Research Grants and Projects Office (RGP)

ISERD published information regarding partner search for the H2020 Health Coronavirus Call (SC1-PHE-CORONAVIRUS-2020-2C: Behavioural, social and economic impacts of the outbreak response). See here for full details.

RIKEN Center for Computational Sciences is making a part of its new supercomputer Fugaku available ahead of its original schedule for research projects aimed to combat COVID-19. Note that only computational resources will be provided (no research funds). See here for additional information.

EU H2020 published a new call for Coronavirus (Covid-19) research with deadline on 11 June 2020. Additional information is available in the RGP H2020 Health webpage and by approaching the RGP EU Desk.

ISERD will be having an online webinar for this call on Sunday 24 May 2020 at 14:00. See here for registration and further information. In addition, an EU power point presentation is available here.

The submission service for the ERC Advanced 2020 call (deadline 26.8.2020) is now available on the Horizon2020 Participant Portal.

Please use the guidance document for the preparation and submission of proposals to this call.

Considerations for submission:
The 2020 call is the last Advanced call under the current framework programme, Horizon 2020. The 2021 call will be part of the next framework programme, Horizon Europe, for which most details on the budget, conditions, schedule, etc. are yet unknown.

What do we currently know about the next programme?

• The Advanced Grant evaluation process is expected to be aligned with the processes used for the Starting and Consolidator Grant calls by introducing
• A Synergy Grant call will most likely not be included in the 2021 ERC Work Programme and will probably be included again in the 2022 Work
• There are delays in the legislative procedure for the establishment of Horizon Europe which are expected to result in a postponement in the launching of the new programme. Consequently, the launch of 2021 calls for proposals will be delayed as well.

New in the Advanced call:

• The additional budget that may be requested now covers major experimental and fieldwork costs (excluding personnel costs), in addition to major equipment and access to large facilities.
• The budget table and description of resources are no longer part of Part B2 and are now included in the online administrative form part of the proposal. The budget description, however, still counts towards the 15 page limit of B2.

For additional information on the call please contact the EU Desk.

Deadline to the Technion Mauerberger Foundation Fund - MFF Research Award has been extended from the original 29 March (RGP) and 5 April (Agency) to 14 June (RGP) and 21 June 2020 (Agency).

The Ministry of Health (IMOH) intends to open a Coronavirus (COVID-19) repository, to which researchers will be able to apply for information relevant to their research. IMOH is currently working on the Researchers Portal that will enable applications to be submitted. At this time, researchers are invited to complete an online form for their inclusion in a researchers database interested in using the repository. See IMOH letter for further information.

As a partner in the international AquaticPollutants Research Network (see here for the latest call), the Ministry of Health (IMOH) wishes to familiarize itself with researchers whose field of research is of relevance, and who would like to take part in the networking activities. Interested researchers are asked to write to Regina Krizhanovsky at the RGP (regina.krizhanovsky@weizmann.ac.il) by 11 May 2020 at the latest.

The NIH published two calls for Coronavirus (COVID-19) Emergency Awards (PAR-20-177 and PAR-20-178), with applications accepted on a rolling basis beginning on 30/04/2020. For more information see NIH-Specific RFAs and Program Announcements of the current RGP bulletin.

KLIPHA-COVID19 call for proposals offers partial funding for Coronavirus research R&D projects and clinical trials of Austrian companies, allowing for involvement of scientific institutes in the call. Application deadline is 11 May 2020. Potential applicants must contact Neta Pessah at Yeda (neta.pessah@weizmann.ac.il) and, after receiving approval to apply, should contact Yael Karhash at the RGP (yael.karhash@weizmann.ac.il).

Deadline to the IMOS-France Maimonide-Israel Research Program has been extended from 28 April (RGP) and 5 May 2020 (Agency) deadlines, to 11 May (RGP) and 19 May 2020 (Agency).

Deadline to the EU SESAR Joint Undertaking call has been extended from the original 21 April (RGP) and 29 April (Agency) to 9 June (RGP) and 16 June 2020 (Agency).

Calls to various H2020 calls have been extended, as showing in the table below. Please note that the dates indicated in the table are the Agency's deadlines and be kindly reminded that proposals must be submitted to the RGP at least a week in advance of the Agency's deadline.

CORRECTION: Pre-proposal deadline to the EU - PRIMA Section 1 call for proposals has been extended for a second time from 25 March (RGP) and 1 April (Agency) to 28 April (RGP) and 6 May 2020 (Agency).

The EUvsVirus Hackathon, a pan-European hackathon to connect civil society, innovators, partners and investors across Europe in order to develop innovative solutions for coronavirus-related challenges, will take place on 24-26 April 2020. See here for more information.

