Principles of Funding by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture
(MWK) for Joint Lower Saxsony- Israeli Research Projects.
1. Object and goal of support programme.
The Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony allocate grants from the VolkswagenStiftung for joint research projects between universities or research institutions of Lower
Saxsony and either the Hebrew University of Jerusalem or the Israel Institute of Technology
in Haifa.
Grants are awarded for projects in the natural, engineering and life sciences including
medicine, or in the humanities and social sciences. There are no limitations regarding the
area of academic research.
The funding program is aimed to support particularly young scientists and to encourage their
scientific collaboration in order to enhance the cooperation between universities and
research institution of Lower Saxony and Israeli universities to their mutual benefit.
2. Eligibility
Only those research projects will be funded which involve young scientists as principal
investigators at both sites. It is expected, that projects are dealt with in a complementary
way- that is to say, in a true research cooperation. A primary condition of funding is,
therefore, that proposals must involve cooperation between partners in a common project,
i.e. proposals should clearly state cooperative elements and synergistic efforts.
In order to achieve the lasting benefits that the programme is aimed for, grant proposals
should clearly state in which broader contexts and perspectives research project are to be
seen. Projects are to be designed such that research cooperation might be continued by
follow-up grant application to other funding programmes, for example GIF. Funding within
this programme should primarily be understood as “seed money”. This aspect must be
clearly stated in the grant proposals.
3. Type, duration and volume of funding.
In principle, all costs for personnel, materials and travel necessary for the realisation of the
project can be provided. Exchange visits, which facilitate joint scientific work between
project partners, are particularly supported. In view of this, it is important to include the
costs of these in a proposal.
A single project will be funded for at least two years and no more than three years.
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For each project, a total of up to € 75 000 p.a can be
applied for 2
PhD students (BAT lla/2 or comparable salary in Israel), for travel costs and
for materials.
4. Application and Review Processes
The German and Israeli project partners should draw-up a joint project outline, and submit
this to the participating Israeli university for pre-review. THE Israeli university will inform
applicants of the results of this first-stage evaluation. In case of a positive outcome,
applicants should submit a comprehensive grant proposal via the two Israeli universities to
the two Israeli universities to the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony. This
must reach the Ministry by
1st April each year.
Three copies of the proposal should be submitted. The Ministry will evaluate the proposal
with the support of external reviewers and, if necessary, ask participants to provide further
details of their project.
Support will not commence before 1st January in the following year.
Proposals should be written in English and include the following:
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A brief summary of the research project in German (1/2
page DIN A4) including a German translation of the
project title.
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Names and institutional addresses of the applicants
including telephone and fax number and email addresses
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Brief details of the type and extent of previous cooperation
between applicants
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Brief statement on the lasting benefits of the cooperation,
taking account of the intended role of the grant as seed
funding. At this point, applicants should clearly describe
the broader context and perspectives of the project and
should outline the possibilities of follow-up funding.
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Presentation of the research project
o
Title of the Project
o
Summary (general presentation of the
proposal, characterization of its goals and
the current state of art in the field of study)
o
Previous cooperation between project
partners
o
Project goals
o
Time schedule (commencement and
duration of the project)
o
Detailed schedule of work (including a
presentation of the methods which are to be
used, type and extent of the cooperation and
the proportion of work being carried out by
each of the participants)
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Funding of the project
o
Details on internal contribution and
possible funding from third parties
(personnel, materials etc.)
o
Detailed budget for the funds applied for
(split by financial year and participant,
differentiated into personnel, material and
travel costs)
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Signatures of the applicants
Decisions on funding are based on the outcome of the external peer-review
process.
The Ministry of Science and Culture in Lower Saxony requires a concise joint
final report on the funded project following its completion. This report should
detail, inter alia, the publication resulting from the project and include a brief
evaluation of the cooperation. The prospects for further funding from other
funding agencies should also be described.
Copies from publications resulting from the research cooperation should be sent
to the Ministry. In appropriate cases, these may be used as substitutes for a final
report.
5. Enactment
These principles of support come into force from 1st October 2003 and are binding for all
proposals submitted from 1st April 2004 onwards. They supersede the previous principles of
support dated 16.11.1999 with effect from 30th September 2003.