Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) has signed a MoU singed in March, 2012 to launch the DST-ANR Targeted Programme with the aim to foster the Indo-French collaboration in scientific research and to fund joint research projects conducted by teams from both countries.

In India, on behalf of the Department of Science & Technology, Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Research, IFCPAR/CEFIPRA invites proposal from the Indian scientists / researchers under the DST-ANR MoU.

Areas of collaboration

1. Infectious Diseases
2. Engineering Sciences
3. Neurosciences

Research funding

The projects are funded by DST in India and by ANR in France. The research projects are funded for a maximum of three years.

Application procedure: Applicants have to hold a permanent position as scientists/ Faculty members in universities/ deemed universities, academic institutes and national research and development laboratories/institutes.

The French researchers apply for funding in accordance with ANR rules and the Indian researchers in accordance with DST rules, both using their own application forms. The joint proposal shall be written in English. Proposals submitted to only one side will not be eligible.

Review process and evaluation

ANR and DST will implement evaluation of the proposals according to their own evaluation rules, and will rank the proposals based on scientific quality and interest.

The evaluation criteria will be based on the following:

• Relevance of the proposal to the call
• Technical and Scientific quality of the proposal
• Quality of the project management & methodology
• Global Impact of the proposal
• Quality of the consortium and good synergies between the partners
• Mobilization of resources
• Added value to be expected from French-Indian research collaboration
• Balanced Scientific and Financial contribution

Funding

Based on the scientific evaluations of the joint research proposals and consensus discussion between DST & ANR (ranking of the projects), ANR will fund French scientists and DST will fund Indian scientists according to the regulations of each organisation. Each project will be funded, under the scheme, for its merit, scientific justification and requirements.

The support will be given under the following heads

• International travel (including airfare (India to France & vice-versa), daily allowance, accommodation and domestic travel in the receiving country during a participant’s stay abroad) for researchers, engineers, post-doctoral Fellows, Ph.D Students as per CEFIPRA norms
• Support for JRF /SRF / RA/ PDF (as per DST guidelines)
• Support for consumables and contingencies, if any

Intellectual Property

The rights of intellectual property arising from the programme shall be, in principle, the joint property of the project participants and their employing institutions. In respect of each result, which is to be protected, the project participants shall decide the modalities of protecting the rights.

The project participants shall prepare a joint Intellectual Property Management Plan, covering among other things, matters related to intellectual property such as intellectual property likely to be generated, the modalities of protecting the intellectual property and the background intellectual property/ background information. The plan can be jointly modified and/or completed, if necessary, by the partners during the course of implementation of the programme. A copy of the initial plan and the modified/completed plan, if any, should be submitted to both CEFIPRA and ANR for information.

A joint consortium agreement will need to be in place and reported to ANR and CEFIPRA before any fund payment for the project.

Timeline

Call for Proposals currently closed