Agreements

Agreement FAPESP-THE AGENCE NATIONALE DE LA RECHERCHE Versão em português

Agreement for cooperation in research  Between THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO RESEARCH FOUNDATION (FAPESP) And THE AGENCE NATIONALE DE LA RECHERCHE (ANR)

This Agreement for Cooperation in Research (“ACR”) is made on

1. The Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)

2. The State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

Whereas

A. ANR and FAPESP are in charge of fostering and supporting research within their own communities in their respective regions. The Parties recognise that the very best research in all countries may be delivered by working with the best researchers internationally.

B.To this end the Parties welcome, encourage and support applications that may cut across national boundaries and involve international collaborative teams. The Parties also welcome both single-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary applications.

C. This Memorandum of Understanding shall cover research in all fields funded by the Parties; however priority will be given to:

2012 and 2013: Microbiology, Immunology, Infectology, Global Change and Environment/Earth Sciences.

2014 and 2015: ICT and nanotechnologies, Social sciences and humanities.

New fields and topics can be added to this list by mutual agreement between the Parties.

The Parties Hereby Agree as Follows:

1) The procedures described hereafter shall only apply to bilateral research projects which, due to their bilateral character and balanced scientific contribution, promise to yield an increased scientific added-value. In this context it is evident that a balanced financial contribution will be requested from the respective national funding organization.

2) For applicants within France and the State of São Paulo, Brazil who fall within the overlap of their various jurisdictions, the Parties will welcome andreceive applications from eligible participants in both countries.

3) The broad framework for the collaborative mechanism (to be supplemented by more detailed guidance to applicants) will be as follows:

a) Applications must be made directly to ANR by the partner applicant in France, which will inform FAPESP of the application.

b) Applicants from France and from the State of São Paulo, Brazil, must satisfy the eligibility criteria of ANR and FAPESP, respectively.

c) Applications should be submitted on the official application material of the ANR according to the applicable rules and closing dates.

i) The application will include the FAPESP’s forms and materials in what pertains the participating researchers from the State of São Paulo.

d) Each application should be identified clearly as a collaborative proposal under the ANR/FAPESP Research ACR, in accordance with specific guidance from ANR and FAPESP.

e) Applications shall clearly discriminate the costs to be incurred by teams based in France and in São Paulo, Brazil, including separate budget requests to ANR and to FAPESP.

f) Costs to be incurred by applicants based in France and costs to be incurred in São Paulo, Brazil must be compatible with existing financial rules applicable to ANR and FAPESP, respectively. Each project will be funded for a period of 2 to 4 years.

g) The parties agree to fund the projects on a balanced basis, considering the amount of effort dedicated by researchers on each side. The indicative average funding per country is 250 thousand € for a three year duration project.

h) Award holders from France and from São Paulo, Brazil will be subject respectively to the Terms and Conditions of the ANR and the FAPESP.

i) Proposals will be processed and assessed by ANR according to its own rules and processes.

i) ANR will give access to FAPESP to all ANR-FAPESP proposals through ANR electronic submission system.

ii) Upon receiving the application, ANR informs the FAPESP and asks for a formal check of the respective national project part. If the formal criteria of one of the two funding agencies are not met in the proposal, the application is considered as being rejected by both funding agencies.

iii) ANR will handle the evaluation process according to its standard procedures that apply for the respective funding programme. For each common proposal FAPESP is invited to suggest reviewers that will be contacted by ANR though its electronic submission/evaluation system. If the experts nominated by FAPESP are unavailable or suffer any restriction by ANR, FAPESP can propose new nominations.

iv) FAPESP will have access through the electronic submission/evaluation system information at each stage of the review process.

v) The views expressed by the experts nominated by the FAPESP will be formally incorporated into ANR’s peer review processes. The selection process, as a whole, remains a process of the ANR.

vi) For each panel corresponding to selected priority areas of ANR/FAPESP collaboration, ANR will invite a senior scientist to be nominated by FAPESP to participate in the final panel meeting that will rank the proposals to act as an observer. This scientist will participate in the panel as an observer on discussion about the collaboration proposals and will be allowed to listen to the discussion about the other proposals at hand.

j) FAPESP agrees in principle to accept the results of the peer-review process as presented by contacts nominated by the ANR, as long as the FAPESP nominated experts are incorporated in the review process and FAPESP is consulted before any decision is reached.

k) ANR will forward copies of all peer reviews (or give access through its electronic submission system) relating to applications under this ACR to FAPESP immediately as received from the reviewers and prior to any decision being taken with respect to such an application.

l) FAPESP, and scientists nominated by FAPESP participating in ANR panel review, will respect the ethics, deontology, conflict of interest and confidentiality rules of ANR and operation of ANR panels. In particular, the name of reviewers, their review assessments and the panel discussions are confidential and cannot be disclosed. If a panel member or an observer has a conflict of interest with a proposal, he/she leaves the room during the discussions concerning the proposal.

m) Ultimate responsibility for decisions to recommend funding for its part of a proposal, however, remains with ANR or FAPESP respectively. Both agencies will confirm any budgetary constraints on submitted projects prior to a final decision on an award being made by the ANR review process.

n) When the relevant ANR evaluation process is completed, ANR shall communicate the final results of the competition to a designated contact within FAPESP. ANR and FAPESP shall then proceed to fund the ANR and the FAPESP components of successful applications respectively, in accordance with their existing financial rules.

4) Timing of announcements related to this ACR shall be coordinated by agreement with both Parties and will not be later that one month after the ANR panel. The projects should be able to begin and be funded within 3 months after the evaluation panel.

5) Intellectual property

a) The Parties have no claims on the Intellectual Property rights arising from the selected projects, as the fund they provide constitute a grant in support of the research activity alone. Intellectual property rights belong to the researcher and his/her employing institution. It is of the responsibility of each scientific partner to ensure the efficient protection and proper distribution of any intellectual property arising from the accomplishment of the joint research projects.

i) FAPESP might have claims to benefits eventually accruing to the host institutions in São Paulo from IP generated by the selected projects. This will be established in a separate document between FAPESP and the São Paulo host institution.

b) The project participants shall enter into a Consortium Agreement in order to specify how intellectual property rights will be handled. A Consortium Agreement will need to be in place and reported to ANR and FAPESP before any payment will be made.

6) Reporting

a) The national principal investigators on behalf of their participating teams will submit to both Parties a common mid-term scientific progress report on the overall project complemented by a report from each team. ANR and FAPESP will use these reports to check that project milestones are met. If milestones are not met, ANR and FAPESP have the right to discontinue funding the project.

b) At the end of each project, a formal final report should be submitted to each Party according to its reporting rules.

7) Due acknowledgement of support received from ANR and FAPESP should be made in the publication of any research resulting from this programme.

8) This ACR will be supplemented by guidance to applicants, including on issues such as Intellectual Property, to be developed by the ANR and FAPESP.

9) This ACR is not a funding document and all funding is subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

10) This ACR may be terminated by any Party giving six months advance written notice. This ACR will otherwise terminate five years after the signature date, unless the parties agree to renew it.

Agreed of December 22, 2011

Professor Jacqueline Lecourtier
Director General
For and on behalf of:
Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR

Professor Celso Lafer
President
For and on behalf of:
The State of São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP


Page updated on 01/03/2012 - Published on 12/27/2011