Generic call - 2021

The Generic Call for Proposals 2021 (AAPG 2021) is the French National Research Agency’s (ANR) main call. It is directed towards all scientific communities and all public and private players involved in French research. It is designed to give researchers in various scientific fields access to co-funding in a large number of research themes, basic or applied, in addition to their allocated recurrent funding.

Funding instruments

The Generic Call for Proposals 2021 involves four funding instruments, each with its own specific submission and evaluation procedures. These instruments aim to fund either individual research projects coordinated by young researchers (JCJC) or collaborative research projects between public entities in a national (PRC) or bilateral international context (PRCI) or between public and private entities with a potential opening to the world of business (PRCE).

Research themes

AAPG 2021 is divided into 50 research themes, each with its own Scientific Evaluation Panel (CES). When researchers submit a proposal, they select the scientific theme – and therefore the Scientific Evaluation Panel – that most closely relates to the scientific purpose of their research. This choice cannot be changed mid-way through the selection process.

• There are 37 research themes across seven main scientific fields: environmental sciences, energy and materials sciences, digital sciences, life sciences, social sciences and humanities, mathematics and its interactions, and physics of matter, high-energy, Earth and universe sciences.
• There are 13 research themes covering cross-disciplinary challenges and integrating issues from various scientific fields.

AAPG 2021 covers the same research themes as AAPG 2020. However, the titles and/or key words of some AAPG themes have been amended in order to define their scientific scope more clearly. For instance, the theme “Sustainable, clean, safe and efficient energy” has been divided in two separate themes for AAPG 2021: “Basic sciences for energy” and “Sustainable, clean, safe and efficient energy”.

Provisional schedule for AAPG 2021

Stage 1   

• July 2020        Publication of Work Programme 2021 and AAPG 2021
• September 2020    Publication of the AAPG 2021 Guide
• End of October 2020    Opening of website for stage 1 submissions (JCJC, PRC, PRCE) and registrations (PRCI)
• 1 December 2020    Closure of stage 1 submission
• March 2021        Publication of stage 1 results
• Mid-Mars 2021        Opening of stage 2 submission website

Stage 2

• March 2021    Opening of stage 2 submission website (JCJC, PRC, PRCE and PRCI)
• End of April 2021        Closure of stage 2 submission website
• June 2021         Rebuttal stage
• End of July 2021    Publication of first results (JCJC, PRC and PRCE)
• July/September 2021          Grant agreement phase

Registration of PRCI proposals

All “International Collaborative Research Projects” (PRCI) proposals for which ANR acts as the Lead Agency, or for which there is no Lead Agency, must be registered in phase 1 of AAPG 2021. All PRCI proposals registered with ANR in phase 1 qualify for phase 2 provided that the project in question is eligible. The aim of this measure is to ensure that the PRCI submission and selection process is managed efficiently within the AAPG 2021 process.

A list of confirmed bilateral collaboration programmes for AAPG 2021 will be published soon.

Who can submit a proposal?

AAPG 2021 is open to all grant-holding researchers belonging to an organisation, establishment or public or private research laboratory eligible for ANR funding. Applicants can be involved in a maximum of three proposals submitted to ANR under AAPG 2021 and the bilateral call Fr-All SHS 2021: no more than one as coordinator and two as principal investigator for a project partner, or up to three as principal investigator for a project partner. A coordinator of a PRC, PRCE, PRCI or JCJC proposal selected for funding under AAPG 2020 cannot submit a PRC, PRCE, PRCI or JCJC proposal as coordinator for AAPG 2021. However, the researcher may act as a partner’s principal investigator. In addition, a JCJC project coordinator cannot act as the coordinator for another PRC, PRCE, PRCI or JCJC project while the initial JCJC project is ongoing.

View the eligibility criteria in the text of the AAPG 2021.

Evaluation criteria

Panel members and external experts use the same set of criteria to evaluate pre-proposals and full proposals submitted for the AAPG.

• In phase 1, the evaluation process is guided by two key criteria: the quality and scientific aims of the proposal (determining criterion), and how it is organised and implemented, including several sub-criteria.
• In phase 2, the evaluation process is guided by three key criteria: the quality and scientific aims of the proposal, how it is organised and implemented, and what the impact and benefits of the project will be. Again there are several sub-criteria, which differ according to the chosen funding instrument.

View the evaluation criteria and procedures in the text of AAPG 2021.

Contacts:

For questions about administrative and financial aspects of your proposal: aapg.adfi(at)anr.fr

For questions about scientific aspects of your proposal: aapg.adfi(at)anr.fr  

Erratum of 27/07/2020: amendments to the AAPG text