G8 Research Councils Initiative on Multilateral Research Funding

Second Interdisciplinary and Multilateral Call for Proposals: Interdisciplinary Program on Material Efficiency – A First Step Towards Sustainable Manufacturing

Background

The Heads of the Research Councils of the G8 states (G8-HORCs) have established a multilateral funding initiative to create a new framework for conducting international research. The initiative aims at supporting excellent research on topics of global relevance which can best be tackled by a multinational approach. Participating agencies are:

• Canada – Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
• France –  Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)
• Germany – German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Japan – Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
• Russia – Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR)
• United Kingdom – Research Councils of the United Kingdom (RCUK)
• United States – National Science Foundation (NSF)²

Hereafter, the agencies will be referred to as the “Funding Agencies.” Funding should help researchers to cooperate in consortia consisting of partners from at least three of the participating countries.

Objective

This initiative is aimed at supporting excellent research on topics of global relevance which can best be tackled by a multinational approach. Funding should help researchers to cooperate in consortia consisting of at least three partners from three of the participating countries.

For the Funding Agencies, this gives an unprecedented opportunity to work together across a broad range of disciplines and practice joint funding activities, hoping for increasing compatibility in their funding instruments to allow this kind of science-driven funding without burdening researchers with too much bureaucracy. Finding optimal ways for the Funding Agencies to fund excellent research multilaterally will be of primary importance for this initiative.

Research Priority Area

Second call³: Interdisciplinary Program on Material Efficiency – A first step towards sustainable manufacturing

For most materials used to manufacture equipment and products, global stocks are still sufficient to meet anticipated demand, but the environmental impacts of materials production and processing, particularly those related to energy, are rapidly becoming critical. These impacts can be improved to some extent by the ongoing pursuit of efficiencies within existing processes, but demand is anticipated to double in the next 40 years. This will lead to an unacceptable increase in overall impacts unless the total requirement for material production and processing is reduced.

Material efficiency forms part of the suite of philosophies towards sustainability and any proposal should give consideration to how the research undertaken will have wider impact in the long term on this agenda.

This call for proposals aims to support collaborations between experts in research areas related to the global challenge of materials efficiency to address one or more of the following seven potential strategies for reducing material demand through material efficiency:

• longer-lasting products;
• modularization and re-manufacturing;
• component re-use and re-cycling;
• designing products with less material;
• rethinking products and their use(s);
• redesigning the manufacturing processes; and/or
• replacement of scarce and expensive elements, notably those critical for energy applications.

The call will support interdisciplinary projects with the potential of creating a step change in the approach taken towards the sustainable use of material resources and the contribution and impact that this will have upon the wider cradle-to-cradle design and manufacturing principles.

Within its scope, the call includes the entirety of the industrial system – from material extraction to supply chains, logistics, manufacturing, and distribution – and recognizes the global nature of that system. Proposals are expected to show how they address this global approach in a synergistic way and to justify the need for the international collaboration proposed. The call emphasizes the potential future role of manufacturing in supporting a sustainable global economy, and encompasses all parts of the materials hierarchy.

The collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the call is expected to encourage proposals that bring different sets of knowledge together in a concerted effort toward solving a problem. Proposals that focus on basic materials science or current manufacturing processes in isolation are unlikely to meet the requirements.

The call emphasizes the systemic nature of material efficiency and seeks proposals that show awareness of system interactions, and propose novel approaches to influencing the system. In particular:

• Each proposal must first position itself within the larger global material system and demonstrate that the scope of the research (i.e. what is included in the proposal and what is left outside) is:
  • clear;
  • logical and coherent (in that it does not create an unrealistic simplification; such as tackling a material recycling problem that assumes that the waste stream will return from end users in a clean and homogeneous state – an assumption that is not supported by our knowledge of current or future predicted practice); and
  • of significant impact on the global scale (i.e., show that solving the problem is worthwhile).
• Each proposal must also demonstrate its contribution to improved materials efficiency:
  • in the synergism made possible by the multidisciplinary skills held by the team; and
  • by providing an explanation of the relationship between the proposed research and its impact on sustainability of the materials system.

Expected Results

It is expected that this initiative will:

• advance knowledge and create innovation
• support top-class researchers
• open up the research experiences for early career researchers
• increase multilateral collaboration

Requirements

• Each consortium must consist of at least one academic participant (Partner Principal Investigator or Applicant) from a minimum of three different countries represented by the participating Funding Agencies.
• Consortium partners should identify a Leading Principal Investigator (LPI) for each proposal for application, management and communication purposes. The LPI is officially responsible for all communications with the Call Secretariat, including the submission of the Pre-proposal and, if invited to do so, the Full Proposal.
• All Applicants must fulfill national eligibility rules for research grant applications as set by their respective Funding Agencies. At NSERC, refer to the Eligibility Criteria – For Faculty and the List of Eligible Institutions – Canadian Universities section.  
• More than one partner from each country is possible in each consortium. However, consortia should aim for a balanced geographical contribution to the research project.
• Researchers from countries not represented by any of the Funding Agencies can participate in the research project at their own expense.