Registration and proposal submission deadlines to the ISF - Singapore call for proposals have been extended: Registration has been extended from the original 23 April to 5 May 2020; Proposal submission has been extended from the original 28 April (RGP) and 5 May (Agency) to 12 May (RGP) and 19 May 2020 (Agency).

Deadline to the Zavalkoff Family Foundation Call for proposals has been extended from 5 April (RGP) and 20 April (Agency) to 25 May (RGP) and 1 June 2020 (Agency).

The National Research Council of Canada's Pandemic Response Challenge Program will build teams to address challenges requiring further research and development for solutions to meet COVID-19 related needs. Canadian and international researchers are welcome to register here; over the coming weeks the agency will post the specific R&D challenges, send information to registered researchers, and invite them to indicate the expertise and capabilities they can bring to a team. Please make sure to inform RGP if/when invited to submit proposals or be involved in such proposals.

Crowdhelix Network offers free access to Crowdhelix – an online Open Innovation platform for experts seeking to collaborate across continents and disciplines in developing R&D funding proposals to help tackle COVID-19.

UKCDR Covid-19 Project Tracker is a live database of funded research projects on COVID-19 that will help funders and researchers identify gaps and opportunities and inform future research investments or coordination needs.

Science/Business Database of Coronavirus Funding Opportunities offers many potential funding opportunities related to Coronavirus research, mainly collaborations. Note that some of the funding opportunities on the list have already expired, and that new ones are constantly updated. Interested applicants MUST FIRST approach Danna Piroyansky at the RGP (danna.piroyansky@weizmann.ac.il) prior to preparing a proposal to any of the funding opportunities in the database. This is crucial, and required in order to verify applicant and WIS eligibility, as well as WIS endorsement of the application.

Deadline to the H2020-MSCA-RISE-2020 call has been extended from the original 21 April (RGP) and 28 April (Agency) to 4 May (RGP) and 12 May 2020 (Agency).

Stage 1 submission deadline to the H2020 IMI2 Call 20 has been extended from the original 5 April (RGP) and 21 April (Agency) to 4 May (RGP) and 12 May 2020 (Agency).

LOI deadline to the Simons Foundation SFARI Collaborations on Sex Differences in Autism program has been extended from the original 6 April (RGP) and 21 April (Agency) to 27 May (RGP) and 5 June 2020 (Agency).

PRACE Research Infrastructure (under the EU H2020 Framework) provides a persistent world-class high performance computing service for scientists and researchers from academia and industry in Europe. Currently PRACE is welcoming project proposals requesting computing resources to contribute to the mitigation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a a fast track review process. This call is open until further notice. Further information is available here.

During the Passover Holiday, and in particular due to circumstances created by the Coronavirus, the RGP will provide essential and urgent services only on Sunday and Monday mornings (12-13 April 2020).

The RGP office will be closed on the following days: Wednesday - Thursday (8-9 April 2020) and Tuesday - Wednesday (14-15 April 2020). In addition, the RGP will be closed on Thursday (16 April 2020), further to WIS management decision on an institutional “gesher” day.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Passover, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

Deadline to the H2020 ERC Proof of Concept Second Cut Off has been extended from the original 16 April (RGP) and 23 April (Agency) to 30 April (RGP) and 7 May 2020 at 17:00 Brussels Time (Agency).

Pre-proposal deadline to the EU - PRIMA Section 1 call for proposals has been extended for a second time from 25 March (RGP) and 1 April (Agency) to 30 April (RGP) and 8 May 2020 (Agency).

Deadline has been extended to the H2020 FET-Open – Novel ideas for radically new technologies 4th cut-off date from the original 6 May (RGP) and 13 May (Agency) to 27 May (RGP) and 3 June 2020 (Agency).

Deadline to the WIS-Caltech call for proposals has been extended from the original 20 April to 27 April 2020 (to the RGP).

The group EXSCALATE4CoV (E4C), funded by the European Commission to carry out a project dealing with the Corona epidemic, invites researchers and companies to to share compound databases, perform a scan and determine an efficiency profile on the new platform. See here for more details.

The European Commission (EC) has published answers to several FAQs related to the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on current and future Horizon 2020 projects. The current list of Q&As can be downloaded here in a table format.

A few highlights:

• Flexibility in project implementation: Given this unprecedented pandemic situation, maximum flexibility will be given in relation to the action implementation. Whenever possible beneficiaries are encouraged to telework or to use other forms of remote working, as well as to shift their tasks whenever possible (e.g. to postpone tasks where physical presence is needed on the ground and meanwhile perform remote work instead). Costs will still be eligible for the work carried out under the action even if such shifting entails deviations from the initial timing set out in Annex 1.
• Delay of project start date: Postponement of the starting date of the action is possible for grant agreements about to be signed and, via an amendment, for grant agreements already signed but with a future starting date.
• Project suspension: If it is not possible to carry out any work under the action, beneficiaries may request to suspend the implementation of the project. Costs incurred during project suspension cannot be charged.
• Project extension: Beneficiaries may request an amendment for a no-cost extension of up to 6 months of the initial project duration due to the Covid-19 situation. Any request beyond the 6 month period will be granted based on case-by-case assessment.

