Human Frontier Science Program 2023 Research Grant

Eligibility

• The Principal Applicant of a research grant must be from one of the member countries (see list below), but other team members may be from anywhere in the world as long as the teams fulfill the basic international requirements described in the guidelines.
  The member countries are:
  Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus (EU part), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
• Research project with all team members in one country (including cases in which a member moves after the LOI submission) are not eligible.
• Clear priority will be given to intercontinental collaborations.
• Teams with 2 members from the same institution are not eligible to apply.
• A proposal from a team with three or four members where two team members have their laboratories in the same country is eligible only if the team can demonstrate that this collaboration is essential to maintain the frontier and interdisciplinary character of the proposed research. In such rare cases, two scientists from one country will be considered as 1.5 team members, for calculating the award sum, see also the FAQ).
• When applicants have two affiliations in different countries, both will be considered active and wil lbe taken into account for eligibility and for calculating the budget if the team is successful.

Applications for applied research, including medical research typically funded by national medical research bodies, will be deemed ineligible (see guidelines).

Summary

HFSP Research Grants support innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries (see guidelines).

Participation of scientists from disciplines outside the traditional life sciences such as biophysics, chemistry, computational biology, computer science, engineering, mathematics, nanoscience or physics is recommended because such collaborations have opened up new approaches for understanding the complex structures and regulatory networks that characterize living organisms, their evolution and interactions.

Research grants are provided for teams of scientists from different countries who wish to combine their expertise in innovative approaches to questions that could not be answered by individual laboratories. Preliminary results are not required and applicants are expected to develop new lines of research through the research collaboration. It is understood that such research inherently contains risks and HFSP expects that teams of applicants address the risks and outline mitigation strategies for their research in case of failure and how they intend to achieve their goals. 

Two types of Grant are available:

Research Grants - Early Career
All team members are expected to direct a research group (however small) and must have a doctoral degree (PhD, MD or equivalent). They must be in a position to initiate and direct their own independent lines of research. The HFSP award is not intended to create scientific independence, this is a decision of the research institute prior to the application.

Research Grants - Program
Awarded to teams of independent researchers at any stage of their careers. The research team is expected to develop new lines of research through the collaboration. Applications including independent investigators early in their careers are encouraged. 

Amount of Award

The HFSP budget is determined in US dollars. While payments may be requested in another currency, the amount in that currency will be determined by the exchange rate against the US dollar at the time of each transfer and thus may vary from year to year. HFSP reserves the right to transfer funds in local currency.

• The intended mode of funding in the 2024 cycle is as follows but may be subject to revision to take into account HFSPO’s budget: $300,000 for a team of 2; $400,000 for a team of 3; $500,000 for a team of 4 or more members. These figures represent the amount awarded to the whole team per year for a period of 3 years.

• Two members from the same country have to constitute an interdisciplinary collaboration. They will be awarded an amount equivalent to 1.5 team members (currently $350,000 for a team of ‘2.5’ and $450,000 for ‘3.5’ team members).

• In the case of a two-member team with one member in a for-profit institution, the total annual award will be reduced to $150,000. In other cases, the for-profit member will not be included when calculating the amount of the award.

Tenure of Grant

Each grant is awarded for a period of three years.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Application Process - Letter of Intent 

1. The Principal Applicant will first have to set up a personal account on Proposal Central (if not already in the PC database)

2. The Principal Applicant must initiate the Letter of Intent by obtaining a seven-digit LOI ID (1 XXX XXX) on the ProposalCentral site by March 21, 2023 at the latest.

3. Complete a Letter of Intent according to the HFSP Research Program Guidelines and Letter of Intent Instructions.

4. To initiate internal approvals, complete a Pre-Award/Letter of Intent record in RMS (https://my.rms.ucalgary.ca/), attach your completed Letter of Intent, and submit for approvals from your department head and/or faculty Associate Dean (Research). NOTE: when submitting in RMS, please ensure that you allow time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services Office internal review deadline of 12:00pm MT, March 27, 2023.

5. Once these approvals are obtained, RMS will automatically forward the pre-award/Letter of Intent record to Research Services for institutional review and approval.

6. Research Services will review, provide feedback (by email) if necessary, and will provide the institutional approval. If digital or wet-ink signatures are required, we will provide the capping institutional signature and will advise when ready.

7. A fully approved Letter of Intent, including any supplementary documentation, must be submitted via ProposalCentral by March 30, 2023.

8. The Principal Applicant will be notified in early July if the team is invited to submit a full proposal. The deadline for invited full proposal will be mid-September 2023.

For more HFSP information on eligibility, guidelines, communication requirements, the application and review process, applicants should contact:

HFSP Research Grants
12, quai Saint-Jean
67080 STRASBOURG Cedex – FRANCE
Telephone: 33 3 88 21 51 ext. 26 or 37
Email: grant@hfsp.org