US-IRELAND R&D PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME
PLANNING GRANT
CALL FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Version: 16th August 2012
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Contents
1. BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................. 3
2. PARTNER AGENCIES ................................................................................................... 4
3. ELIGIBILITY OF RESEARCH BODY .............................................................................. 4
4. Objectives of THE US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme Planning Grant ................. 5
5. FUNDING ....................................................................................................................... 5
6. ELIGIBILITY CITERIA .................................................................................................... 5
Eligibility Criteria for Republic of Ireland Applicants ........................................................ 6
Eligibility Criteria for Northern Ireland Applicants ............................................................ 6
7. US-IRELAND PLANNING GRANT APPLICATION PROCEDURE.................................. 6
8. SUBMISSION OF PLANNING GRANT PROPOSALS .................................................... 7
9. REVIEW PROCESS ....................................................................................................... 8
10.
GRANT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS ................................................................... 8
APPENDIX 1 – US-IRELAND PLANNING GRANT APPLICATION FORM ........................ 9
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1.
BACKGROUND
The US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership launched in July 2006, is a
unique initiative involving funding agencies across three jurisdictions: United States
of America (USA), Republic of Ireland (RoI) & Northern Ireland (NI).
The overall goal of the Partnership is to increase the level of collaborative R&D
amongst researchers and industry professionals across the three jurisdictions. This
collaboration aims to generate valuable discoveries and innovations which are
transferable to the marketplace, or will lead to enhancements in health, disease
prevention or healthcare.
The Partnership achieves its goals through tri-partite research projects in which the
funding agencies fund the elements of research undertaken in their own jurisdiction.
Importantly, the Partnership must add significant value to each research programme
above that is not achievable by the PI in each jurisdiction working alone, supported
only by national funding.
The current focus of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme, as agreed by the
Partnership Steering Group, is on the following five thematic areas:
Sensors & Sensor Networks
Nanoscale Science and Engineering
Telecommunications
Energy & Sustainability
Health
This call document outlines the eligibility and application process for RoI applicants
to apply to SFI/HRB for planning grants. These are grants which enable prospective
Irish applicants to the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme, to travel to the US in
order to develop specific projects with US collaborators for identified programmes
under the NSF and NIH auspices.
For all thematic areas, Northern Ireland applicants should refer to Invest NI for
details regarding eligibility and application procedure (see Section 6).
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2.
PARTNER AGENCIES
The Partners are the bodies in each jurisdiction that have agreed to provide research
funding depending on the thematic research area.
3.

In the US, the partner agencies are the National Institutes of Health (NIH)1
and the National Science Foundation (NSF)2.

In the Republic of Ireland (RoI), the partner agencies are Science Foundation
Ireland (SFI)3; and the Health Research Board (HRB)4

