Funding
ICGEB-TWAS-UNESCO/IBSP Joint Project on Capacity Building in Basic Molecular Biology
Expression of Interest in Research Grant Applications
GENERAL INFORMATION AND APPLICATION PROCEDURES
The ICGEB-TWAS-UNESCO/IBSP Project aims to create a network of laboratories involved in research on the study of plant and animal pathogens that affect agricultural productivity in developing regions, that could stimulate South-South and North-South co-operation thus building research capacity in scientifically lagging countries and in the developing world at large.
In particular, specific aims are as follows:
• to train young scientists from scientifically lagging countries in cutting-edge research in molecular biology and genomics on a problem of general relevance to the developing countries;
• to use well-established laboratories in scientifically proficient countries of the South and in industrialised countries to collaborate in research on topics of relevance;
• to promote bidirectional interactions between the developing countries and the developed countries in areas of capacity building and research on topics of interest to the developing world.
The Programme will be implemented in four individual and consecutive phases:
Phase 1
Researchers interested in applying for a ICGEB-TWAS-UNESCO/IBSP research grant are invited to submit a Letter of Intent (LI). Each Principal Investigator will be able to submit only one LI in this review round.
Applications should normally consist of an international collaboration between 2 to 4 investigating teams (co-applicant/s) from different countries. In addition, one applicant (PI or co-applicant) should be from a country that is a member state of ICGEB (Annex 1) and another applicant (PI or co-applicant) should be from a country listed among those countries identified as scientifically lagging by TWAS (Annex 2). All countries listed in Annexes 1 and 2 are member states of UNESCO.
To facilitate the submission of the Letter of Intent, Principal Investigators will be requested to submit just a brief research proposal indicating name and full affiliation of their potential collaborators.
Letters of Intent will be reviewed and selected based on the scientific excellence of the research team, the importance and feasibility of the research proposed and the potential impact of the research results on the participating countries and opportunities for training young scientists from the scientifically lagging countries.
Phase 2
In line with the main objective of the programme, ICGEB-TWAS-UNESCO/IBSP has organized a “Coordinating Workshop” inviting the PIs of those Letters of Intent that are positively evaluated and extending this invitation to other scientists working in the countries involved (Annexes 1 and 2). The aim of this meeting will be to facilitate the incorporation of scientists from scientifically lagging countries in those projects in which they are not already included.
Phase 3
The authors of the short-listed projects will be invited to develop full research projects that will then be evaluated by peer-reviewers nominated by the 3 funding organisations. The call for fully developed applications will be circulated after the Workshop providing full details including the submission deadline.
The maximum duration for the project is 2 years. The annual ICGEB-TWAS-UNESCO/IBSP grant will not exceed US$ 24,000
Phase 4
At the end of the two-years research, the leaders of funded projects would then meet again to review progress and jointly plan future collaboration activities.
First Phase : now concluded
ICGEB - Office of the Director-General, attn. Ms. Barbara Argenti, Padriciano 99, I 34012 Trieste, Italy. Tel: +39-040-3757382, Fax: +39-040-3757361, E-mail: bargenti@icgeb.org
