Download Multi-project Grant within the French

Multi-project Grant within the French-Swedish Common
Research and Training Programme on Climate and
Environment – By invitation only
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Conditions
Application content
Instructions for applying
General terms and conditions for applications
Evaluation and decisions
When and how to apply
Contacts
This call aims to strengthen cooperation between Swedish scientist and scientists at
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environment (LSCE): (i) climate dynamics
reconstruction, (ii) transfers and tracers in the environment, (iii) integrated climate – carbon
modeling, (iv) atmospheric composition and surface fluxes and (v) interactions between man,
climate and the environment.
France and Sweden have agreed to establish a seven year agreement between the Swedish and French
governments in the fields of climate change and environment. Approximately 16 million Swedish kronor
(SEK) have been allocated in the first call for grant applications, corresponding to 2 million Euro. Half of
this is reserved for Swedish scientists and half for scientists at LSCE. A new call for cooperative projects
is expected in 2013.
Conditions
To apply, you must have submitted a Letter of Intent and received an invitation for a full proposal to this
call. Your research must be performed in a collaborative project addressing one or more of the thematic
areas listed below.
Thematic areas
Multi-project Grant in the fields of climate change and environment includes the following areas:
1. Climate dynamics reconstruction
Reconstruction of climate and environment dynamics from natural archives is the cornerstone of the
understanding of climate evolution at various time scales, and its interaction with carbon cycle and the
cryosphere. In this area both Sweden and France will develop projects involving experimental analytic
activities, completed by climate modeling. A particular emphasis will be put on understanding
mechanisms of climate imprint, abrupt climate change, climate variations during the last millennium,
climate response to orbital forcing, and the dynamics of ocean, atmosphere and the water cycle,
especially in arctic regions.
2. Transfers and tracers in the environment
Understanding the dynamics of transfers in the environment and the timing of climate change is a
prerequisite of sustainable development of human societies and the persistence of ecosystem services.
Human and climate pressure play a key-role regarding water and material transfer in the environment
such as runoff, erosion, re-mineralization and retention from the soils in the upper river watershed to the
coastal zone and open sea. The development of new chronological and geochemical tracers in soils,
particles, rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal areas (trace elements, isotopes, radio-elements) coupled to
ecosystem and transfer models is needed to cope with these new challenges. Through a French-Swedish
collaborative effort, a particular emphasis will be put on processes which generate mass flux through
either natural processes or human activity, to ultimately understand the drivers of the evolution of mass
transfers in the context of climate change and man impact on ecosystems.
3. Integrated climate – carbon modeling
Understanding the dynamics of transfers in the environment and the timing of climate change is a
prerequisite of sustainable development of human societies and the persistence of ecosystem services.
Human and climate pressure play a key-role regarding water and material transfer in the environment
such as runoff, erosion, re-mineralization and retention from the soils in the upper river watershed to the
coastal zone and open sea. The development of new chronological and geochemical tracers in soils,
particles, rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal areas (trace elements, isotopes, radio-elements) coupled to
ecosystem and transfer models is needed to cope with these new challenges. Through a French-Swedish
collaborative effort, a particular emphasis will be put on processes which generate mass flux through
either natural processes or human activity, to ultimately understand the drivers of the evolution of mass
transfers in the context of climate change and man impact on ecosystems.
4. Atmospheric composition and surface fluxes
The monitoring of atmospheric composition and the understanding of the sources and processes that
control its composition are of uppermost importance both in the context of climate change and air
quality. France and Sweden operate several stations that sample the atmospheric composition at various
sites and their cooperation should be further strengthen, in particular for the understanding of the
specificities of high-latitude regions. A major priority is the development of inverse modeling techniques
of biogeochemical cycles from global to regional scales, with application to the verification of C02
emissions and carbon cycle changes at regional scale.
5. Interactions between man, climate and the environment
In order to understand the past and future evolution of the earth system, interdisciplinary studies that
investigate the relationships between man (from hominids to modem) climate and environment with a
large spectrum in time and space are needed. In the time domain, the focus is to understand the
evolution of human populations and their spread till the last millennium in relation with available
resources and climate change. In the space domain, we are also interest in the regional impact related to
Anthropogenic forcing (coastal region, megacities). These studies will be based on modeling and data
acquisition developed in the other themes.