Researchers are encouraged to check the FAQs page on the EC’s Funding & tender opportunities Portal for future updates.

For additional information or questions, contact the RGP EU Desk.

The ISF F1000Research gateway invites authors funded by the ISF to publish the results and outcomes of their scientific and scholarly research. Hosted on F1000Research, it provides a venue for rapid, author-led publication and open peer review for all disciplines: exact sciences, life sciences and medicine, social sciences and humanities. For further information and details see here.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several research infrastructures (RIs) have set up specific services, such as rapid or fast track access, to allow researchers to obtain results as soon as possible. See here for additional information and contact for the RGP EU Desk for further assistance.

The ISF has published its Coronavirus call for proposals, which is available in the current special edition of this RGP bulletin. Please note that due to the urgency of the subject, registration and submission deadlines to this call are shorter than usual. Note that registration will open on 31 March and terminate on 7 April at 13:00 Israel Time. The ISF will not allow application of researchers who have not registered by the indicated deadline.

Submission deadline to the Technion Mauerberger Foundation Fund - MFF Research Award has been postponed; a new deadline is yet to be announced.

Information on entities wishing to join an existing or emerging consortium in the framework of the IMI Call 21 on Coronavirus (not to lead one) are available. Please contact the RGP EU Desk for further details.

IMOS advised that in light of inquiries from researchers and institutions, the following link provides updated guidelines regarding research and scholarship activities (funded by the IMOS) at this period of dealing with the Coronavirus.

The RGP is doing its best to circulate new Coronavirus-related calls as they are announced and as fast as possible. Please be advised that, in addition to the BSF-NSF Coronavirus call published in this bulletin, the ISF is also planning to issue such a call to which deadline will be very tight. At the moment the RGP has no further details regarding this call, yet once it is announced it will be published in the RGP website and circulated via our bulletin. In addition, note that many agencies have extended their submission deadlines due to the pandemic; please check the current and future RGP's list of notices for further information.

Deadline to the EU Horizon Impact Award H2020 has been extended from the original 26 March (RGP) and 2 April (Agency) to 1 April (RGP) and 15 April 2020 (Agency).

Deadline to the EU H2020 ERA-CVD call for proposals has been extended from the original 25 March (RGP) and 2 April (Agency) to 22 April (RGP) and 4 May 2020 (Agency).

Pre-proposal deadline to the EU H2020 AquaticPollutants ERA-Net call for proposals has been extended from the original 31 March (RGP) and 16 April (Agency) to 11 May (RGP) and 18 May 2020 (Agency).

Due to the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, Instruct-ERIC has a period of restricted access beginning 16 March. Priority Access for Coronavirus research will continue where possible, and remote access may also continue. All other research visits currently scheduled will be postponed. Users may continue to submit research proposals for future work. For more information click here.

Deadline to the IMOS Germany - Israel Cooperation - Water Technology Cooperation Program has been extended from the original 23 March (RGP) and 30 March (Agency) to 20 April (RGP) and 27 April (Agency).

Preliminary proposal deadline to the HEI Walter A. Rosenblith New Investigator Award (RFA 19-2) has been extended from the original 17 March (RGP) and 24 March (Agency) to 31 March (RGP) and 7 April 2020 (Agency).

Deadline to the two NATO Special Calls (Advanced Technologies and Explosives Detection) has been extended from the original 5 February (RGP) and 15 February (Agency) to 25 May (RGP) and 1 June 2020 (Agency).

LOI deadline to the TS Alliance call for proposals has been extended from the original 30 March (RGP) and 6 April 2020 (Agency) to 20 April (RGP) and 27 April 2020 (Agency).

FARA is waiving all LOI and grant application deadlines for 2020. LOIs for general research grants will be accepted on a rolling basis until 1 September 2020. At this point (22 March 2020), the LOI deadline for the Kyle Bryant Translational Research Award and the Bronya J Keats International Research Collaboration Award will remain 15 May 2020. FARA will do their best to make a decision on LOIs within 3 weeks of receiving them and, if invited to submit a full application, FARA will advise applicants of the deadline based on the COVID-19 situation at the time.

The NIH advises that when delays occur because the applicant or recipient organization is officially closed or unable to submit grant applications due to the effects of COVID-19, the NIH will consider accepting applications late, on a case-by-case basis and has other flexibilities available.

For more information, and NIH Late Application Policy, Administrative Flexibilities, and FAQs see here.

