2022 NSFC-NSF Biodiversity Collaborative Research and Exchange Program Guide

Pursuant to the bilateral cooperation agreement between the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States, as well as the consensus reached with Brazil's São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and South Africa's National Research Foundation (NRF), the parties will In 2022, launch the solicitation and funding of cooperative research and exchange projects in the field of "Biodiversity Changing the Earth (BoCP)" to deepen Sino-US cooperation in the field of biodiversity, and encourage Chinese scientists to carry out Sino-US-Brazil based on Sino-US cooperation , China-US-South Africa, China-US-Brazil-South Africa and other multilateral cooperation.

　　1. Project Description

　　(1) Cooperative research projects

　　1. Funding areas.

　　The "Biodiversity for a Changing Earth" project builds on projects such as "Multidimensionality of Biodiversity" and "Intersection of Ecology and Evolution", but primarily focuses on elucidating the functional dimensions of biodiversity in the context of a changing Earth. Biodiversity is one of the most complex features on Earth and is very important to human survival. The current rapid and persistent rate of species loss requires the scientific community to come up with new knowledge of how the functional diversity of organisms interacts with environmental change. This project will advance the understanding of species and species loss, gain and reorganization in the context of the complexity of biological systems and their emerging characteristics, improve the modeling and prediction of the impacts of functional changes in biodiversity, and integrate ecological , evolutionary and paleontological perspectives to deepen understanding of biodiversity in the context of environmental change.

　　The research areas of "Biodiversity for a Changing Planet" include, but are not limited to, the following:

　　(1) Understand how changes in functional diversity stimulate responses at species, community, and ecosystem scales.

　　(2) Improve models and predict the functional response of biodiversity to environmental changes that cause its loss, gain, and reorganization at different biological scales.

　　(3) Understand the interrelationship between ecosystem-scale events, climate and geological processes, and their relationship with changes in biodiversity functions.

　　(4) Understand the intrinsic mechanism of functional diversity enhancement, as well as the interaction of phylogeny and spatial distribution patterns with ecological and evolutionary processes.

　　(5) Understand how new physiological, developmental, morphological, or behavioral traits lead to the loss, gain, and reorganization of biodiversity at different biological scales.

　　(6) Investigate how defensive and/or aggressive properties in synergistic and antagonistic interactions between organisms at different biological scales lead to the loss, gain and reorganization of biodiversity.

　　The project application should be oriented on key scientific issues and clarify the deficiencies of biodiversity science research in terms of theory, method, basic conditions and data. The project encourages research teams that include multidisciplinary experts in evolutionary biology, ecology, paleontology, geology, and climatology to elucidate complex biodiversity issues in the context of dynamic Earth systems.

　　For U.S. program guidelines, please see:

　　https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2022/nsf22508/nsf22508.htm.

　　2. Application code.

　　For Chinese applicants, please select the code of the Department of Life Sciences (C03) as the application code 1 to fill in the Chinese application form according to the research content.

　　3. Funding scale. The size of the grant shall not exceed 3.

　　4. Funding intensity. China's funding intensity for approved projects is no more than 4.5 million yuan in direct funding, including research funding, international travel expenses (economy class air tickets) for Chinese researchers to carry out exchange activities, living expenses abroad and other closely related exchange activities. cost of. The U.S. funding intensity is no more than $2.5 million per project, including research funding, international travel expenses, living expenses abroad and other expenses closely related to exchange activities for U.S. researchers to carry out exchange activities.

　　5. Reporting requirements.

　　(1) The funding period is 5 years, and the research period in the application should be from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2027.

　　(2) The number of domestic cooperative research units shall not exceed 2.

　　(3) All applicants must submit project applications to the science funding agencies (ie NSFC, NSF, FAPESP, NRF) in their respective countries.

　　(4) Project applications should reflect strong alliances and complementary advantages.

　　(2) Cooperation and exchange projects

　　1. Funding areas.

　　As a cooperative exchange program, it aims to promote the establishment of new research teams by researchers from participating countries in the "Biodiversity Changing Earth" project. Given the complexity of such collaborations, this project encourages individuals with no prior collaboration experience to form teams with innovative research and technological approaches aimed at targeting key but unproven, novel functional dimensions of complex biodiversity in the context of a changing planet or high-risk characterization pre-study preparation. Applications based on existing collaborative teams will not be funded.

　　For U.S. program guidelines, please see:

　　https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2022/nsf22508/nsf22508.htm.

