Justify why the proposal is in line with it.
5.2 The deadline for submission of pre-proposal is December 15, 2023. Late submissions will not be reviewed. An acknowledgement receipt e-mail will confirm It will confirm the receipt of the proposal.
6.Submission of full-proposal(for those whose pre-proposal has been approved)
a) The proposal must be submitted through FAPESP’s proposal submission platform, SAGe. All the documents required by the SAGe platform must be uploaded during the online submission. Proposals lacking required documents will be returned without review. The specific path for this Call is: Nova Proposta Inicial > + Outras Linhas de Fomento > + Acordos de Cooperação > + Plataforma Científica Pasteur-USP > + Projeto de Pesquisa – Jovens Pesquisadores > + Chamada de Propostas (2023).
b) In addition to the normal documents required for Young Investigator Grant proposals, the following items must also be submitted:
- A table with the breakdown budget concerning the 200k Euros requested from Institut Pasteur (https://www.pasteur.fr/en/file/42938/download);
- A complete list of publications;
- 2-3 letters of recommendation, by researchers not affiliated to the Institut Pasteur de Sao Paulo;
- Letters from their previous and actual PI stating contribution for grants application and training of younger students ( Master, PhD, etc.);
- A letter from the host institution agreeing with the appropriateness of the application.
7. Timeline
Call announcement: November 03, 2023
Deadline for submission of pre-proposal: December 15, 2023
Pre-Proposal evaluation result sent to PIs: January 31st, 2024
Submission of full-proposal: March 15, 2024
Selection committee Interview: April 15, 2024
Selection result announcement: April 30, 2024
Start of Project: June 1st, 2024
8. Assessment criteria, evaluation and selection
8.1 Procedures
The review process will have two phases, Eligibility of pre-proposals and Merit Analysis of full-proposals.
Eligibility of pre-proposals:
Institut Pasteur of São Paulo will review the feasibility of the pre-proposal under the point of view of its strategy and development capacity in the current infrastructure. FAPESP will appraise the merit of the candidates.
Only pre-proposals approved by FAPESP and Institut Pasteur de São Paulo will be invited to submit on-line full-proposals.
Approved candidates will receive the document “Descrição do parque de equipamentos” and will be required to fill out the document “Manifestação do Dirigente e Anexo II”. The proposal must avoid duplicity of equipment, since the existing equipment in the present infrastructure will be described in the “Descrição do parque de equipamentos”.
Merit Analysis of full-proposals:
The merit analysis of the full-proposals will be conducted exclusively by Institut Pasteur, acting as the lead agency of the G4 programme. Applicants will be evaluated by the Institut Pasteur P4P committee on the basis of their applications, according to the following assessment criteria.
8.2 Assessment criteria
In addition to the procedures used for the FAPESP Young Investigator Grant, the merit analysis regarding the candidatesfor G4 Leader will consider:
- The quality of the candidate’s scientific career, based on publication record;
- Peer-recognition of the candidate;
- Ability to obtain funding to his/her previous projects;
- Ability to manage and train junior scientists.
The merit analysis regarding the pre-proposalwill consider:
- Quality, originality and feasibility of the project;
- How innovative and ambitious within the priority research topics described in 2.
- Added value to the Institut Pasteur of São Paulo;
- Contribution to health priorities of the Brazilian region.
The merit analysis of the full-proposal led by the Institut Pasteur will also consider:
- Willingness to participate in the strengthening of the Pasteur Network;
- Capacity to initiate new strategic cooperation with research institutions at local, regional and international level;
- Convergence among CV, Project originality/quality and Institut Pasteur de São Paulo strategy for the present call.
8.3 Final Decision
a) The best two to five (2 to 5) ranked proposals by the Institut Pasteur P4P committee will be submitted to the Joint Steering Committee for the selection of a single candidate. These candidates will be interwied during the meeting of the joint steering committee. The Institut Pasteur will lead the selection committee meeting.
b) The University of São Paulo members of the Steering Committee will have the opportunity to ask international ad hoc experts for an evaluation of the selected applications and to share their impressions during the decision meeting.
c) The Steering Committee will consist of the following members:
- The Director or a member of the Institut Pasteur Department of International Affairs;
- A member of the Institut Pasteur of São Paulo Scientific Commission;
- The President of the USP International Cooperation Office (AUCANI);
- A member indicated by the Rector of USP;
- A representative of the Scientific Director of FAPESP, without voting.
d) The nomination of the selected candidate is final and therefore no appeal for reconsideration is possible.
9. Terms of Agreement
Once a G4 Leader has been selected, USP and Institut Pasteur will enter into a G4 creation agreement with the selected G4 Leader. This agreement will specify the functioning and the operating conditions of the G4 program led by the G4 Leader. Such agreement shall set forth provisions regarding the scope of the research program of the G4, G4 Leader rights and obligations, financial matters, liability and insurance, ownership and exploitation of intellectual property rights on G4 activities/results, monitoring of the collaborative project within the G4, communication and publications, confidentiality, as well as the dissemination of results.
10. FAPESP’s Research Networking Tool
The Virtual Library (www.bv.fapesp.br/en) includes FAPESP’s database of awarded research grants and scholarships. In it, you may search for information on grants and fellowships funded by FAPESP, including abstracts as well the name of participating researchers and their institutions. The Virtual Library includes an interface that allows contacting FAPESP-funded researchers by sending them a message.
11. Contact information
Candidates are invited to contact the Institut Pasteur of São Paulo to agree on the equipment that should be asked in the proposal in order to avoid duplicity of equipment in the present infrastructure
Questions related to this Call must be directed to:
a) FAPESP: Virginia Sanches Subiñas – pasteur-usp@scientificplatform@fapesp.br
b) Institut Pasteur de São Paulo: Paola Minoprio – paola.minoprio@pasteur.fr
c) Institut Pasteur: Marianne LUCAS-HOURANI – marianne.lucas-hourani@pasteur.fr