Generic call 2015: encouraging international projects

ANR promotes collaborative research in Europe and the world, thereby stimulating the emergence of high-level scientific partnerships between French and foreign teams. To meet this objective, it proposes a funding instrument baptised PRCI, the French acronym for "Collaborative Research Projects - International". This instrument, which can be used under the 2015 generic call for proposals, enables French teams to submit projects in collaboration with a number of other countries.

As part of its international cooperation policy, ANR supports the development of transnational research projects. It signs agreements that reduce the barriers and thereby facilitate collaboration between teams from different countries. These agreements can concern targeted themes or be open to all the research themes funded by ANR. In this case each agency funds the teams from their respective country.

With regard to the generic call 2015, the partnerships are set up using the PRCI instrument. The international projects are therefore in direct competition with national projects. The following countries are concerned: Germany, Austria, Brazil (States of Pernambuco and Sao Paulo), Canada, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey. Only binational collaborations are possible. The themes eligible for funding differ from one country to another.

Strong synergies are expected and should be materialised by a balanced involvement of the French and foreign partners and by the designation of a scientific coordinator in each of the countries.

Conditions that vary according to the country

The conditions of project submission and evaluation vary according to the country. They are clearly described in appendices that can be found on the page of the generic call.

As a general rule, the French and foreign coordinators must submit their proposal to their respective funding agencies simultaneously, complying with the conditions of each one. The funding agencies manage the evaluation of the proposals in accordance with their own specific procedures and then coordinate their decisions on the projects to co-fund.

These conditions do not however apply to the proposals involving researchers from Germany, Austria, the State of Sao Paulo in Brazil, and Switzerland. For projects involving these countries, the "lead agency" procedure is used. This procedure is an advanced form of bilateral partnership between funding agencies which aims in particular at facilitating the proposal submission procedures for the researchers and simplifying the selection process. The "lead" agency takes charge of the reception, evaluation and selection of projects for the two countries. This year, ANR is ensuring these various steps on behalf of the agencies for Germany (DFG), Switzerland (FNS), Austria (FWF) and Brazil (FAPESP, State of Sao Paulo), therefore only the French principal investigators submit the joint project to ANR.

A specific submission calendar

The applicants must select the PRCI instrument of the generic call. The submission calendar differs from the other instruments of the call, as the evaluation of the PRCIs will be carried out in a single step. The principal investigators of international projects must thus pre-register via a dedicated site, and then submit their full proposal at the same time as the other projects (collaborative research projects (PRC), collaborative research projects - enterprises (PRCE) and young researchers (JCJC)). The deadline for pre-registration is 18th November 2014 at 13h00 (1 pm Paris time).

Find out more:

Consult the generic call page

The PRCIs at a glance: countries and eligible themes

Country	Eligible themes
Germany	All the societal challenges and the all-knowledge challenge of the generic call, with the exception of the Social Sciences & Humanities which form the subject of a specific Franco-German call
Austria	All the societal challenges and the all-knowledge challenge of the generic call
Brazil (State of Pernambuco and State of Sao Paulo).	Neurosciences, cardiovascular diseases and metabolism Marine research Social sciences and humanities
Canada	Themes intersecting the thematic lines of Canada's SPG programme and the challenges of the ANR generic call
China	Water security and watershed management: (1) Water cycling in watershed and its response to global change (2) Impacts of human activities on water security in watershed, remediation and water management Infectious diseases
India	Neurosciences Engineering (including: material science, chemistry, smart transport, energy, mechanics, manufacturing)
Hong Kong	All the societal challenges and the all-knowledge challenge of the generic call, except for societal challenge 9 "Freedom and security of Europe, of its citizens and of its residents".
Singapore	Materials, nanotechnologies, nanosystems
Switzerland	All the societal challenges and the all-knowledge challenge of the generic call.
Taiwan	All the societal challenges and the all-knowledge challenge, except for societal challenge 9 "Freedom and security of Europe, of its citizens and of its residents".
Turkey	Marine geosciences Seismic risks Sustainable development of Marine ecosystem Social sciences and humanities Energy Information and Communication Sciences and Technologies

Last updated on 21 March 2019