Applicant
Applicants are individual researchers at Swedish research institutions and at LSCE who serve as the
project leaders and have the scientific responsibility for the project. All projects must have actively
involved Swedish and French partners. If the grant application includes funding for equipment, the main
applicant has the primary responsibility for the equipment and its scientific use. Other participants (coapplicants) are the researchers holding a PhD who are most relevant to the implementation of the
proposed project.
Required qualifications
Swedish partners must hold a Swedish doctoral degree, or an equivalent foreign degree, awarded no
later than the closing date for applications in this call. French partners must be an active researcher at
LSCE.
Grant period
The grant is awarded for 1 to 3 years.
Costs and grant amount
Each Swedish and French partner may apply for up to 100 000 Euro per year, including indirect costs.
Invited full project proposals can apply for financial support to:
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collaborative research projects on climate and environment gathering Swedish and LSCE teams,
possibly involving also other French teams. The collaborative projects can include support to PhD
positions and training, post-docs, technical staff and research assistants, travel, accommodation
and other project related costs (including equipment).
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exchange programs for short and long-term stay of senior scientists.
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use of Swedish research infrastructures by LSCE teams.
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Use of LSCE facilities by Swedish scientists, including access for visiting Swedish scientists
to LSCE computing facilities. LSCE will provide user support and office space.
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PhD and Master students’ visits to LSCE and UVSQ is promoted and should, if possible, be
outlined in the application.
The grant may include possible subcontracting costs for implementing some parts of the programme.
Grants to Swedish partners may not be used for scholarships. If a doctoral student participates, project
funding may not be used to pay salary for the time that the doctoral student is teaching.
Multiple grants
You may apply for a Multi-project grant even if you are currently receiving a Project Research Grant from
the Swedish Research Council.
Administration
Grants to Swedish partners are normally administered by a Swedish university or higher education
institution, or another public organization in Sweden engaged in research (administrative entity).
Grants to LSCE researchers are administrated by LSCE.
The Swedish Research Council requires that a final financial report be submitted for every grant. Starting
with the 2011 round of applications, we will check to confirm that the project leader has submitted a final
financial report from every previous grant received. If a final financial report is missing, the current
application will be rejected.
If you are uncertain whether your final financial reports have been submitted, contact the person
responsible at your administrative entity.
Employer and terms of employment
Project leaders of grants financed by the Swedish Research Council must be employed by the
administrative entity, unless the Swedish Research Council and the administrative entity agree
otherwise. However, you do not need to be employed at the time you submit your application. If the
project leader has another employer, the employer must approve his/her participation. By signing
Appendix S, the administrative entity´s representative confirms its commitment.
Application content
The application, which should be written in English, must contain the following:
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Summary
Popular science description
Budget information
Research programme (Appendix A)
CV (Appendix B)
Publication list (Appendix C)
Description of French collaboration (Appendix b5)
Signatures (Appendix S)
Summary
The summary of the research programme should contain a brief description of:
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what will be done
how the research will be conducted, what scientific methods will be used
what is important about the planned research.
The text should quickly orient the reader to the purpose and implementation of the research. Write in a
style that allows people from other research backgrounds to easily comprehend the information. Fill in
the summary on the form in the application system.
Popular science description
Describe the project in a popular science style so that even those who are not familiar with the topic can
understand.
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Describe what will be done and why.
Emphasise the basic research.
Explain in what way the new knowledge can be important.
The popular science description is an important tool when the Swedish Research Council informs others
about the research we finance. If we award funding for your application we have the right to use the
description for informational purposes. Fill in the popular science description on the form in the
application system. The popular science description as well as your address should be written in
English.
Budget information
Indicate the amount (both direct and indirect project-related costs) budgeted for salaries and other
project costs.
Equipment applied for within the project should be included in the total acquisition costs for the year you
intend to acquire it. Depreciation costs for equipment cannot be included.