In Northern Ireland (NI) the partner agencies are the Health & Social Care
R&D Division (HSC R&D)5, the Dept for Employment and Learning (DELNI) 6,
and Invest Northern Ireland (InvestNI) 7.
ELIGIBILITY OF RESEARCH BODY8
The Research Body is the body in charge of the financial and administrative coordination of the award. Host Research Bodies must be situated in the Republic of
Ireland or Northern Ireland. Please refer to Eligible Research Bodies9 for the current
list of eligible research bodies in the Republic of Ireland.
Eligible Research Bodies in Northern Ireland are Queen’s University Belfast and the
University of Ulster.
1
National Institutes of Health (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm)
National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/)
3
Science Foundation Ireland (http://www.sfi.ie/)
4
Health Research Board (http://www.hrb.ie/)
5
HSC R&D (http://www.publichealth.hscni.net/directorate-public-health/hsc-research-and-development)
6
Dept of Employment & Learning (http://www.delni.gov.uk/)
7
Invest NI (http://www.investni.com/ )
2
8
9
http://www.sfi.ie/funding/sfi-eligible-research-bodies/
http://www.sfi.ie/funding/sfi-eligible-research-bodies/
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4. OBJECTIVES OF THE US-IRELAND R&D PARTNERSHIP
PROGRAMME PLANNING GRANT
The aim of the SFI US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme Planning Grant is to
provide planning travel support to researchers in Ireland to travel to the United
States in order to develop specific projects with US collaborators for identified
programmes under the NIH or NSF. Planning grants are not a pre-requisite for all
Ireland researchers who subsequently intend to submit a formal tri-partite application
to either the NIH or NSF; they are intended as a vehicle to facilitate development of
the tri-partite application.
1. To enable Irish-based researchers to travel to the US to meet with preidentified collaborators for a period of no more than 10 days.
2. To facilitate development of a joint, comprehensive and inclusive tri-partite
proposal, for subsequent submission to either the NIH or NSF.
3. The output from the Planning Grant award should enable the development of
world-class research proposals in the prioritised thematic areas of the
Partnership namely Health, Nanoscale Science & Engineering, Sensors &
Sensor Networks, Telecommunications, and Energy & Sustainability.
5.
FUNDING
The budget available, on a competitive basis, is up to €5,000 direct costs per grant to
cover travel and accommodation costs during grant preparation with US and
Northern Ireland collaborators. The SFI US-Ireland R&D Partnership Planning
Grants are not subject to an overhead contribution.
6.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
For planning grant proposals related to the Health thematic area, the applicant must
have completed a pre-eligibility approval step before a US-Ireland planning grant
proposal can be accepted. Please refer to the Call for Submission for Tri-Partite
Proposals to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) [section 5] on the SFI website
US Ireland R&D Partnership
For health-related planning grant proposals, either SFI or HRB will fund the planning
grant; however all proposals are submitted through SFI.
For proposals to the NSF in the areas of Nanoscale Science & Engineering, Sensors
& Sensor Networks, Telecommunications, and Energy & Sustainability, a preeligibility step is not required; however the following eligibility criteria must be
satisfied:
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Eligibility Criteria for Republic of Ireland Applicants

The applicant must hold, or have held, an SFI research award (*) as either
lead Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI.
(*) Research awards include SFI IvP, SFI PI, SFI PICA, SFI RFP, SFI SRC, SFI CSET, SFI
Stokes, SFI Research Professor, SFI PIYRA, SFI SIRG, SFI Charles Parsons, SFI
Mathematics Initiative, US-Ireland R&D Partnership award, SFI Research Centre. Grants
such as personal fellowships or travel grants are not included. If you are unsure as to
whether your SFI award is considered eligible, please contact the relevant agency in advance
of your submission.

If the applicant is not an SFI awardee, s/he must be/have been lead PI on a
competitively awarded, internationally peer-reviewed research grant worth
more than €200k. This is exclusive of personal awards such as travel awards
and career fellowships. In the case of large collaborative EU framework
projects the co-PI / workpackage leader is eligible to apply provided they are
the lead-PI for their institution and the PI's direct budget for that project is >
€200k.
Eligibility Criteria for Northern Ireland Applicants
For all thematic areas, Northern Ireland applicants should refer to Invest NI for details
regarding eligibility and application procedure.
Contact: Paul Malcomson, Deputy Principal, Universities and Commercialisation,
R&D Division, Invest Northern Ireland, paul.malcomson@investni.com
www.investni.com
7. US-IRELAND PLANNING GRANT APPLICATION
PROCEDURE
The Application form available in Appendix 1 contains the following sections:
COVER SHEET
The cover sheet must be completed and signed and stamped by the lead Republic of
Ireland applicant and the research body. The lead Republic of Ireland applicant
should identify the NIH/NSF funding competition that the planning grant will support,
specifically identifying the program and specific call (including deadline). For healthrelated proposals, the NIH institute must be included as well as the SFI pre-approval
code which was issued at the pre-eligibility stage.
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SECTION 1.: Contact Details of RoI, NI and US Partners
SECTION 2.: RESEARCH PROGRAMME (max. 3 pages)
An outline of the proposed joint research programme to be developed, including
overall aim and objectives of the work programme, and the specific research
contributions and time commitments of the individual researchers identified as lead
investigators from the three jurisdictions. The applicants must clearly define how the
proposed collaboration will benefit their research activities, and outline how it fits with
the remit of the relevant funding agency.
An indicative budget for the proposed joint research programme, including estimated
research costs for researchers in each of the three jurisdictions must be included in
the proposal.
SECTION 3. CVs for each participating investigator (max. 2 pages)
SECTION 4. BUDGET
The budget available, on a competitive basis, is up to €5,000 direct costs per grant to
be awarded to the Host Body of the Republic of Ireland applicant. The SFI USIreland R&D Partnership Planning Grants are not subject to an overhead
contribution. A detailed Partnership Planning Grant budget request should outline the
travel and other preparatory costs being requested (up to €5,000) and figures should
be provided in the format: €1,000.
SECTION 5: LETTERS OF SUPPORT
A letter of support from the US investigator and the Northern Ireland investigator is
required outlining his/her support for the collaborative project and detailing their
unique contribution to the proposal. The partner hosting the project planning
meeting should also confirm his/her willingness to host this meeting.
8.
SUBMISSION OF PLANNING GRANT PROPOSALS
All documents must be combined into a single Adobe pdf document and emailed to
USIreland@sfi.ie. The Subject line should include the thematic area; i.e. Health,
Nanoscale Science & Engineering, Sensors & Sensor Networks,
Telecommunications, and Energy & Sustainability.
Applications are accepted on a rolling call basis. However please bear in mind that
the completed tri-partite proposal must be submitted to the relevant funding agency
at least 6 weeks in advance of the NSF/NIH deadline. Incomplete applications will
be returned without review.
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9.
REVIEW PROCESS
SFI Technical Staff will review the applications and may seek additional expert
advice if appropriate. Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria;

