2012 call for proposals
Cinvestav- Université du Maine
Grants for collaborative projects
A program established under the Cinvestav-Universite du Maine agreement of cooperation on
September 26TH 2011
Deadline for receipt of proposals: January 18th, 2012
El Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Mexico (Cinvestav), Mexico and the
Université du Maine (UM), Le Mans, France are pleased to announce the 1st call for collaborative projects.
The objective of this funding program is to provide grants to initiate new collaborative initiatives with
potential for creating permanent cooperation between Cinvestav campuses and UM. Basic and applied
collaborative research, instructional development and education projects that apply research to public
issues can be proposed. Projects funded are expected to lead to the development of major and long term
collaborations bringing significant progress in natural sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics,
engineering and computer sciences as well as social sciences or humanities. The program will favor
projects that enhance the institutional collaboration in terms of student training and researcher
exchange. Grant recipients are expected to use the seed funds to undertake the preliminary research
necessary to develop proposals for extramural funding.
Eligibility
Each proposal must be co-directed by an eligible Principal Investigator (PI) from the Cinvestav and an
eligible Principal Investigator from the UM. PI should be a FULL TIME employee in either institution.
Postdoctoral researchers, part time employees and students are not eligible to submit proposals but
could participate to projects. PIs are encouraged to submit proposals that include additional academic
participants from their institutions. PI may submit only a unique ORIGINAL proposal to this competition
i.e. it must NOT have been submitted elsewhere for funding.
Conditions of Award
1°) Awards up to € 5000 Euros will be provided for the 24 month period, April 2 nd, 2012 through March
31st, 2014. The budget must specify the planned distribution of costs and funds at both CINVESTAV and
UM. All budgets are subjected to strict administrative review. The appropriateness of the budget to the
project and to the Cinvestav-UM program is considered within the criteria for the peer review process.
No project will be funded until all the appropriate items have been approved.
2°) Any selected project that uses animals, human subjects, including pilot surveys or interviews, will be
required to get prior approval or exemption before the grant can be awarded. Copies of the approval or
research permits that have been obtained should be included in the proposal as an attachment.
3°) Because of the collaborative component of these awards, a single final narrative report indicating full
concurrence by both PI’s and financial reports from each institution must be submitted at the end of the
project to the corresponding authorities. The support of Cinvestav and UM shall be acknowledged in the
proposals, publications, conference materials, exhibitions, video tapes, or other products of the grant.
Allowable expenses include:
 Domestic and international travel – including transportation, lodging, and meal expenses - for the
purpose of meeting for project planning, collaborative research and training; field, laboratory and
archival research; and data collection. It is worth noting that the program is intended to support
the seed research phase of a project. Consequently, a low priority will be given for conference
attendance by the reviewer panel.
 Exceptionally, preliminary expenses on materials purchase can be allowed for starting the
research but it should be restricted to no more than 10% of the budget.
Items which will NOT be funded include:
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Student research assistant
Purchase of equipments
Salary payments to PI’s or any other academic salaries
Students fees or tuition
Indirect costs or institutional overhead assessments
Submission of proposals
Proposals must be written in English and jointly submitted by eligible Cinvestav and UM collaborators to
the corresponding authorities of their institutions through email ONLY. All the applications will be
acknowledged on receipt, and if the applicants don’t receive acknowledgement, they are supposed to
contact their authorities and reconfirm/resubmit
For Cinvestav: subdireccioninvestigación@cinvestav.mx
For UM: helene.delabre@univ-lemans.fr
Application Forms
All the applications should have the following format and include:
1. Application covers sheet – providing summary information in English about the project and project
personnel signed by all participants. Keep in mind that the abstract should be understandable to a review
committee with diverse academic expertises.
2. Institutional approval for Cinvestav’s given by the Director of the laboratory or department
3. Institutional approval for UM’s given by the Director of the laboratory or department
4. A provisional budget, specifying the cost to support activities at each of the participating institutions
along with detailed explanation of all requested items. Indicate all the amounts in euros. The budget
must specify the planned distribution of costs and funds at both CINVESTAV and UM, the planned
expenses and the schedule of the activities and their cost.
5. Short curriculum vitae for each PI and academic participants in the project (except students). Do not
exceed 3 pages for each individual and add a list of the recent 5 most relevant publications related to the
scientific area of the project.