Fill in the budget information on the form provided in the application system. Note: Use thousand
Swedish kronor (SEK 1000s) to indicate the amounts.
Research programme (Appendix A)
Appendix A must present a brief but complete description of the research objective (maximum of ten A4
pages, including references). Please note that any pages beyond the number allowed will not be
considered in the evaluation.
The research programme, including other appendixes, should be written in English since the Swedish
Research Council uses international reviewers.
The research programme must include the following information, under separate headings:
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Purpose and aims. Present the overall purpose and specific goals of the research project (or
equivalent).
Survey of the field. Summarise your own and others´ research and previous findings in the
research field. Provide key references.
Project description. Summarise the project´s design. Describe theory, methods, timetable, and
implementation. Also describe how the considerations expressed in the review of the Letter of
Intent.
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Relevance. Briefly describe the relevance with emphasis on the ASTRID and/or JHR project.
Significance. Describe the project´s significance to the research field.
Preliminary results. Describe your own experiments and prestudies in the research field.
Project cost. Specify the total project cost that you are requesting from the Swedish Research
Council and from LSCE respectively, per year.
Budget. Briefly justify each item in your budget.
Present the following under a special heading, if relevant to the application:
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Equipment. Describe the basic equipment for the project that you and your group have at your
disposal.
Other collaborations. Describe the collaboration that you and your group have with other
researchers and research groups.
Ethical considerations. Present the ethical issues that the project (or equivalent) faces, and
describe how they will be addressed in your research.
Other grants. Describe funding awarded to participating researchers (those listed on the
application form) and list any grants requested from other funders of importance to the project. If
you have been awarded Project Research Grants from any of the Swedish Research Council´s
scientific areas, the research programme must clarify the relationship between these projects.
CV/Scientific qualifications (Appendix B)
You must submit a CV for yourself and any associated researchers. List your publications separately in
Appendix C.
Specify under the following numbered headlines, in this order:
1. Higher education degree(s) (year, subject area)
2. Doctoral degree (year awarded, discipline/subject area, dissertation title, and supervisor).
3. Postdoctoral work (year and placement).
4. Qualifications as research fellow/associate professor (year).
5. Current position, period of appointment, share of time spent in research.
6. Previous positions and periods of appointment (specify type of position).
7. Interruptions in research. Indicate if your active research time has been interrupted to the extent that
it affected your opportunity to acquire qualifications, e.g. by parental leave, illness, clinical
internship/residency, positions of trust in trade union organisations and student organisations, or other
similar reasons. Specify the reasons and give the dates and length of the interruption.
8. Individuals who have completed their doctoral degree under your supervision (name, year of
disputation [i.e. oral public defence of PhD thesis]).
Provide other information of importance to the application.
Items that do not apply to you should be left blank.
Publication list (Appendix C)
Attach a list of your publications for the past 8 years, marking the five most important publications with
an asterisk (*).
Categorise the publications under the numbered headings, in the following order:
1. Peer-reviewed articles
2. Peer-reviewed conference contributions (the results of which are not presented in other publications)
3. Review articles, book chapters, books
4. Patents (give date and registration)
5. Open access computer programs that you have developed
6. Popular science articles/presentations
Note! Include only articles (or equivalent) that have been published or accepted for publication.
Collaboration between Swedish and LSCE researchers (Appendix b5)
Fully describe (maximum of two A4 pages) how you are planning to facilitate collaborative research
between Swedish and LSCE researchers or research groups.
Signatures (Appendix S)
Appendix S is generated automatically when you register your application. Print out Appendix S and sign
it. Appendix S must also be signed by the department head (or equivalent) of the institution where the
research will be conducted. The signatures confirm that:
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the described research, position, and equipment will be allocated space in the institution during
the time and extent described in the research programme
the institution approves the cost estimate presented in the application
you have reported your side-line occupations and commercial ties, and nothing has emerged that
would conflict with good research practice.
necessary permission and approval have been granted to the project, e.g. regarding ethical
review.
You must discuss the above points with the representative of the administrative entity before he/she
approves and signs the application. The administrative entity is responsible for assuring that the project
complies with the terms and conditions established by Swedish legislation.