The budget is well-justified and represents value for money.

The work proposed for each jurisdiction adds significant value so that the
overall programme of research goes beyond what might be achieved by any
one PI working alone supported by national funding only.

The proposed research fits within the relevant agency’s remit.

Overall quality of the proposal.

The quality of the collaborators’ plans for interaction.
10. GRANT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Once travel has been completed, please email SFI at USIreland@sfi.ie within 45 days
of your return, with the following details;
(i)
Your planned date for submission of the draft tri-partite proposal to SFI;
please note the draft tri-partite proposal must be submitted to SFI at least
6 weeks in advance of the NSF/NIH deadline.
(ii)
If you are not planning a submission within 9 months of your return date,
please submit a short report outlining the reason for the delay in
submission, the activities undertaken with the US and Northern Ireland
collaborators, and an update on the current status of the proposed
collaborators funding request.
QUESTIONS
Please email all questions to USIreland@sfi.ie
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APPENDIX 1 – US-IRELAND PLANNING GRANT APPLICATION FORM
COVER SHEET
PROGRAMME NAME
SFI US-Ireland
R&D Partnership
Programme
Planning Grant
NIH/NSF PROGRAMME NAME and
CLOSING DATE
NIH INSTITUTE
THEMATIC AREA
(Tick as relevant)
 Sensors & Sensor
Networks
 Nanoscale Science and
Engineering
 Telecommunications
 Energy & Sustainability
 Health
TITLE OF PROPOSAL (up to 30 words)
NAME OF HOST INSTITUTION
TITLE & FULL NAME OF LEAD REPUBLIC
OF IRELAND CONTACT
REQUESTED BUDGET DIRECT COSTS
(euro)
PRE-APPROVAL CODE (relevant for Health)
PLANNED TRAVEL DATES
Is NI collaborator also travelling Y/N
Signatures below confirm acceptance and agreement with the SFI grants and
awards Terms and Conditions, and that the institution ensures the applicant
meets eligibility requirements, and that the project is in full agreement with all
legal and regulatory matters governing research in Ireland, and no aspect of this
project is already being funded from another source and all details provided are
correct.
INSTITUTIONAL SIGNATORY AUTHORITY
LEAD Republic of Ireland CONTACT
Name (print):
Position:
Signed:
Email:
Correspondence Address:
Date:
Signed:
Date:
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SECTION 1: CONTACT DETAILS
LEAD Republic of Ireland CONTACT
All fields must be completed.
Title and Name
Host Institution
Address
Country
Postcode
E-mail
Phone
Fax
Investigator Website
Correspondence Address
(if different)
Northern Ireland CONTACT
All fields must be completed.
Title and Name
Host Institution
Address
Country
Postcode
E-mail
Phone
Fax
Investigator Website
Correspondence Address
(if different)
United States CONTACT
All fields must be completed.
Title and Name
Host Institution
Address
Country
Postcode
E-mail
Phone
Fax
Investigator Website
Correspondence Address
(if different)
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SECTION 2: RESEARCH PROGRAMME (max. 3 pages)
SECTION 3. CVs of PIs involved in collaboration (free format max. 2 pages)
SECTION 4. BUDGET
SECTION 4: LETTERS OF SUPPORT