　　2. Application code.

　　For Chinese applicants, please select the code of the Department of Life Sciences (C03) as the application code 1 to fill in the Chinese application form according to the research content.

　　3. Funding intensity.

　　China's funding intensity for approved projects shall not exceed 1 million yuan in direct funding, including international travel expenses (economy class air tickets), living expenses abroad and other expenses closely related to exchange activities for Chinese researchers to carry out exchange activities. The U.S. funding intensity is no more than $500,000 per project, including international travel expenses, living expenses abroad and other expenses closely related to exchange activities for U.S. researchers to conduct exchange activities.

　　4. Declaration requirements.

　　(1) The funding period is 3 years, and the research period in the application should be from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2025.

　　(2) All applicants must submit project applications to the science funding agencies in their respective countries (ie NSFC, NSF, FAPESP, NRF).

　　2. Application Conditions

　　(1) Applicants for international (regional) cooperative research projects between organizations should meet the following conditions

　　1. Possess a senior professional and technical position (title).

　　2. As the project leader, he is undertaking or has undertaken projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China for 3 years and above.

　　3. Have a good foundation for cooperation with foreign (regional) partners.

　　4. Please refer to the 2022 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines for detailed instructions on application qualifications.

　　(2) Applicants for international (regional) cooperation and exchange programs between organizations should meet the following conditions

　　1. Project leaders who are undertaking projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China for 3 years and above.

　　2. Participants who are undertaking projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China for a period of 3 years and above and have senior professional and technical positions (titles) or doctoral degrees, or have 2 scientific and technological personnel with the same research field and senior professional and technical positions (titles) Personnel recommendation, and should be approved by the person in charge of the funded project.

　　3. Chinese and foreign applicants should establish a new cooperative relationship with the aim of laying the foundation for subsequent substantive cooperative research.

　　4. Please refer to the 2022 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines for detailed instructions on application qualifications.

　　3. Restricted application regulations

　　(1) Cooperative research projects

　　International (regional) cooperative research projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China include inter-organizational international (regional) cooperative research projects and key international (regional) cooperative research projects. This collaborative research project is an inter-organizational collaborative research project, and applicants must comply with the following restrictions when applying:

　　1. Applicants (excluding major participants) can only apply for one international (regional) collaborative research project in the same year.

　　2. The person in charge of the international (regional) cooperative research project shall not apply for the cooperative research project listed in this guide as an applicant.

　　3. Applying as an applicant and undertaking the collaborative research projects listed in the guide as the person in charge shall be counted in the application (including the applicant and the main participants) and undertaking (including the person in charge and the main participants) of senior professional and technical positions (titles) The total number of projects is limited to a scope of 2 (except for inter-organizational collaborative research projects applied or undertaken as major participants).

　　4. Other restrictions on the number of applications in the "2022 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines".

　　(2) Cooperation and exchange projects

　　1. Applicants for cooperation and exchange programs are not subject to the restriction that "applicants can only apply for one program of the same type in the same year".

　　2. The total number of international (regional) cooperation and exchange projects under the framework of the same inter-organization agreement that the applicant applies for and the project leader is undertaking is limited to one.

　　3. The application for the cooperation and exchange projects listed in this guide is not limited by the total number of projects applied and undertaken.

　　4. Other restrictions on the number of applications in the "2022 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines".

　　4. Notes for application

　　(1) Notes for applicants

　　The applications for international (regional) cooperative research projects and cooperative exchange projects between organizations are written online. The specific requirements for applicants are as follows:

　　1. Before filling in the application form, the applicant should carefully read the relevant content of this project guide and the "2022 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guide". Project applications that do not meet the project guide and related requirements will not be accepted .

　　2. The applicant should log in to the Science Foundation Network Information System (https://isisn.nsfc.gov.cn/egrantweb/), and write the "National Natural Science Foundation of China International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project Application Form" according to the writing outline and relevant requirements (hereinafter referred to as the "Chinese Application Form"). The specific steps are:

　　(1) Select the "Project Leader" user group to log in to the system, and then click "Online Application" to enter the application interface; click the "Add Project Application" button to enter the selection interface of the science department to which the application project belongs; click "Apply for General Science Department Projects" ” to enter the project category selection interface.