Several agencies have recently published urgent calls for proposals for research into the new Coronavirus (Covid -19 virus). The RGP is doing its best to circulate these calls and any relevant information as fast as possible. Please note that deadlines are very tight. As new calls related to the area will be announced, they will be published in the RGP website and circulated via our bulletin. In addition, note that many agencies have extended their submission deadlines due to the pandemic; please check the current and future RGP's list of notices for further information.

Deadline to the EU HDHL ERA-Net (Development of Targeted Nutrition for Prevention of Undernutrition for Older Adults - PREVNUT) has been extended from the original 31 March (RGP) and 7 April (Agency) to 4 May (RGP) and 12 May 2020 (Agency).

Given current challenges and the fluidity of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Alzheimer’s Association is pausing the International Research Grant Program (IRGP) LOI submission process (with an original deadline of March 19). New deadlines for the application submission process for the IRGP are yet to be determined. Applicants who have already submitted their LOI will have an opportunity to update the LOI and submit in the next cycle.

Pre-proposal deadlines to the MJFF following calls have been extended from the original 16 April (RGP) and 23 April 2020 (Agency) to 6 May (RGP) and 14 May 2020 (Agency):  Investigating Environmental Factors that Increase the Risk for Parkinson's Disease; Target Advancement Program; Parkinson's Pathway Biomarkers; Therapeutic Pipeline Program.

Agency deadline to the BBRF NARSAD Young Investigator Grant has been extended from the original 18 March to 31 March 2020.

Pre-proposal deadline to the EU - PRIMA Call for Proposals has been extended from the original 25 March (RGP) and 1 April (Agency) to 1 April (RGP) and 13 April 2020 (Agency).

Deadline to the Weizmann MICC - IRE (Regina Elena National Cancer Institute) Collaboration Program call for proposals has been extended from the original 20 April to 22 June 2020.

Deadlines to the PCF following calls have been extended: Young Investigator Award: from the original 16 March (RGP) and 23 March 2020 (Agency) to 10 May (RGP) and 18 May 2020 (Agency); Challenge Award: from the original 31 March (RGP) and 17 April 2020 (Agency) to 3 June (RGP) and 12 June 2020 (Agency).

LOI deadline to the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) Distinguished Innovator Award has been extended from the original 9 March (RGP) and 16 March 2020 (Agency) to 30 March (RGP) and 6 April 2020 (Agency). 

In the face of the Coronavirus crisis, an opportunity has arisen to collaborate with the the Argonne National Laboratory (Illinois), to develop drug / vaccine / diagnostics for the Corona Virus.

Rick Stevens, Associate Laboratory Director for Computing, Environment and Life Sciences at Argonne, invites Israeli researchers to whom the lab's dedicated means of calculation (in the context of artificial intelligence and computation) will help accelerate processes and achieve results, to engage with him on this topic (https://www.anl.gov/profile/rick-l-stevens).

PRACE Research Infrastructure (under the EU H2020 Framework) provides a persistent world-class high performance computing service for scientists and researchers from academia and industry in Europe, with its 21st call submission deadline on 28 April 2020. Further information is available here.

Deadline to the IMOS France - Israel Cooperation - Maimonide-Israel Research Program call for proposals has been ADVANCED from the original 4 May (RGP) and 11 May 2020 (Agency), to 28 April (RGP) and 5 May 2020 (Agency).

IMI will hold a webinar on IMI2 – Call 21 on the novel coronavirus on Wednesday 4 March at 14:30 CET. Registration is free but obligatory via http://bit.ly/2v0niiQ.

IMI2 – Call 21 will be a fast-track, single stage Call for proposals covering therapeutics and diagnostics to tackle the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The Call will be launched in early March. Meanwhile the draft Call text and Q&A are available on the IMI website at http://bit.ly/FutureTopics.

IMI is planning a fast-track Call for proposals on the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) to be launched in early March, with a possible late March deadline. Final information will be communicated after approval by the IMI Governing Board. Once the call is formally published it will be available on the RGP website and bulletin. Please be reminded that potential WIS applicants to any IMI call must consult with the Vice President for Technology Transfer prior to proposal preparation related to IMI.

We are happy to announce that the RGP has expanded its services in assisting Weizmann researchers in finding H2020 funding options. During the next few months, Dr. Shiri Yaniv (PhD in Biology) will help researchers in locating and matching H2020 collaborative calls relevant to their research, mainly in the area of Life Sciences.

H2020 collaborative calls are available in various research areas and are mostly open to submission by groups of at least three institutions from EU Member States and Associated Countries. The currently open calls are the last calls under H2020 and we recommend applying to relevant topics, as either a partner or a coordinator, in an effort to secure funding from H2020’s remaining budget.

Interested researchers are invited to contact Dr. Yaniv at shirit.yaniv@weizmann.ac.il to discuss their research activities and funding needs. Due to the limited time until the end of H2020, it is advised to contact Dr. Yaniv as soon as possible.

