Deadline: 15 February 2019
CRDF Global and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES) are currently accepting proposals from joint teams of U.S. and Ukrainian researchers for the 2019 U.S.-Ukraine Agricultural and Alternative Energy Research Competition.
This competition is co-sponsored by CRDF Global, utilizing funding provided by the U.S. Department of State, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and by the MESU of Ukraine.
Goals
The primary goals of the competition are to:
- Support high-quality, innovative international research by teams of U.S. and Ukrainianscientists
- Encourage diversity in the international science community, and
- Establish sustainable joint U.S.-Ukraine research collaborations
Sub-Topics Areas
- Agricultural Biotechnology – including plant pathology, genetic engineering, molecular markers and diagnostics, and plant tissue culture among other agritech topics that may reduce and/or eliminate the presence of plant disease(s) that threaten food security
Alternative Energy
- Photovoltaic or Biofuel technology – including engineering, nanotechnology, biochemistry, microbiology and plant study research among other alternative energy topics that contribute to the development of photovoltaic and/or biofuel technologies
Funding Information
Awards of up to $72,000USD each will be made to joint research teams of U.S. and Ukrainian scientists.
Eligibility Criteria
All proposals must meet each of the following eligibility criteria:
- The Research Team must becomprised of scientists employed at U.S. and Ukrainian institutions (research institutes or universities ) hereafter referred to as the Primary Institutions . Researchers currently working at Ukrainian universities will be given preference where there are two or more proposals of equal scientific merit.
- All proposals must include one Ukrainian Principal Investigator (PI) and one U.S. PI who:
- Possess the degree of Ph.D., M.D., or have equivalent research experience
- Have at least five (5) scientific publications in peer-reviewed scientific literature
- Share overall responsibility for the project in their respective countries, coordinating all project participants and institutions
- The Ukrainian PI and participants of the Ukrainian team must:
- Be citizens and permanent residents of Ukraine
- Reside in Ukraine for the majority of the grant period
- Be currently employed at one of the country’s research institutions or universities
- Work full-time in civilian research
- The U.S. PI and participants on the U.S. team must:
- Be legally employed by a U.S. institute
- Reside in the U.S. during the course of the CRDF Global project
- Graduate students on the U.S. team may be foreign nationals, but they must be enrolled full-time in an accredited degree program at the U.S. institution
- NOTE: Researchers employed by the U.S. federal government are welcome to apply to this program with their Ukrainian collaborators, however the U.S. PI and affiliated federal agency are not permitted to receive funding.
- All projects must be oriented toward non-militaryobjectives and must be carried out in a civilian research environment.
Evaluation Criteria
Primary Criteria:
- Technical Merit. Whether the project proposes innovative methods and how well the individual elements of the research plan fit with the overall project goals
- Research Plan. The technical soundness of the proposed work, practicality of the project’s management plan, and adequacy of the resources available, both technical and financial
- Research Impact.The probability that the project will result in new knowledge or have impact on one or more research fields, and the potential that the project processes or results will serve as the basis for new or improved technology. Have the investigators included a schedule for monitoring and evaluation and will this plan adequately measure progress towards goals and objectives? Are proposed outcomes reasonable and measurable in the context of the project plan?
- Personnel Capacity and Collaborative Benefits. The expertise of the investigators and other participants, including the strengths and weaknesses of each partner, the balance of the collaboration and distribution of partnership benefits
- Benefit to Education and Infrastructure: Appraisal of the project’s opportunities for personnel (i.e. participation of students, early-career scientists and/or female scientists), the sharing of equipment and resources among all institutions involved, and the project’s long-term positive impact on social, economic, or environmental issues in the countries involved
Secondary Criteria: The primary evaluation factor that will determine a proposal’s fundability is scientific merit followed by the other criteria laid out above. However, in cases where two or more proposals are deemed to be of equal scientific merit, special consideration will be given to:
- Projects that incorporate one or more Early-Career Scientists or female researchers in either or both sub-teams
- Projects that include travel by members of both sub-teams
- Projects that include Ukrainian universities
- Projects that promote regional scientific cooperation by including researchers from more than one Ukrainian institute (either researchers currently working at other institutes or those who are visiting the PI’s institute)
- Principal Investigators who have not previously received funding from CRDF Global
- Projects that include a cost-share in excess of the minimum requirement
How to Apply
All proposals must be submitted via email to Rebecca Taylor at the address given website.
Eligible Countries: United States and Ukraine.
For more information, please visit https://www.crdfglobal.org/funding-opportunities/2019-us-ukraine-agricultural-and-alternative-energy-research-competition