　　(2) Click the + sign on the left side of "International (regional) cooperation and exchange projects" or the "Expand" button on the right side to expand the drop-down menu;

　　(3) Applicants for cooperative research projects, click "Fill Application" on the right side of "Inter-Organization Collaborative Research (Inter-Organization Cooperation Agreement Project)", enter the "Cooperation Agreement" interface, and select "NSFC-NSF ( China and the United States)”, then enter the approval number of the fund project to be supported according to the system requirements, and enter the specific application form filling interface after passing the qualification certification.

　　(4) Applicants for cooperation and exchange programs, click "Fill Application" on the right side of "Cooperation and Exchange (Inter-Organization Cooperation Agreement Project)", enter the interface for selecting "Cooperation Agreement", and select "NSFC-NSF (Sino-US )”, then enter the approval number of the fund project to be supported according to the system requirements, and enter the specific application form filling interface after passing the qualification certification.

　　3. Inter-organizational cooperative research projects and cooperative exchange projects are funded by fixed subsidies. Applicants should carefully read the budget preparation requirements in the "2022 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines" application instructions, and strictly follow the "National Natural Science Foundation of China-funded Project Fund Management Measures" and "About the National Natural Science Foundation of China-funded Project Fund Management Related Issues Supplementary Notice of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Cai Ke Jiao [2016] No. 19), the Notice of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Finance on Further Improving Science Fund Projects and Fund Management (Guo Ke Jin Cai [2019] No. 31) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China According to the requirements of the "Explanation on the Preparation of the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Fund Budget Table", carefully and truthfully compile and report the "National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Fund Budget Table".

　　4. Application material requirements. After completing the writing of the application, the applicant can submit the electronic application and the attached materials online, without submitting the paper application. After the project is approved, the signed and stamped pages of the application form should be bound at the end of the "Project Funding Plan" and submitted together. The signed and stamped information should be consistent with the electronic application.

　　Attached materials include:

　　(1) A copy of the full text of the application in English submitted by the US collaborator to NSF;

　　(2) Cooperation agreement. All applicants of the cooperative research project must reach an agreement on the cooperation content and intellectual property rights and other issues, and sign a cooperation agreement (see the annex for the model agreement).

　　(3) Letter of Intent for Cooperation. Applicants for cooperation and exchange programs need to provide a letter of intent for cooperation signed by foreign applicants.

　　5. The English name of the cooperative research project filled in the Chinese application form must be exactly the same as the English project name submitted by all the collaborators. In order to facilitate the identification of the project management department, applicants should use "BoCP: US-China:" "BoCP: US-China-Sao Paulo:" "BoCP: US-China- Prefixes such as "South Africa:" or "BoCP: US-China-Sao Paulo-South Africa:".

　　6. In the process of preparing the application materials and executing the project, if the research content involves the issue of animal and plant resources, the project applicant or undertaker and the supporting unit must strictly abide by the relevant regulations of the state on the protection of animal and plant resources; If there is a problem, we must strictly abide by the relevant provisions of the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Human Genetic Resources" (State Order No. 717), and do a good job in the management of my country's human genetic resources in international cooperation.

　　(2) Matters needing attention from the relying unit

　　The relying unit shall review the authenticity, completeness and compliance of the application materials submitted by the applicant of the unit, and the target relevance, policy compliance and economic rationality of the declared budget. This project is included in the scope of paperless application. After the project is approved, the signed and stamped pages of the application form should be bound at the end of the "Project Funding Plan" and submitted together. The signed and stamped information should be strictly consistent with the electronic application. For matters such as the unit's scientific research integrity commitment letter and project list submission, please refer to the "Notice on the 2022 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Application and Finalization".

　　(3) Acceptance of project applications

　　The online application acceptance period of the ISIS system is from January 20, 2022 to March 29, 2022 at 16:00 pm. The electronic version of the application form and the attached materials should be submitted before the specified project application deadline.

　　5. Project Contacts

　　(1) Chinese contacts: Bao Qinxing, Chen Jing

　　Tel: 010-62329053, 62326877

　　Email: baoqx@nsfc.gov.cn

　　If Chinese applicants encounter technical problems during the process of filling in the application form online, they can contact the technical support of our ISIS system. Tel: 010-62317474.

　　(2) US contact person: Katharina Dittmar

　　Tel: +1 703 2927799

　　Email: kdittmar@nsf.gov

 

　　Attachment: Instructions and Templates for Writing a Cooperative Research Agreement

 

National Natural Science Foundation of China

International Cooperation Bureau

November 2, 2021