The new Israeli Center for Smart Transportation Research of the Technion in collaboration with Bar-Ilan University invites researchers to participate in a survey aiming to help identify "hot" topics in smart transport, and enable participation in activities planned for the center.

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Tuesday, 18 February 2020.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

IMOS wishes to bring to researchers' attention the existence of the Israeli Biorepository Network for Research (MIDGAM), a biobank that collects biological samples for research. See here for more information.

The BSF will consider partial funding for participation of Israeli researchers at the NSF Conference in Montpellier, France, on Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID). The conference will be held in mid-June 2020.

BSF funding is intended for researchers who are not from the "classic" areas of infectious diseases (i.e., cultural, social, economic, etc.). Interested researchers are welcome to contact the BSF for further details.

The innovative “Rare Diseases Research (RDR) Challenges” call is planned to be issued in March 2020 in order to facilitate and fund collaboration between industry, academia, SMEs, and patient organizations to solve specific research challenges in rare diseases. A Networking Event is expected to take place in Paris on 3 March 2020.

It is mandatory for future participants to express their interest of participation in the networking event and B2B meetings via the survey by 31 January 2020. Since the number of places is limited, the organizers may apply a selection process. Note that the Networking Event is free of charge. Participants are expected to arrange their own travel, accommodation and other expenses to attend.

Registration is now open for the Horizon 2020 Energy & Environment Information Day, which will take place on 19 January 2020 at the offices of the Innovation Authority, Einstein Hall, the entrance floor of the "Hamigdal" building, Malha Technology Park, Jerusalem. For registration, please click here.

Deadlines to the Minerva Research Grants call have been extended from the original 5 January 2020 to 16 January 2020 (pre-proposals) and from the original 8 March 2020 to 15 March 2020 (invited full proposals).

The European Commission offers not only individual grants (e.g. ERC), but also many funding opportunities for collaborative grants. Submission topics in various research areas are open for submission of proposals by groups of at least three scientists from EU Member States and Associated Countries. 2020 will be the last year of EU framework programme Horizon 2020 and we highly recommend applying to relevant topics, as either a partner or a coordinator, to secure funding from its remaining budget.

In anticipation of the last calls Horizon 2020, we would like to invite you to an information session on Horizon 2020 collaborative proposals. Scientists of all faculties who wish to learn more about funding opportunities for collaborative proposals, or to participate in or establish a consortium around a specific submission topic are encouraged to attend the session.

The session will be conducted by Dr. Hagit Schwimmer, Director of the Life Science Department at ISERD - the Israel-Europe R&D Directorate, Israel's National contact point for participation in the European Framework programmes. It will take place on Wednesday, 25 December 2019 between 13:00-14:30, at the Weizmann Institute, Zacks Meeting room, Stone Building.

For participating in the session, register here.

Personal meetings will also be available for scientists specifically interested in the Health, Energy or Environment Work Programmes and wish to find relevant submission topics and/or discuss their proposal. These ~30 minute meetings will take place on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, depending on demand.

If you are interested in a personal meeting, register here.

LOI deadline to the IAS CIPHER call for proposals has been extended from the original 27 October (RGP) and 31 October (Agency) to 3 November (RGP) and 5 November 2019 (Agency).

MRA added a new Special Opportunity for a Team Science Award focused on In-Transit Melanoma Research. An abstract to this Special Opportunity must follow these guidelines and be sent via email to kmueller@curemelanoma.org with a CC to the RGP office by 6 November (RGP) and 13 November 2019 at 17:00 US Eastern Time (Agency). Invited full applications should be submitted by the general Team Science Award general deadlines.

During the Tishrei holidays (Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Tuesday-Wednesday, 8-9 October 2019
• Monday, 14 October 2019
• Sunday-Monday, 20-21 October 2019

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday-Thursday, 15-17 October 2019

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 13 October 2019

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

During the Tishrei holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday-Tuesday, 30 September and 1 October 2019
• Tuesday-Wednesday, 8-9 October 2019
• Monday, 14 October 2019
• Sunday-Monday, 20-21 October 2019

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday-Thursday, 15-17 October 2019

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 29 September 2019
• Sunday, 13 October 2019

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

During the Tishrei holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday-Tuesday, 30 September and 1 October 2019
• Tuesday-Wednesday, 8-9 October 2019
• Monday, 14 October 2019
• Sunday-Monday, 20-21 October 2019

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday-Thursday, 15-17 October 2019

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 29 September 2019
• Sunday, 13 October 2019

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

PRACE Research Infrastructure (under the EU H2020 Framework) provides a persistent world-class high performance computing service for scientists and researchers from academia and industry in Europe, with its 20th call submission deadline on 29 October 2019, provided that the PRACE 2 Programme is extended through a future PRACE Council decision (call expected to open on 19 September 2019). Further information is available here.

