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JPI Climate Call for Transnational Collaborative Research
Projects
Final Pre-proposal submission date 29.11.2013, 12.00 (noon) CET
Who can apply?
The call is open to international consortia of researchers and research groups from various
academic and other organisations with a strong research focus. For eligible participant types for
each country, consult the eligibility criteria in the National Annexes, Annex 3.
For the Call Topic on Societal Transformation, consortia must include partners from at least
three of the European countries participating in the call. Involvement of partners from civil
society, politics, administration or industry for co-designing research questions and coproduction of knowledge is explicitly invited.
For the Call Topic on Russian Arctic & Boreal Systems, Consortia must consist of, at least one
Russian partner based in an eligible institution, and partners from at least two of the
European countries participating in the call.
For both topics, researchers from others countries, not represented by the funding
organizations* participating in the call, can participate in the research project at their own
expense.
Background
The Joint Programming Initiative Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe (JPI Climate)
- established to tackle the grand societal challenge of Climate Change - aims to facilitate
integrated climate knowledge and decision support services for societal innovation towards a
climate-friendly and climate-proof Europe. JPI Climate provides a platform for aligning national
research priorities, coordinating the research base in Europe, and responding to the needs of
the European society, through innovative inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches and flexible
collaborative governance.
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For further information see www.jpi-climate.eu
The aim of the call
This JPI Climate Joint Call for Transnational Collaborative Research Projects aims to support
excellent research on topics of high societal relevance in Europe and globally, recognising that
these challenges demand joint efforts through multinational approaches. Funding will be
provided to support research cooperation in consortia, consisting of partners from the
participating countries and others, preferably bringing together different scientific disciplines in
addressing the issues within the scope of the described call topics. The projects should
demonstrate clear links to decisions makers and users of climate knowledge as well as possible
change agents in society. They should be genuinely collaborative and demonstrate that by
working together you will achieve more than by individual partners working on their own.
Thematic framework
Two broad topics have been defined for this first call of JPI Climate:
Topic 1: Societal Transformation in the face of Climate Change
The Call aims to facilitate research activities in the European Research Area that inform and
support societal transformations in the face of climate change and in line with sustainable
development in Europe and globally. The Humanities and Social Sciences are expected to hold
crucial contributions to the understanding of these processes of change. The proposals are
particular invited on the topics:
1. The normative and social justice dimensions of climate change;
2. The role of knowledge and risk perception in climate related policies;
3. The societal capacity and governance to respond to climate change;
4. The role of economy and finance in societal transformation;
5. Integrative studies on societal transformation, visions and pathways under climate change.
The Call Topic is further described in Annex 1.
Topic 2: Russian Arctic & Boreal Systems
The Call aims to improve the fundamental understanding of key biological and physical drivers
and feedbacks in Russian Arctic/Boreal system (tundra-taiga-coastal region) to enable better
representation of these processes in climate models. The proposals are particular invited on
the topics:
1. Improving the understanding and the modelling of permafrost and its impact on the
capture, storage and release of GHGs;
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2. The dynamics and drivers of climatically relevant gases in the terrestrial, freshwater and
coastal environments.
The Call Topic is further described in Annex 2.
Instrumentation
The Call will grant funding to transnational collaborative research projects, consisting of partners
from the from at least three participating countries (tbc 1 September) and preferably bringing
together different scientific disciplines in addressing the issues within the scope of the described
call Topic and demonstrating clear links to users of climate knowledge. This collaborative
research project funding scheme is intended to promote inter-institutional collaborations between
researchers in different European countries. The project should be genuinely collaborative and
demonstrate that by working together you will achieve more than by individual partners working
on their own. Funding will be provided to transnational collaboration, as described in the project
proposal and in line with the national eligibility criteria presented in Annex 3.
