DST-CNRS Targeted Programme

Following the Memorandum of Understanding signed between DST and CNRS in May 2015, Indian and French research institutions wish to strengthen scientific cooperation between both countries by contributing to researchers’ mobility and by fostering joint research. In India, on behalf of the Department of Science & Technology, Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA) invites proposals from the Indian scientists / researchers, organize expert & review committee meetings for management/ disbursement of funds to the approved projects, etc.

Areas of collaboration

• Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Human-environment interactions (including terrestrial/marine, past/present environments and socio-ecosystems)
• Detector and theory developments in nuclear and particle physics
• Engineering and Systems Sciences

Eligibility

On the Indian side Applicants have to hold a permanent position as scientists/ faculty members in universities/ deemed universities, academic institutes and national research and development laboratories/institutes.

On the French side Applicants have to carry out their research activity in a CNRS research unit. Please visit website of CNRS for details.

Application

Each project must be submitted separately to CNRS and to CEFIPRA according to each institution’s own procedures. The joint proposal shall be written in English. Proposal submitted to only one Party will not be considered. All applicants must fulfil their national eligibility rules for their research grant application. A format is given for the submission of proposal. Applicants from Indian side should ensure that French collaborator must submit the proposal to CNRS in their specified format.

Evaluation of Project Proposal

After the closure date of the call DST/CEFIPRA & CNRS will exchange list of proposals, received on their side. Commonly received proposals will be evaluated by CNRS and DST/CEFIPRA according to their own evaluation rules, and they 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

Projects to be funded are selected by a Joint Selection Committee composed of representatives and Scientific Chairs of the funding institutions. The Joint Selection Committee takes into account the recommendations of Scientific Chairs and the strategic priorities of the funding institutions.

Project funding

Jointly selected proposals will be funded in India by DST through CEFIPRA and in France by CNRS (for CNRS Research units). The joint proposal must meet the criteria of the funding institutions for consideration. Each project will be funded for a period of three years. Joint research projects will be financed by Indian and French funding partners for a period of three (3) years.

Indian partner: 10 000 – 15 000€ (Rs. 8-12 lakhs), per project and per year.

French partner: Please visit website of CNRS for details.

The support will be given on Indian side 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, PhD Students, as per CEFIPRA norms
• Support for JRF /SRF / RA/ PDF (as per DST’s guidelines)
• Contingency up to Rs. 30,000 per year

The cost of accident and sickness insurance during travel will not be supported under this Programme. Since the project is supported mainly for collaboration; applicants have to indicate about the status of co-funding.

Intellectual Property

The rights of Intellectual Property (IP) 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. For each selected joint proposal, the project participants shall prepare a joint Intellectual Property Management Plan. A template for this IP Plan will be provided by partner institutions of this programme. Fund will be released only after receiving of the mutually accepted IP management Plan.

Timeline

• Launching of call: July
• End of deadline: September
• Result: End of January (following year)
• Starting date of projects: June (following year) onwards