German-Israeli Cooperation in Marine- and Geosciences

Call for Pre-proposals for Cooperative Projects 2005 – 2007

“The Earth as a System”

1. Objective

Within the framework of the German-Israeli cooperation in Marine and Geosciences, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF and the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), invite pre-proposals for joint integrated research projects in the research field “The Earth as a System”.

2. Subject of research

Within this overall objective, the submitted proposals should focus on one or more of the following topics:

1. Climate change
   Sea-Land-Atmosphere Interactions
2. Seismic and other natural hazards.
   Vulnerability of natural and social environments to natural disasters
3. Changes in ecosystems as indicators of natural and anthropogenic global processes.
   Anthropogenic impact on the marine, terrestrial, and atmospheric environments
   

3. Eligibility

Proposals must involve a Principal Investigator from each country.

1. Proposals must involve a Principal Investigator from each country.
2. The Principal Investigator of each country must be affiliated with an academic institution or research institute. Researchers from industry may take part in the program as partners in teams.
3. The Principal Investigators are expected to take responsibility for the execution of the research work throughout the duration of the project
   

4. Guidelines

As to the goals and objectives, each proposal must clearly substantiate the bi-national nature of the cooperation and the partners should describe in which way their project serves the interests of both countries as well as the Middle East region.

Projects must be based on team efforts, working interdisciplinary, and showing a strong integrated approach. Co-Principal Investigators from both countries should submit their proposal jointly.

5. Criteria for evaluation and grant awarding

• Innovative science with an interdisciplinary approach.
• Thematically compatible with international programmes (e.g. ESS-P or EU).
• Socio-economic relevance.
• Mutual benefit for both countries, Germany and Israel, as well as the Middle East region.
• Involvement of scientific partners from the Middle East region, wherever possible is encouraged.
• Interest shared by several German and Israeli partner institutions allowing for projects with more than one partner on both sides (network projects).
• Involvement of industry on both sides is encouraged.
  

6. Procedure

The joint bi-national projects will undergo a two-step evaluation procedure:

a. In the first step, joint German-Israeli pre-proposals are to be submitted.
The pre-proposals (maximum of 10 pages) should contain:

• Names and affiliations of the cooperating Principal Investigators.
• A short description of the proposed work, scientific significance with respect to the above overall objective.
• The mode of cooperation with a clear description of the interaction between partners.
• The relevance to both countries.
• Approximation of the budget required, itemized separately for the German and Israeli partners.
  

A Joint German-Israeli Scientific Advisory Committee will evaluate the pre-proposals. The evaluation will be based on the above-mentioned criteria (see 5 above). The Committee will select a short list of applicants who will be invited to submit full proposals.

b. In the second step, the full proposals will be evaluated by the Joint Advisory Committee based also on opinions of external referees. The final decision on funding will be taken by BMBF and MOST on the basis of the recommendations of the Joint Advisory Committee.

7. Mode of Submission

The Principal Investigators should jointly submit the pre-proposal in six (6) copies to each side as well as by email (text of proposal compatible to WinWord 6 or 7) to:

Dr. Wolf and Mrs. Topaz (see below)

Deadline for submission of Pre-proposals: May 27, 2004


8. Project Duration

Projects should be planned on a maximum three-year basis starting not earlier than April 2005.

9. Schedule

Based on the pre-proposals, a limited number of proposed projects will be selected and the applicants will be notified by the end of August, 2004 and requested to submit full proposals.

Deadline for submission of full proposals is October 29, 2004.

Assessment of full proposals is anticipated to be completed by the end of January 2005.



10. Information

More details and specific information can be obtained by telephone or email:

	In Germany	In Israel
on professional matters	Dr. Hans Eggers Phone: +49-1888-57 2061 hans.eggers@bmbf.bund.de	Dr. Husam Massalha Phone: 972-2-54 11133 husam@most.gov.il
on administrative matters	Dr. Ulrich Wolf Phone: +49-381-5197 288 u.wolf@fz-juelich.de	Mrs. Nurit Topaz Phone: 972-2-54 11157 nurit@most.gov.il