In line with JPI Climate’s sustainability principle, the challenges of climate change should be
considered in all activities of JPI Climate, and applicants are requested to consider their carbon
footprint and use of energy and other resources when planning the project. This means e.g.
planning meetings and travel in a climate friendly way by placing meetings back to back, and
using train instead of air by means of travel. In particular proposals should clarify how the project
proposal does take into account its own climate footprint and contribute to a climate-friendly
research system, e.g. in terms of (virtual) meetings, travels and energy use, as well as the
considered effectiveness and innovativeness of measures to improve the climate performance of
the research project. Please consult the respective checklist on the JPI Climate's website for
further suggestions and advice.
Following the recommendations made by the European Commission to reinforce the European
Research Area partnership for excellence and growth (COM (2012) 392 final), projects should
strive to use open recruitment of positions within projects, to publish their scientific work in open
access journals or similar, and to make joint use of available Research Infrastructures.
Financial framework
This call is funded through a distributed pot provided by its funding partners and consisting of up
to EUR 12 million of public funding (tbc 1 September). Further information on allocated funding
per country and funding organisations participating in the call is given in the National Annexes,
Annex 3.
Funding within the call is granted for transnational research collaboration as described and
accounted for in the proposal. Applications should contain a description and budget of activities
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that funding is applied for by each partner of the consortium. Within each selected consortium,
funding of the participating researchers will be provided by their respective national funding
organisation according to their normal terms and conditions for project funding.
Eligibility criteria
-
The whole application must be written in English and be complete with all requires parts
and following the given application instructions as well as national eligibility criteria.
-
For the Call Topic on Societal Transformation: Consortia must include eligible partners from
at least three of the European countries participating in the call. Involvement of partners
from civil society, politics, administration or industry for co-designing research questions
and co-production of knowledge is explicitly invited. Each partner in the consortium must
fulfil the respective national eligibility criteria for research grant application presented in
Annex 3.
-
For the Call Topic on Russian Arctic & Boreal System: Consortia must consist of, at least
one Russian partner based in an eligible institution, and eligible partners from at least two
of the European countries participating in the call. Each partner in the consortium must fulfil
the respective national eligibility criteria for research grant application presented in Annex 3.
-
Each project must combine significant contributions by scientists from at least three of the
countries participating in the call. More than one participant from a country is possible in
each consortium. However, consortia should aim for balanced national contributions to the
research project.
-
Each consortium (consisting of partners from from at least three oft he participating
countries) should identify a Leading Principal Investigator fort he proposal, who is officially
responsible for all communications with the Topic Programme Office, including
submission of the proposal.
-
Researchers from others countries, not represented by the funding organizations*
participating in the call, can participate in the research project at their own expense.
-
Funding will be provided for 2-4 years for collaborative research activities, as described in
the proposal and in line with national eligibility criteria presented in Annex 3. A budget
showing the anticipated total costs of the project, including a specification of the
requested funding from each JPI Climate participating financier must be submitted, using
the budget template in the application portal.
-
Full proposals have to include a Scientific Impact and Knowledge Dissemination Strategy,
including a productive provision and dissemination of research outputs; allowing for open
access to research results as well as produced data (primary and meta data) among the
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scientific community; as well as making use of other suitable means of dissemination of
results
Evaluation criteria
Pre-Proposals will be reviewed under the following evaluation criteria:
1. Scientific Quality/Intellectual Merit
 Scientific quality and innovativeness of the objectives and approach of the research plan
 The goals and objectives of the research plan in line with the Call Theme
 Added scientific value to be expected from the international research collaboration
2. Envisaged Societal Relevance and Impact
 Contribution to overall JPI Climate Vision 1
 Approach to co-design full proposal with stakeholders (Stakeholders refers to actors
outside the scientific community e.g. change agents and knowledge partners such as
policy makers, regulators, NGOs, communities or industry)
3. Competence and balance of the Consortium
 Competence and expertise of the team and a balance of complementary skills within the
consortium, including
 expertise and experiences in managing inter- and transdisciplinary research collaborations
4. Resources and Management
 Appropriateness of resources and funding requested
 Taking into account JPI Climate sustainability principle: Consideration of projects’ climate
footprint and contributions to a climate-friendly research system, e.g. in terms of (virtual)
meetings, travels and energy use.
