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Émergence Call for Proposals 2021-2022

The Alliance Sorbonne Université aims to build a global university characterised by diversity, scientific excellence, and the complementarity of disciplines and practices (fundamental research, translational research, clinical research, action research, ...). To achieve this ambition, the Alliance Sorbonne Université must rise to new challenges facing each field of research. 

 

The Émergence call for proposals responds to this need by encouraging researchers and professor- lecturers of the Alliance Sorbonne Université, and mobilising young researchers in particular, to commit to breakthrough or high-risk/high-gain research projects. The objective of this call is to bring about the emergence of new fields and/or new practices through research, both at the heart and at the interface between disciplines. The supported works will be innovative projects that have not yet matured to a level that would permit application to other regional (DIM, Emergence of the City of Paris, ...), national (ANR, PHRC, INCa, ...), European (ERC and other H2020 pillars, FET open, ...), or international grants intended for more fully developed projects. 

 

Projects must be ground-breaking and demonstrate one or several of the following: 

  • involve risk taking and/or a paradigm shift with the potential for significant progress 
  • propose new approaches, methodologies, or disciplinary/interdisciplinary developments 
  • develop new collaborations 

 

This non-thematic call for proposals is open to all researchers and lecturer-investigators from member institutions of the Alliance Sorbonne Université. It is in line with the strategic project orientations of the Alliance Sorbonne Université, notably in terms of open science; all publications resulting from research projects supported by the Idex must therefore be deposited in an open archive such as HAL.

 

Modality of the call for proposals  

This call for proposals will be launched in 2020 for the years 2021-2022. It follows the call launched in early 2019 that successfully funded 81 projects for 2019-2020. 

 

Eligibility 

Each project is led by a primary investigator and may involve several research units in one or more member institutions of the Alliance Sorbonne Université. The primary investigators must be researchers (CNRS, Inria, Inserm, IRD) or professor-lecturers (INSEAD, MNHN, SU, UTC) currently employed in research units of a member institution of the Alliance Sorbonne Université.  

 

Terms of finance 

The support provided through the Initiative d’Excellence (Idex) will finance projects lasting up to 24 months and for a maximum of 70 000 €. 

 

Among the eligible expenses are: 

  • Operating costs (consumables, travel, internship allowances, ...) 
  • Equipment (< 10 000 €) 
  • Human resources (post-doctoral researchers, engineers, technicians) upon presentation of a job description. The institution where the research unit of the primary investigator is based will be responsible for recruitments. 

 

The financial requests, in particular for human resources, must be justified in the submission file. 

 

Duration and project reporting 

The duration of projects is a maximum of 24 months. Primary investigators will submit a final report with two components: a scientific report that includes the development of perspectives, and where applicable, the mentioning of any subsequent submissions to other non-Idex call for proposals; and a financial report. 

 

Evaluation criteria and process 

Two experts will evaluate each project. The final selection will be made by a Steering Committee of which every member institution of the Alliance Sorbonne Université will be represented. In the event of non-selection, the primary investigator will be informed of the rationale behind the decision. 

 

The evaluation will take into account: 

  • Quality and scientific relevance of the project (state-of-the-art, innovative characteristics, ...) 
  • Degree of breakthrough, originality, risk-taking 
  • Feasibility of the scientific approach 
  • Justification and coherence of the estimated budget 

 

In their applications, project leaders must clearly describe the breakthrough and risk-taking dimensions, be it thematic and/or methodologic, of their projects. The jury will pay particular attention to the degree of involvement of the project leader and the participants in the project. 

 

Terms of submission 

All applications must be submitted through a dedicated online platform managed by Sorbonne Université. 

 

The application is composed of the following: 

  • Submission form describing the project, preferably in English 
  • List of participants and their time commitments 
  • CV of the primary investigator including significant recent publications and communications that should be accessible through an open archive such as HAL (5 at most) 
  • Financial appendix 

 

For all questions related to the submission process, please contact Emergence2021@sorbonne-universite.fr  

 

 

Provisional calendar 

21/09/2020 Opening date for the 2021-2022 call for proposals

13/11/2020 Submission deadline

May 2021 Results publication