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Sunday, 8 September 2019.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

No application could be submitted to Amazon under the Amazon Research Awards (ARA) call. Anyone considering submitting an application to this funding opportunity MUST FIRST contact Dr. Danna Piroyansky at the RGP.

Deadline to the IMOA - Nitzan Noah's Ark - Algae Research call for proposals has been extended from the original 26 August (RGP) and 2 September (Agency) to 15 September (RGP) and 23 September 2019 (Agency).

The next RGP bulletin is expected to be published in early September.

Ethics@WIS

We would like to remind all Institute personnel that the Weizmann Institute of Science places prime importance on the ability to create and maintain an environment that encourages the highest standards of excellence, ethics and integrity, and compliance with the requirements of research sponsors and national and international legislation.

The Institute has an established Code of Ethical Conduct in view of maintaining and promoting the Institute's reputation for ethics and integrity. The activities and behavior of all Institute employees, trainees and guests (including administrative and scientific divisions and faculties), should be guided by the statement of principles put forward therein.

The Submission Service for the ERC Starting 2020 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to €1.5M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage of starting their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 2-7 years prior to 1.1.2020. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call and its eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

A presentation and Q&A session on the IMOD MAFAT Autonomous Capabilities and Deep Learning Technologies call for proposals will take place on Monday 12 August 2019 at 13:30, "Himush" building of the "Kirya", Tel Aviv.

Those interested in participating must email their full name, I.D. number, and phone number to Oren Gal (Oren_Gal@mod.gov.il) by 7 August 2019.

As per WIS management instruction, grant proposals must be submitted for evaluation by the RGP, with a budget approved by Finance, at least one week to 10 days prior to the funding agency’s deadline. Failure to do so may result in delayed or aborted activation of the award, as well as in an increased rate of Shiryun from the KAMAR.

A meeting with Prof. Keith R. Dienes, NSF Program Director at the Division of Physics and with BSF representative (BSF Assistant Executive Director, Dr. Rachel Heni Haring), regarding application to the BSF-NSF and BSF programs, will be taking place on Tuesday, 24 September 2019, between 14:00 and 17:00, at Stone building, Zacks Hall, located at the Lobby level entrance. Please Note that number of seats is limited!

As a reminder, the BSF-NSF programs enable collaboration between an Israeli researcher and an American scientist from a U.S. academic institution in various subjects, some of them on a year-round application basis. Size of the BSF grant to the Israeli researcher ranges between $55,000-$80,000 per year on average.

Meeting schedule:

• 13:45: Gathering and light refreshments
• 14:00: Lecture by NSF Program Director, Dr. Keith R. Dienes
• 15:00: Lecture by BSF Assistant Executive Director, Dr. Rachel (Heni) Haring
• 16:00: Summary and Q&A

Researchers interested in participating, should contact Tami Koren (tami.koren@weizmann.ac.il ) by 15 August 2019.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Synergy 2020 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal.

This grant provides funding of up to €10M for a period of 6 years and is designed to enable two to four Principal Investigators to address highly ambitious research question/s that can only be answered by the synergized work of the PIs and their teams, bringing together their complementary skills, knowledge and resources, in unconventional ways. The call is open to multiple country, single country and even single institution groups. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

At the last GIF Board meeting in July 2019 it was decided, due to temporary financial constraints, to postpone the opening of the GIF submission website for the upcoming cycle (originally planned for August 2019). New information will be updated as it is received.

Proposals submitted to the Merck - Breakthrough Innovation Research Projects to Identify new Treatment Paradigms in Cancer and Autoimmune Disease call should be on non-confidential basis. For further information please contact Orly.Savion@weizmann.ac.il at Yeda.

Abstract deadline to US DARPA Information Innovation Office (I2O) Office-wide call (HR001118S0057) has been extended from the original 14 July (RGP) and 18 July 2019 (Agency) to 9 July (RGP) and 17 July 2020 (Agency); its full proposal deadline has also been extended, from the original 18 August (RGP) and 30 August 2019 (Agency) to 13 August (RGP) and 28 August 2020 (Agency).

We are happy to announce a new pilot initiative, aimed at encouraging the submission of EU-Horizon 2020 collaborative proposals by providing support to Weizmann scientists who wish to establish a consortium, of which they will be either a partner or the coordinator.

Support will be given for hosting a short visit of potential partners in order to establish a collaboration around a specific Horizon 2020 submission topic and consolidate the concept of the proposal. The Weizmann scientist organizing the visit will not necessarily have to serve as the proposal coordinator in order to receive the support.