Full Proposals will be reviewed under the following evaluation criteria:
1. Scientific Quality/Intellectual Merit
 Scientific quality and innovativeness of the objectives and approach of the research plan
 The goals and objectives of the research plan in line with the Call Theme
 Added scientific value to be expected from the international research collaboration
2. Envisaged Societal Relevance and Impact
 Contribution to overall JPI Climate Vision2
 Knowledge co-production with stakeholders / Engagement of relevant stakeholders /
Awareness of stakeholder needs (Stakeholders refers to actors outside the scientific
community e.g. change agents and knowledge partners such as policy makers, regulators,
NGOs, communities or industry)
 Envisaged societal impacts (e.g., capacity and community building, networking effects,
contributions to societal welfare and well-being, policy related or economic impact)
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2
See Vision chapter in the JPI CLIMATE Strategic Research Agenda
See Vision chapter in the JPI CLIMATE Strategic Research Agenda
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3. Quality of the Consortium
 Competence and expertise of team and complementarities of consortium (inter-disciplinary
/ inclusion of all necessary expertise /expertise in managing inter- and transdisciplinary
research collaborations, gender balance)
 Level of shared responsibility and commitment in the engagement of relevant scientific
disciplines in terms of an active interdisciplinary project co-design as appropriate
4. Resources and Management
 Appropriateness of resources and funding requested
 Balanced cooperation
 Taking into account JPI Climate sustainability principle: Consideration of projects’ climate
footprint and contributions to a climate-friendly research system, e.g. in terms of (virtual)
meetings, travels and energy use.
Selection procedure
In this call, collaborative research projects will be selected using a 2-step procedure.
In this first, open stage, pre-proposals should be submitted to JPI Climate electronically through
the NordForsk Application Portal https://funding.nordforsk.org/nordforsk no later than 29
November 2013 12:00 (noon) CET. Proposals must be submitted in English. No attachments
are allowed, unless specifically requested in the application form. The application form is based
on the eligibility criteria and evaluation criteria stated above, and can be found in its complete
form at the Application Portal. In order to access the application form you must register as a
user at the Application Portal and create an application draft.
Pre-proposals will be evaluated, following the evaluation criteria above, by a Panel of Experts
(PoE), encompassing the necessary scientific expertise to cover the call Topic and also include
expertise in the field of policy and decision-making. Based on the peer review selection
process, the Programme Coordinator’s Committee governing the Call, will decide which
proposals to invite to a second stage.
Successful consortia will by 3 February, 2014, be invited to submit full proposals with deadline
28 March, 2014 (noon CET). Full Proposals will be evaluated by at least two External
Reviewers and a Panel of Experts following the evaluation criteria above. Based on the second
stage peer review, the Programme Coordinators’ Committee will in June 2014 decide which
projects to recommend for funding.
Within each selected consortium, funding of the participating researchers will be provided by
their respective national funding organization, which will sign contracts with the respective
consortium partners according to their normal terms and conditions for project funding.
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Follow up
Should your application be successful, a consortium agreement (including Intellectual Property
Rights) is to be developed between the participating researchers and shared with the relevant
funding organisations.
Leading Principle Investigators will submit reports to the JPI Central Secretariat upon mid-term
and completion of the research projects. Each Leading Principle Investigator must also fulfil
national reporting requirement(s) of their national funding organisation.
Leading Principle Investigators and other project participants as relevant should (using their own
budget), attend joint meetings with project participants in the same theme or topic to exchange
views, share questions, progress and output towards the scientific- and user community. Such
meetings would best be back to back or in the margins of other related major international
scientific events.
.
Max applied amount
Contact
Technical support
EUR XX million
National Contact Points and Topic
Programme Offices listed in Annex 3.
+47 XXXXXXXX
Enclosures:
Annex 1: Call Topic Societal Transformation in the face of Climate Change
Annex 2: Call Topic Russian Arctic & Boreal Systems
Annex 3: National Annexes