ERA-PG first call for transnational research proposals (2006)
introduction
BACKGROUND
The ERA-NET Plant Genomics (ERA-PG) is a network of 17 funding organisations from European countries and Israel. The coordination of the network is supported by the European Commission under the ERA-NET scheme of the 6th Framework Programme to strengthen the European Research Area.
The network has the ambition to further structure and integrate national plant genomics programmes in order to reduce fragmentation of research efforts and realise scientific excellence through real transnational collaboration, integration and synergy.
Building upon an existing collaboration between three of its partners and upon progressive coordination and cooperation within the network since its establishment in 2004, ERA-PG has launched its first joint call on the 1st of February with a total budget of approximately 30 M Euro. The ultimate goal of the network is to have a fully integrated European plant genomics programme where all partners can participate on an equal footing.
OBJECTIVE OF THE CALL
The objective of the first joint call ‘Structuring Plant Genomic Research in Europe’ is to stimulate true collaboration between research teams of different countries in order to achieve the highest quality projects, to increase synergies between national programmes and to strengthen European competitiveness in plant genomics research.
Headline topics are broad and inclusive, addressing common issues. The scientific approaches should be genomic and/or post-genomic in nature; applications that address the elucidation of function of single genes are out of the scope of the call. A combination of various genomics and quantitative genetics tools should be employed. Within this framework there is the opportunity to emphasize specific activities in defined collaborations and in the context of two Sub Calls.
The call is financially supported by twelve members of the ERA-PG network. These twelve funding organisations (of eleven countries), will jointly provide funds in the order of 30 million Euros (for individual organisation commitments please see National Annexes). Each national funding organisation will fund only the project partners from its own country. There is not a predefined maximum size of the research projects. Total costs of a typical project will be about € 1-2 M.
All European researchers working in the themes of the present ERA-PG call and eligible to apply for financial support from the participating research funding organisations were invited to apply for funding, taking into account the terms and conditions of their funding agencies described in the National Annexes attached to the general ERA-PG Call Notice. The due-date for pre-proposals was the 16th of March 2006.
PRE-PROPOSALS
The response to the call was high: 106 eligible pre-proposals were received with a total amount of requested funding of almost 135 M Euro. More than 500 researchers from 21 countries are involved in the transnational consortia, including researchers from non-ERA-PG countries.
The pre-proposals were evaluated by the Programme Board (an international panel of independent scientific experts). The Board assessed all applications in terms of their compatibility with the ambition of the call and evaluated as well as compared them according to the call criteria. These evaluation criteria are the following: relevance to the aspirations of the call taking into account specific considerations of the Sub Calls; scientific innovation and excellence; added value of joint working including evidence of true collaboration within the consortium; feasibility of the project; adequateness of planned resources and finance requested.
Within Sub Call A 70 eligible pre-proposals were received, with a total requested budget of approximately five times the budget allocated for this Sub Call. The consortia of the pre-proposals that were rated by the Programme Board as Excellent or Very Good, 44 in total, have been invited to submit a full proposal. Within Sub Call B, for which approximately 12 M Euro is allocated, 36 eligible pre-proposals were received. After careful consideration of the main funding organisations of Sub Call B, all pre-proposals eligible and meeting the major evaluation criteria, 33 in total, have been invited to submit a full proposal, due date was 29th of June 2006.
FULL PROPOSALS
The full proposals have been peer-reviewed, reports were provided to the consortium leaders for rebuttal. The Programme Board has assessed the Full Proposals, referee reports and rebuttals and have ranked the proposals. Next, moderating Sub Call panels with representatives of the funding organizations, who are aware of the budgetary constraints and are responsible for the selection of projects, made a short-list of projects for each Sub Call recommended for funding. The national decisions rest with the respective national funding organisations. The applicants will be informed as soon as all national decisions have been taken. Then, the applicants will enter into negotiations with their corresponding national funding organisations, who will take the final funding decisions regarding their share. In 2007 the research projects will start.
CONTACTS
ERA-PG Network Coordination
Dr. Bernard de Geus, NGI, The Netherlands (principle coordinator /chair Network Steering Committee), Tel: +31 (0)70 344 0804, E-mail
Dr. Okker van Batenburg, NGI, The Netherlands (executive coordinator), Tel: +31 (0)6 53 493 482, E-mail
Dr. Christine Bunthof, NGI, The Netherlands (executive coordinator), Tel: +31 (0) 317 477189, E-mail
Programme Secretariat
Mr. Paul Beckers, NWO, The Netherlands, Tel: +31 (0) 70 3440 874/ 517; E-mail
National Programme Managers
Belgium, MF-EWI: Dr. Kathleen D'Hondt, Tel: +32 2 553 57 71, E-mail
Denmark: Mr. Per Kolbeck Nielsen, Tel: +45 3544 6345, E-mail
Finland, AKA: Dr. Sirpa Huuskonen, Tel: +358 (0)9 7748 8370, E-mail
France, ANR: Dr. Francis Quétier, Tel: +33 (0) 6 80 99 16 83, E-mail
Germany, DFG: Dr. Katrin Hahlen, Tel: +49 (0)228 885 28 03, E-mail
Germany, PTO-FZJ: Dr. Rainer Büschges, Tel: +49 (0) 2461 61 87 82, E-mail
Italy, MIUR: Mr. Mauro Massulli, Tel.: + 39 06 58497961, E-Mail
The Netherlands, NGI/NWO: Dr. Christine Bunthof, Tel: +31 (0) 317 477189, E-mail
Norway, RCN: Dr. Steinar Bergseth, Tel: 47 22 03 73 23, E-mail
Portugal, FCT: Dr. Catarina Resende, Tel: +351 21 392 44 56, E-mail
Spain, MEC: Dr. Julio Barbas, Tel: +34 91 34 94 586, E-mail
UK, BBSRC: Dr. Sophie Laurie, Tel: +44 1793 41 33 40, E-mail
DOCUMENTATION
• ERA-PG Call Notice This document contains background and themes of the programme; description of call procedure; the evaluation criteria; timeline
• ANNEX I: Guidelines for Pre-proposal Application
• ANNEX II: IPR Conditions
• National Annexes ERA-PG First Call for Proposals; these documents contain the national regulations and funding modalities of the contributing organisations
• Guidelines for Full Proposal Application
Documentation for applying electronically
• ERA-PG 1st Call Pre-Proposal Application Form
• ERA-PG 1st Call Full Proposal Application Form
• National Cost Forms BBSRC, DASTI, MF-SID and ANR
• Scheme for Italian applicants to determine costs according to FIRB rules