Send Appendix S by regular mail to the Swedish Research Council.
Remember! Appendix S, complete with signatures, must be received by the Swedish Research
Council not later than 3 working days after the closing date for applications.
You will find the address and closing date for applications in the section, “When and how to apply".
Instructions for applying
Apply electronically via the Swedish Research Council´s application system (VR-Direct) by completing an
application form. On each page of the appendixes, enter your name, personal identity number, and
appendix designation. Send Appendix S (paper form), complete with signatures, to the Swedish Research
Council.
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You are responsible for the completeness of the application, i.e. that all application forms
and appendixes are filled in properly. The Swedish Research Council does not process
incomplete applications. Failure to comply with the instructions will be taken into account in
the evaluation.
We do not accept additional information after the closing date for applications (apart from
such information that we expressly request).
If funding from another funding body is awarded for the same or similar purpose described
in this application, notify the Swedish Research Council as soon as possible.
Attach only the material that we expressly request. Other material, e.g. letters of
recommendation or offprints will not be evaluated.
You may submit only one application for each project and type of grant.
Indicate from the outset whether the research programme (Appendix A) involves more than
one scientific field or subject area. The Swedish Research Council will then decide which
evaluation panel should have primary responsibility and whether one or more scientific
councils or committees should evaluate your application.
In the application, list as co-workers the persons that are most relevant for implementing
the proposed project.
Write the application and appendixes in English since the Swedish Research Council may
need to use international reviewers. The obligatory popular science description and your
address should be written in English. Write the project title in both Swedish and English.
Write the appendixes in A4 format, using a 25 mm margin and Times New Roman 12 font.
When we print out the applications, we use a resolution of 200-300 dpi and possibly
greyscale. Hence, you should adapt your images to that standard. Remember that the pdf
files must not be password protected.
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The application form automatically requests the required appendixes.
General terms and conditions for applications
It is important for you to become familiar with the Swedish Research Council´s general terms and
conditions regarding grant applications. Read more about the general terms and conditions for
applicants:
Ethical guidelines
Public access
Commercial interests
Collaborating to construct and phase out databases
Misconduct in research
Data publishing plan
Evaluation and decisions
Active researchers conduct the scientific evaluation of applications. Using the assessment criteria of the
Swedish Research Council, these researchers evaluate your application in competition with other
applications.
A joint LSCE and Swedish Scientific Committee will evaluate the feasibility of the proposed research. It
will specifically focus on the availability of LSCE facilities or other LSCE resources needed to carry out the
project.
Addressing conflicts of interest at the Swedish Research Council
Decision
The Coordination Committee for the Swedish-French cooperative agreement will make the final decision
on which projects to support in September 2012.
The Swedish Research Council will publish the funding decisions on the website. Concurrently, the
decisions and comments will be sent to all applicants.
Disbursement of awarded funds will begin in October 2012.
When and how to apply
Submit your application electronically via the application system no later than 12:00 midnight (24.00) on
May 31, 2011. The Swedish Research Council is open until 4 p.m. (16.00) on the closing date for
applications.
You are responsible for the completeness of your application.
Send Appendix S (paper form), complete with signatures, to the address below. Appendix S must be
received by the Swedish Research Council not later than 3 working days after the closing date for
applications.
Swedish Research Council, RFI, SE-FR cooperation, Box 1035 101 38 Stockholm
Contacts
Questions about application content
Magnus Friberg, e-mail: [email protected], Telephone: 08-546 44 122
Lisa Almesjö, e-mail: [email protected], Telephone: 08-775 4053
Sven Stafström, e-mail: [email protected], Telephone: 08-546 44 161
Cyril Moulin, e-mail: [email protected], Telephone
(33 1) 69 08 71 20
Questions on access to LSCE facilities and training courses at UVSQ
Elsa Cortijo, e-mail: [email protected] (Associate director)
Philippe Bousquet, e-mail: [email protected] (Training courses UVSQ)
See also: http://www.uvsq.fr/education-programmes/
Technical questions
If you experience technical problems with VR-Direct, please contact:
Anneli Fröjd: [email protected], Telephone 08-546 44 333