Support is offered for organizing a short visit by a small group of partners, covering costs such as flights, local travel and accommodation. Weizmann will cover 90% of the total cost of the visit up to a maximum cost of $ 5,000 (i.e. the maximum support available for a visit is $ 4,500). The organizing scientist will cover the remaining 10% as well as any additional cost beyond $ 5,000.

Interested scientists should contact Galit Arazi, indicating the specific call and submission topic for which they intend to apply, and providing a short preliminary abstract of their proposed project. The requests will be approved by the VP.

How to find suitable calls?

The European Commission’s Participant Portal enables searching for relevant submission topics using keywords.

You could also access the Horizon 2020 page on the RGP website and click the relevant sub-program in the table to view a list of the submission topics and deadlines.

Dr. Rachel (Heni) Haring, Assistant Executive Director at the BSF, will give a short presentation and be available for pre-scheduled short personal meetings. The session will take place on Tuesday, 10 September 2019 from 09:30, at the Stone Building, 1st Floor (exact room number will be disclosed at a later stage). Note that number of seats is limited

Researchers interested in participating, as well as researchers wishing to meet with Dr. Rachel (Heni) Haring at the end of the session, should contact Tami Koren (tami.koren@weizmann.ac.il ) by 1 August 2019. Please note that meetings will be scheduled only further to prior appointment, in order to allow for Dr. Haring required preparation.

LOI deadline to the Epilepsy Foundation My Brain Map Initiative call has been extended from the original 13 June (RGP) and 11 June (Agency) to 18 July (RGP) and 26 July 2019 (Agency).

Deadline to the Histiocytosis Association of America Research Grants call has been extended from the original 24 June (RGP) and 1 July (Agency) to 8 July (RGP) and 15 July 2019 (Agency).

Deadline to the IMOA China-Israel Noah's Ark call has been extended from the original 11 July (RGP) and 18 July (Agency) to 15 August (RGP) and 22 August 2019 (Agency).

The European Commission has pre-published the draft Work Programme for 'Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing', which now includes updated 2020 call topics. Some of the deadlines are as early as September 2019.

Until its formal adoption, expected in early July, the draft has no legal value. Nevertheless, those who wish to apply for topics with a close deadline are advised to consult the document for the preparation of their proposal, , taking into account that it is subject to change.

The list of topics for 2020 can be viewed here, and the draft Work Programme, presenting the corresponding call texts, is available here.

The ERC has released revised versions of the Information for Applicants document and the Part B2 template for the ERC-2019-AdG call. The revised documents are accessible on the RGP website.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on writing a successful ERC-Starting/Consolidator proposal taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Monday, 1 July 2019 at 09:00-14:30. The workshop will be conducted by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide an overview of the ERC-StG and ERC-CoG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal.

The indicative submission dates for the upcoming calls are:

• ERC-2020-Starting call - 16/10/2019
• ERC-2020-Consolidator call - 04/02/2020

Full details of the day’s agenda and a registration link (required by Monday, 24 June) can be viewed here.

The Israel Science Agency (ISA) within IMOS announced a Request for Information (RFI) inviting information on potential proposals in the area of nano satellites. Please note the following points:

• This is NOT a call for proposals and there is no guarantee for any funding.
• If any funding will be awarded, it will require 20% matching; the Weizmann management is NOT COMMITTED for such matching and it will have to be provided by other funds available to the researchers.
• Information must be emailed to RFI@Most.gov.il by 4 July 2019 at 12:00 Israel Time.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Advanced 2019 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

An ERC-Synergy (SyG) information session will take place at the Weizmann Institute on Wednesday, 12 June 2019. The session will take place at the Zacks Hall, Stone Building, between 09:30-13:30.

The session is being organized by ISERD, the Israel-Europe Research & Innovation Directorate, and will include presentations by ERC Synergy project officer, Dr. Agnes Kulcsar, ERC Synergy grantees and panelist.

The ERC Synergy Grant provides funding of up to €10M for a period of 6 years and is designed to enable two to four Principal Investigators and their teams to bring together complementary skills, knowledge, and resources in new ways, in order to jointly address ambitious research problems.

Please access the link for full details of the day’s agenda and a link for registration.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on writing a successful ERC-Starting/Consolidator proposal taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Monday, 1 July 2019. The workshop will be given by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide an overview of the ERC-StG and CoG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal. The full details of the day’s agenda will be published closer to the date.

Interested scientists are requested to inform the EU-desk by Monday, 17 June 2019.

The indicative submission dates for the upcoming calls are:

• ERC-2020-Starting call - 16/10/2019
• ERC-2020-Consolidator call - 04/02/2020

Submission of a request for a year's no-cost extension of an existing ISF project is now available in the ISF website with a 30 July 2019 deadline.

Researchers in the last year of their ISF project may apply by logging into their user account on the ISF website, and accessing the project they would like to extend. Under the "grant information" tab there is a button for an extension request. The remaining project's amount must be filled in.

