| Deadline: 31 May 2023

Joint Competition by RFBR and the Helmholtz Association 2011

The Russian Foundation for Basic Research (“RFBR”) and the Helmholtz Association of Research Centers in Germany (hereinafter: the “Association”) announce a competition for research projects to be implemented in the framework of Joint Research Groups (the SIG_a competition). Joint research groups should be organized by one or more Russian research institutes and/or universities, on the one part, and one or more centers of the Helmholtz Society, on the other part.

Under this joint competition for grants, applications (or proposals) will be reviewed in the following research areas:

• Energy engineering;
• Earth and ecology;
• Health;
• Key technologies:
• Structure of matter;
• Aviation, space and transportation.

The topic of an application must correspond to one of the topical subsections given in the List of centers comprised in the Helmholtz Association and to the description of research work carried out by them.

Applications are to be prepared jointly by Russian and German members of Joint Research Teams in the English language. The application form is given in an appendix. In the event of incompliance with the established application form, applications will be rejected. It is not allowed to make corrections in applications once they are submitted.

Applications must contain information on the German and Russian co-managers of joint research groups. A Russian research co-manager can be a scientist holding a Doctor of Science or a Candidate of Science degree provided that not more than 12 years have elapsed from when the Candidate of Science degree was awarded to him or her before May 31, 2010. Russian scientists may be named as co-managers in only one application and may accordingly become co-managers of only one joint research group receiving financial support from the Association and RFBR. Participation in the competition, regardless the results thereof, will not disqualify the applicant from participating in other RFBR-organized competitions. The number of participants in joint research groups shall not exceed 10 persons, including the Russian co-manager of each team.

A project must comply with the following requirements:

• its research topic is important for the development of a respective orientation of basic science;
• submitted is a structured work plan with subdivisions into related tasks, clear goals and a detailed description of the main stages or phases;
• the high academic credentials of members of joint research groups are confirmed with recommendations from research institutions and organizations, expert panels of the Helmholtz Association, academic awards or confirmed by their previous participation in successful projects funded by the European Union and from other sources, as well as by participation in professional expert committees, publications at various levels, etc.;
• the opportunities of participating organizations or institutions are expanded, including as compared to their already existing cooperation;
• the level of professional qualification, technical means available and available staff is sufficient for the purposes of carrying out research work within the established deadlines and at high research levels;
• a joint management structure is set up, including the position of public relations officer;
• the participation of young scientists is envisaged;
• submitted is a general budget for expending funds applied for from the Association and RFBR (the budget should be for 3 years, specifying the types of expenses to be made by each of the participating organizations in the following sections: salary and wages, expendables, contributions to fixed assets).

Applications are submitted through the research center of the Helmholtz Association which is acting as a project coordinator from the German side. If two or more Association centers are taking part in a joint research group, the members of the group should themselves determine which center will act as project coordinator. The center acting as the project coordinator should transfer seven printed-out copies of each application with appendices thereto and should also transfer a compact disk containing the application and the appendices thereto in the “.doc” or “.pdf” formats to the head-quarters of the Helmholtz Association not later than on May 31, 2023 at the following address:

Ahrstrasse 45, 53175 Bonn, Germany

Two printed-out copies and also an electronic copy of each application to take part in the competition are sent by the Association to RFBR. Applications are merit-reviewed by the Association and by RFBR. A final decision and an award will be made jointly by the Helmholtz Association and RFBR. The results of the competition will be announced by October 2010. Funding under winning projects will be provided in 2011.

RFBR and the Helmholtz Association plan to provide funding to not more than six joint research group projects. Research projects by joint research groups are to be completed within 3 years.

Russian members of joint research groups may spend funds provided by the Association (up to EUR 30,000) on the following:

• ransportation expenses and accommodation expenses during travel by members of joint research groups;
• salaries and wages of members of joint research groups;
• acquisition of expendables necessary for the work of joint research groups;
• expense on field work or expeditions organized during the work of joint research groups.

RFBR is planning to finance each of the supported projects to be implemented in the framework of joint research groups in the amount of up to 1,000,000 rubles per year. Funds obtained from RFBR must be spent to advance goals provided for by the rules on carrying out RFBR research projects, including to cover the following kinds of expenses:

• transportation expenses and accommodation expenses of Russian members of joint research projects during their travel to Germany;
• acquisition of equipment and expendables required to carry out projects in Russia;
• salaries and wages of Russian members of joint research groups;
• up to 15% of the funds provided by RFBR less the amount needed to cover expenses associated with the travel of Russian members of joint research groups to Germany may be allocated to compensate the organizational and technical expenses made by the Russian research organization when conducting the project.

Within two weeks from the publication of a list of projects (research proposals) receiving grants, the Russian co-manager of a joint research group must submit a funding application to RFBR prepared using an interactive Internet-based system, Grant Express.

After a registration number is received, the project director should print out and submit to RFBR 1 (one) printed-out copy of the application at the following address:

119991, Moscow, B-334, GSP-1,
Leninsky prospekt, 32A,
Russian Foundation for Basic Research

Contacts

RFBR
Directorate of International Relations
Prokhorova, Anna Konstantinovna
Tel: (495) 938-56-24
Fax: (495) 938-54-56
E-mail: a.prokh@rfbr.ru

Moscow Office of the Helmholtz Association
Martin Sandhop
Tel: 981-17-63
Fax: 981-17-65
E-mail: moscow@helmholtz.de

Source: http://www.rfbr.ru/rffi/eng/contest/n_444/o_27235