Generic Call for Proposals

The Generic Call for Proposals 2019 (AAPG 2019) is the French National Research Agency’s (ANR) main call. It is directed towards all scientific communities and all public and private actors involved in French research, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and very small enterprises. This document outlines the funding instruments, clarity improvements for the 2019 edition, and the provisional schedule.

The ANR’s Generic Call for Proposals 2019 deploys four funding instruments to fund individual research projects coordinated by young researchers (JCJC), or collaborative research projects between public entities in a national or international context (PRC and PRCI respectively), and public and private entities with a potential opening to the world of business (PRCE). It corresponds to the component 1 of ANR’s Work Programme 2019 and is structured into research themes, each with its own Scientific Evaluation Panel, allowing coordinators to select the relevant panel for their proposal.

48 research themes grouped by major area to provide clearer disciplinary boundaries

The scope of each AAPG 2019 research theme has been redefined and explained in detail. For 2019, the themes are now grouped together by major research area, so that coordinators can more easily identify the scientific theme relevant to the discipline and/or challenges covered by their proposal. Particular importance has been placed on interdisciplinary research.

• There are 35 research themes across 7 disciplinary areas, corresponding to the 5 areas covered by the national research Alliances (environment, energy and materials, digital sciences life sciences, social sciences and humanities), plus mathematics, and physics.
• There are 13 research themes covering cross-disciplinary issues

Schedule 

Stage 1

• Opening of the submission (PRC/PRCE/JCJC) and registration (PRCI) website: 27 September 2018
• Submission and registration website: https://aapgenerique.agencerecherche.fr
• Deadline for submission of PRC/PRCE/JCJC pre-proposals: 25 October 2018 at 1 pm (Paris time)
• Deadline to fill in PRC/PRCE/JCJC/PRCI projects partners’ CV: 30 October 2018 at 1 pm (Paris time)
• Stage 1 results (PRC/PRCE/JCJC): 12 February 2019

Stage 2

• Opening of the submission website for full proposals: 19 February 2019
• Submission Website: https://aap.agencerecherche.fr
• Deadline for submission of full proposals: 26 March 2019 at 1 pm (Paris time)
• Rebuttal: 21 to 28 May 2019, 1 pm (Paris time)
  
• Publication of first results for PRC/PRCE/JCJC instruments: mid-July 2019

(The publication of PRCI proposal results depends on the schedule of negotiations with foreign funding agencies)

Registration for PRCI proposals

All “International Collaborative Research Projects” (PRCI) proposals must now be registered in phase 1 of the AAPG 2019. All PRCI proposals registered in phase 1 are admitted to 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, with the ANR acting as the “lead agency” for the AAPG 2019 (i.e. the agency responsible for receiving, evaluating and selecting proposals on behalf of both countries). For harmonisation reasons, this reintroduced registration requirement at the start of the process applies to all PRCI-type proposals.

Who can submit a proposal?

The AAPG 2019 is open to tenured researchers at a French public research organisation or laboratory or a French company conducting research and development work in France. Applicants can be involved in a maximum of 3 proposals submitted to the AAPG 2019 (one as coordinator and two as partner’s scientific leader, or up to three as partner’s scientific leader). In addition, two new rules have been introduced for the AAPG 2019. First, a coordinator for a PRC, PRCE, PRCI or JCJC proposal selected under the AAPG 2018 cannot act as the coordinator for a PRC, PRCE, PRCI or JCJC proposal submitted to the AAPG 2019. The researcher may however act as a partner’s scientific leader. Second, a JCJC project coordinator cannot act as the coordinator for another PRC, PRCE, PRCI or JCJC project while the initial JCJC project is ongoing.

Consult the eligibility criteria for applicants in the call text.

Evaluation criteria

Panel members and external experts use the same set of criteria to evaluate pre-proposals and full proposals submitted to the AAPG 2019.

• In phase 1, the evaluation process is guided by key 2 criteria: the quality and scientific aims of the proposal (determining criterion), and the organisation and implementation of the project. There are 6 sub-criteria. Important: proposals are no longer evaluated according to their impact and consequences in phase 1, because the format of the scientific document (4-page pre-proposal) does not allow this degree of detail.
• In phase 2, the evaluation process is guided by key 3 criteria: the quality and scientific aims of the proposal, the organisation and implementation of the project, and the impacts and benefits of the project. There are 8 sub-criteria.

The sub-criteria used in phases 1 and 2 of the AAPG 2019 have also undergone minor changes as part of ongoing efforts to improve the evaluation process.

Consult the evaluation criteria in the call text.