Joint Research Projects

• Currently there is no call open. Proposals submitted between January and April 2011 are now under review. Results are expected by the end of October 2011.

• With the closing of the most recent call for FE/SE and IP proposals (deadline: 1 Sep 2011, the SSSTC has concluded its "Call for Proposals" for the 2008-2011 phase. Future new calls will be announced once the federal resolution on education, research, and innovation has been formalized and the budget allocated. Meanwhile, in order to pave way for the next SSSTC phase, we are preparing several "Stepping Stone Symposia" to encourage 
  a  the participation of Swiss industries 
  b  contacts to top-level Chinese scientists.
  
  
• Do you have ideas that (in a given research area) would create synergy by pooling Swiss an Chinese expertise in one platform? Would this idea attract broad participation of Swiss researchers and industries alike? Would you like to jump start this idea by organising a Stepping Stone Symposium? Please contact: Maio Chen, maio.chen-su@sl.ethz.ch.  More...

JRP - Description:

The last Call for Joint Research Projects was supported jointly by the SER and the CAS. The SSSTC JRP instrument promotes and supports collaborative research between Swiss and Chinese scientists. Proposals with ambitious goals and innovative approaches will be preferentially funded. Projects involving inter- and multi-disciplinary research teams are highly encouraged.

The SSSTC welcome the participation of partners from private sectors.

Priority Research Areas

· Renewable Energy & Cleantech

· Material Sciences & Nanotechnologies

Proposals outside of the priority areas will not be accepted.

Project Duration

24- 36 months

Eligibility

In Switzerland:

Applicants should have a stable appointment as a faculty member at an eligible Swiss university or research institute. In Switzerland, these include:

· Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology

· Cantonal universities of higher education

· Federal and cantonal research institutions

· Swiss universities of applied sciences

· Other research institutions eligible for receiving federal funding

Partners from private sectors are welcome to participate but will not be eligible to receive SSSTC funding

In China:

· The eligibility of CAS members will be defined by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

· Non-CAS Chinese partners (researchers from universities or research institutes other than CAS) who fulfill the requirement of submitting a letter of commitment (see “Submission in China”) are also eligible.

The eligibility of the Swiss applicants and non-CAS Chinese partners will be examined by the Swiss program office.

Submission

The Chinese and the Swiss applicants should write the research plans and prepare the proposals jointly. The applications should be submitted by the Swiss partners to the SNSF, but may or may not have to be submitted in China:

· Submission to CAS obligatory: only when the Chinese partners are CAS members.

· No submission in China necessary: non-CAS Chinese partners need to guarantee their funding in China, but no additional submission is necessary.

Submission in Switzerland

Swiss applicants are required to submit joint proposals through the SNSF web platform www.mysnf.ch. After login in, the correct funding instrument must be chosen (International > Bi-lateral Co-operation > Sino-Swiss Science and Technology Cooperation). The application consists of two parts: the administrative part must be completed online; the research part (including documents such as research plan, CV/publication list) must be uploaded onto mySNF. The research plan must be formulated according to the template provided on mySNF. For specific questions related to www.mysnf.ch, please call the technical support hotline at 031 308 22 00. (Please note that one needs a user account in order to submit proposals to mySNF. To open an account, one must register with SNSF as a user. Applicants with existing user accounts need not apply for new ones.)

General questions concerning the program should be directed to the Swiss SSSTC Program Office.

Submission in China

· Chinese partners from CAS should, concurrent to the Swiss submission by their Swiss partners, send their applications to CAS conforming to CAS regulations.

· Non-CAS Chinese partners need not submit any applications in China. They must, however, seek funding through normal channels and provide a letter of commitment guaranteeing their capability of securing Chinese funding for their part of the project. (This letter shall then be submitted by the Swiss partner to the SNSF and is part of the Swiss submission.) A template for this letter is provided.

Application Deadline

The complete joint application must be submitted by April 30^th, 2011. Late and incomplete applications will not be considered.

Grant Information

All grants for the year 2012 are subject to the approval by the Swiss Parliament in 2011.

Total Swiss funding budgeted: (CHF 2.5 million, pending approval) Swiss funding will be awarded to the Swiss main applicants to cover the costs for the Swiss part of the joint projects (maximum of support: CHF 250’000 for 3 years).

Chinese funding:

· Chinese CAS partners will receive their funding from CAS

· Non-CAS Chinese partners must guarantee their own funding.

Budgeting

A detailed budget is required. Projected expenses must be justified and related to the proposed research activities.

· Grants may not be used to cover overhead costs.

· Based on the program principle of equal partnership, the research costs should be borne by the party that performs the tasks. Travel costs should be paid for by the traveling party and the local living expenses paid for by the host.

Allowable budget items for Swiss applicants

- Salary for one Ph.D. student (up to 3 years) or one postdoctoral fellow (up to 2 years). Salary level: according to SNSF guidelines.

- Consumables for the proposed research: Please justify.

- Travel expenses in connection with visits to the partner institution in China (economy class flights at the lowest possible rate).

- Living expenses for the Chinese visitors in association with performing the joint research (faculty and/or students). Please refer to the “Financial Guidelines for Scientific Exchanges”: www.global.ethz.ch/stc/china/program/finance

- Other costs, e.g. fees for conference registration, publications, patents, etc. (max. CHF 2,000 per year): Please specify

Evaluation and Selection

Evaluation in Switzerland:

Scientific evaluation of the Swiss applications will be conducted by the SNSF based on the following criteria (not listed in the order of priority):

· Scientific merit, significance and potential impact of the proposed research

· Originality of the proposed research

· Suitability and originality of the proposed methods

· Experience and past performance of the applicants

· Specific qualification of the applicants for the proposed research

· Potential synergy between the partners

· Feasibility of the project

· Potential for exploitation/commercialization of the results

Proposals involving Swiss industrial partners will in addition be reviewed by the Innovation Promotion Agency (CTI).

Evaluation in China:

· Applications submitted to CAS will be evaluated independently by CAS.

· Applications involving non-CAS Chinese partners will be evaluated according to the normal procedure of the respective funding agency; no additional SSSTC evaluation will be conducted.

Final decision:

Winning projects will be selected by the Joint Working Group. Up to 1/3 of the Swiss funding may be awarded to proposals with non-CAS Chinese partners. The selection criteria are: i) scientific evaluation results, ii) the extent to which the proposal is consistent with the scope of the call, iii) the likelihood of the project to succeed.

The evaluation and selection process may take up to 6 months. Swiss applicants will be notified by the SER.

Intellectual Property

Applicants must consult both the host as well as the guest institution concerning their internal regulations. For market-oriented projects, it is important that an agreement be made before the project starts.

Reporting

It is obligatory that the Swiss main applicant should submit a scientific and a financial report annually, as well as final reports to the SSSTC Program Office.

Timeline

For further questions, please contact:

In Switzerland

Dr. Maio Su Chen

Program Manager, SSSTC

International Institutional Affairs (IIA)

ETH Zürich. HG F11

Rämistrasse 101

CH-8092 Zürich

Tel: +41 44 632 8101

Fax: +41 44 632 1508

Email: maio.chen-su@sl.ethz.ch

www.global.ethz.ch/stc/china

In China

Dr. Lan Zuo Gillet

swissnex China
22F, Building A, Far East International Plaza
319 XianXia Road, Shanghai 200051, China
Tel: 0086 21 6235 1889
Email: lan.zuogillet@swissnexchina.org
Website: www.swissnexchina.org

Contacting CAS Directly:

http://www.bic.cas.cn/tzgg/201101/t20110124_3066210.html