4. Project plan SHOULD NOT EXCEED 5 PAGES. The meaningful participation of PI’s must be evident in the
project plan. Provide background information about the project, summarize relevant academic or
scientific issues and literature, and state the specific objectives of the project. Describe the work to be
performed, including information about who will perform each task and the timeline governing the work;
discuss plans for continuation of the project beyond the grant period, including plans to seek additional
funding from outside agencies and foundations. Explain the significance of the work, both its potential for
advancement of science, scholarships, or technology and its possible importance in regional,
environmental, economic, social or other terms. If graduate students are to be involved in the project,
describe the work they will undertake, its relevance to their graduate study, and the supervision planned
for their participation. Also provide a list of key resources (bibliography) cited in the languages in which
they were published. Cinvestav and UM will not provide any pre-review of the proposals nor will reviewer
comments be provided to the applicants
In brief the project plan can be divided in following heads
 Objectives: state parts, scientific objectives (2000 characters).
 Description and methodologies (4000 characters).
 International context (4000 character).
 5 recent publications in the context of the projects (France). Give full citations.
 5 recent publications in the context of the projects (México) . Give full citations.
 Current cooperation’s (eventual common publications) (2000 character).
 Expected results and schedule of realizations of tasks (4000 characters).
Deadline for receipt of proposals
To be considered, proposals must be submitted to the corresponding authorities by email not later than
January 18th, 2012.
The results will be published on February 29th , 2012 in the web pages of both, Cinvestav and UM, and
the PI of the approved proposals will be informed by email.
Review process and criteria
Cinvestav and UM are committed to the principles of peer review and parity in the review and selection
processes. Each proposal will be reviewed, evaluated and rated by a committee of Faculty members
and/or researchers from Mexican, French or international institutions representing expertise in relevant
topics. Proposals should be written for a committee of broadly based expertise and interests.
Appropriate bibliographies and supporting documents should be provided.
In addition to standard review criteria such as clarity, quality and feasibility of the proposal, the
committee will assign great importance to the complementary character of the proposed collaboration
and the bi-institutional unity of the work. Reviewers will seek evidence of meaningful participation
among the collaborators and will look for project that leads to development of new research programs
and resources. The potential for establishment of long-term collaborative activities between the PI’s and
their students; the involvement of graduate students is an important factor.
Reviewers will consider whether the budget is in accordance with the methodology appropriate to the
program goals, plans for future work beyond the project period and the intention of the researchers to
develop applications for extramural funding agencies and foundations that can provide substantial longterm support.
All funds will be administered in accordance with the Cinvestav and UM policies and their institutional
requirements. Each PI is responsible for accurate and appropriate administration of funds, accounting of
expenditures, and completion of accurate and timely financial reports. PI’s are equally responsible for
preparation of the required final narrative report and for acknowledgement of Cinvestav and UM support
in products resulting from the grant. Final reports and accounting of funds are to be submitted jointly by
both PI’s within the established deadlines to Cinvestav and UM authorities for their records. No indirect
costs or institutional overhead may be charged against funds awarded under this program.
For additional information contact:
Dr.Velumani Subramaniam, Coordinator for International Relations, Cinvestav; velu@cinvestav.mx
Dr.Abdelhadi Kassiba, Head, Department of Physics, UM; kassiba@univ-lemans. fr
Application format
I. General Information
Country:
Project title:
Duration:
Discipline:
Speciality:
II. Mexican PI details
Name:
Position:
Signature:
Contact address
Telephone (lada):
Fax:
email:
III. French PI details
Name:
Position:
Address for
communication:
Telephone (code):
Fax:
Email:
SNI level:
IV. Requested international collaboration
1.
Research stay of Cinvestav researchers in UM:
Name of the participant
2.
Starting date
Duration of
the stay
(days)
City
Duration of
the stay
(days)
City
Research stay of UM researchers in México
Name of the participant
Starting date
V. Description of the project
1. Objectives: state of art, scientific objectives (4000 characters).
2. Description and methodologies (4000 characters).
3. International context (2000 character).
4. Selected 5 recent publications in the context of the projects (France)
5. Selected 5 recent publications in the context of the projects (México)
6. Current cooperation’s (eventual common publications) (2000 character).
7. Expected results and schedule of realizations of tasks (4000 characters).