At the G8 Heads of Research Councils (G8-HORCs) meeting held in Kyoto in May 2008, it was decided to launch an initiative aiming at supporting excellent research projects of global relevance best tackled through a multinational approach. G8-HORCs agreed that research topics would be defined separately for each call.
Following the success of the first call, the ANR has joined again the following research organisations to launch a second transnational call for proposals: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), the Research Councils of the United Kingdom (RCUK), and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).
Funding should support researchers to cooperate in consortia consisting of partners from at least 3 of the participating countries.
Material Efficiency
For most materials used to manufacture equipment and products, global stocks are still sufficient to meet anticipated demand, but the environmental impacts of materials production and processing, particularly those related to energy, are rapidly becoming critical. These impacts can be ameliorated to some extent by the on-going pursuit of efficiencies within existing processes, but demand is anticipated to double in the next 40 years, and this will lead to an unacceptable increase in overall impacts unless the total requirement for material production and processing is reduced.
Material efficiency forms part of the suite of philosophies towards sustainability and any proposal should give consideration to how the research undertaken will have wider impact in the long term on this agenda.
This call aims to support collaborations between experts in research areas related to the global challenge of materials efficiency to address one or more of seven potential strategies for reducing material demand through material efficiency:
The call will support interdisciplinary projects with the potential of creating a step change in the approach taken towards the sustainable use of material resources and the contribution and impact that this will have upon the wider cradle-to-cradle design and manufacturing principles.
Principles of funding
Funding of the participating researchers is provided by their respective national funding agency according to their normal terms and conditions for project funding. Funding is meant for collaborative research, not merely for networking, mobility or communication. The total budget for this call is approximately 10 million € over three years. Funding can be provided for projects lasting from two to three years.
After multinational peer review of the full proposals, the intention is to fund approximately 8-10 consortia. It is anticipated that awards will be made by May 2012.
Closing date for submission of pre-proposals: 29th Septembre 2011 at 17h00 Paris time (30th September at midnight Japanese Standard Time), on the submission website accessible by clicking here.
Notification for submission of Full proposal: 21st Novembre 2011.
Closing date for submission of Full proposal: 27 January 2012.
The call secretariat will be managed by the JSPS in Japan. For more details and to obtain the name of the national contact points, please consult: www.jsps.go.jp/j-bottom/g8-initiative.html.
Contacts:
On the G8 initiative:
Nakita Vodjdani
Nakita.vodjdani(at)agencerecherche.fr
Tel: +33 (0)1 78 09 80 13
Scientific questions:
Jean-Pierre Chevalier
Jean-pierre.chevalier(at)agencerecherche.fr
Administrative questions:
Sophie Ferrand
Sophie.ferrand(at)agencerecherche.fr
Tel: +33 (0)1 73 54 81 72
The appelsprojetsrecherche.fr portal centralises all information on calls for proposals and calls for applications from ADEME, ANR, Inserm including ANRS, Anses and INCa. It provides a simplified access to upcoming and ongoing calls, giving a greater visibility to funding opportunities. Following their closing date, the calls remain published for a few months.
Portail appelsprojetsrecherche.fr