Applications that are not complete, or do not meet the National Funding Agency’s eligibility criteria, will be removed from the competition.

Budget

Within each selected consortium, funding of the participating researchers is provided by their respective national Funding Agencies according to its normal terms and conditions for project funding. Funding is meant for collaborative research, not merely for networking, mobility or communication. The total budget for this call is approximately 10 million € over three years (Partner Principal Investigators can receive approximately 100,000 €, or equivalent, per year). Funding can be provided for projects lasting for two or three years. It is expected that 8-10 research consortia will be funded in this call. It is anticipated that awards will be made by May 2012.

Application Procedures

The selection of projects to be funded follows a two-step procedure. As a first step, interested consortia are required to submit a Pre-proposal, using the forms provided by the  Call Secretariat. Please note that the Forms provided by the Call Secretariat are only available in English. Applicants who wish to apply in French should contact NSERC directly at G8initiative@nserc-crsng.gc.ca.

The Pre-proposal must be submitted by interested consortia by the deadline date. These proposals will be considered by a scientific review panel that will invite submission of Full Proposals by the deadline date. After multinational peer review of the Full Proposals, the intention is to fund approximately 8-10 consortia.

It is requested that application forms (Pre-proposal and Full Proposals) are submitted electronically as a pdf-file to the Call Secretariat using a secure server. Details will be provided by the Call Secretariat.

Selection Criteria

A successful proposal will combine significant contributions by scientists from at least three of the participating countries and must show an interdisciplinary approach in addressing problems within the scope of the described call theme. The proposal should conform to program aims and designated research fields. Major evaluation criteria are:

• Scientific quality and innovativeness of the joint research plan
• Added value to be expected from the research collaboration
• Balanced cooperation
• Competence and expertise of teams and complementarities of consortium (inter-disciplinary/inclusion of all necessary expertise)
• Appropriateness of resources and funding requested
• Expected impacts: e.g., scientific, technological, economic, societal
• Opportunities for early career researchers

Review Procedures

Selection of Pre-proposal and Invitation of Full Proposals

Pre-proposal

• The Pre-proposal will be evaluated by the Panel of Experts. The Panel of Experts consists of approximately 15 scientists, encompassing the necessary expertise to cover the call theme. The Panel of Experts will establish a pool of high quality applications based on the selection criteria. These will then be invited to submit Full Proposals.
• All LPIs will receive the result on their Pre-proposals from the Call Secretariat and a short written summary from their national Funding Agencies.

Full Proposals

• The Full Proposal must be closely based on the successful Pre-proposal, and substantial changes to the proposed program of research or consortium membership is not anticipated.
• The LPI should submit one copy of the Full Proposal to the Call Secretariat (for central registration and statistics) and one copy to each of the Funding Agencies which would be responsible for awarding funds to members of successful consortia. There may be additional national application requirements. Further details will be provided in due course.
• Peer review will be coordinated across the participating Funding Agencies using external and panel review, sharing a common review form. Each proposal will be peer-reviewed by at least three external reviewers, none of whom may be a member of the Panel of Experts.
• Full Proposals will be discussed and recommended for funding by the Panel of Experts based on the selection criteria and the assessments of External Reviewers, with quality of science being the primary criterion in selection. The final award decision will be responsibility of the national Funding Agency.
• All LPIs will receive the result on their Proposal from the Call Secretariat and a short written summary from their national Funding Agencies.

Eligible Expenditures/Use of Funds

Funding and Duties of Funded Consortia

Each PI will receive their funding from his or her national Funding Agency according to their respective rules and procedures of project funding. For NSERC, these rules appear in the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide.

Announcement of Results

• The Funding Agencies will synchronize their communication regarding the results of the selection process to applicants.
• It is anticipated that awards will be made by May 2012.

Reporting

• Monitoring and reporting requirements will be available at a later date.
• Awardees will be required to acknowledge the funding received from NSERC in all communications and publications resulting from the project funded by the G8 Research Councils Initiative on Multilateral Research Funding.

Further Information

For additional information, application form and procedure, consult the  Call Secretariat.

NSERC Contact

G8initiative@nserc-crsng.gc.ca