The UK national science agency is holding a workshop in Edinburgh (17-19 June 2019) in order to encourage participation of British researchers in the NSF Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program. It invites Israeli researchers interested in exploring the possibility of including British researchers in their BSF-NSF EEID proposals to participate.

Israeli researchers will need to pay for travel, however the UK foundation will fund his/her stay during the workshop. Interested researchers are requested to contact directly Yael Dressler at the BSF (yael@bsf.org.il).

As part of an ongoing redesign process, WIS users of the RGP website are invited to provide feedback regarding its current operation and design, as well as comments on its optimal expected functioning.

Please forward your feedback to the RGP website’s administrator, Danna Piroyansky: danna.piroyansky@weizmann.ac.il using the subject line “RGP Website Feedback”.

Deadline to the LOI submission of the UM/Israel Research Partnership in Biomedical Sciences has been extended from the original 28 April (RGP) and 1 May (Agency) to 13 May (RGP) and 20 May 2019 (Agency).

During Passover Holiday the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

• The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates: Sunday – Wednesday, 21-24 April 2019
• The RGP office will be closed on the following date: Thursday, 25 April 2019

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Passover, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

Funding Terms to IMOA Extended Nitzan Foundation call Subject #5 ("Adopting technologies from medical or security disciplines for agricultural purposes") have changed: For proposals submitted to Subject #5 (ONLY) IMOA's Chief Scientist will be the only funding source in the first three years, for a total of NIS 300,000 per year. Funding by the business partner will NOT be required. All the other call's terms referring to business partners remain the same as in the original call for proposals.

As part of an ongoing redesign process, WIS users of the RGP website are invited to provide feedback regarding its current operation and design, as well as comments on its optimal expected functioning.

Please forward your feedback to the RGP website’s administrator, Danna Piroyansky: danna.piroyansky@weizmann.ac.il using the subject line “RGP Website Feedback”.

Deadline to the MICC – Beilinson Collaboration in Cancer Research call has been extended from the original 25 March (RGP) to 5 May 2019 (RGP).

As part of an ongoing redesign process, WIS users of the RGP website are invited to provide feedback regarding its current operation and design, as well as comments on its optimal expected functioning.

Please forward your feedback to the RGP website’s administrator, Danna Piroyansky: danna.piroyansky@weizmann.ac.il using the subject line “RGP Website Feedback”.

Deadline to the IMOA NITZAN call Subject #5 ONLY ("Adopting technologies from medical or security disciplines for agricultural purposes") has been extended from 21 March (RGP) and 28 March 2019 (Agency) to 23 May (RGP) and 30 May 2019 (Agency).

As per WIS management instruction, grant proposals must be submitted for evaluation by the RGP, with a budget approved by Finance, at least one week to 10 days prior to the funding agency’s deadline. Failure to do so may result in delayed or aborted activation of the award, as well as in an increased rate of Shiryun from the KAMAR.

LOI deadline to the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) Distinguished Innovator Awards has been extended from the original 10 March (RGP) and 15 March (Agency) to 24 March (RGP) and 28 March 2019 (Agency).

PRACE Research Infrastructure (under the EU H2020 Framework) provides a persistent world-class high performance computing service for scientists and researchers from academia and industry in Europe, with its 19th call submission deadline on 30 April 2019. Further information is available here.

The BSF-NSF recently advised that in light of the significant reduction in the number of submissions to the programs that allow application submission throughout the year (i.e., with no set deadline), a second application may be submitted simultaneously. Applications will be also accepted from researchers with active projects, or from researchers whose proposal is currently under review in any program. In addition, researchers who submitted a proposal in a program with no deadline, will be now able to submit a proposal in a program that has a set deadline. Please note that this change is TEMPORARY. See below for a list of the program that this update refers to:

• Cyber Security and Privacy (SaTC)
• Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB)
• Integrative Biological Systems (IOS)
• Environmental Biology (DEB)
• Earth Sciences (GEO)
• Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS)
• Chemical Engineering and Energy (CBET)
• Marine Geology and Geophysics (MG&G)
• Ceramics (CER)
• Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (CMMT)

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Wednesday, 20 February 2019.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

Have you ever submitted to a U.S. federal agency (what you thought was an excellent proposal) but never got funded?

We are delighted to inform you that the Research Grants and Projects Office now offers a new in-house scientific and grant consultation service to scientists submitting external grants to U.S. federal agencies.

Prof. (Emeritus) Nira Ben-Jonathan from the University of Cincinnati is a researcher of Cell and Cancer biology who is now serving as a Visiting Professor at the Weizmann Institute. She has vast experience with funding from U.S. federal agencies, both in terms of her own uninterrupted funding, and as a reviewer of hundreds of grants. Most importantly, she has served as a chairman of five NIH and Department of Defense study sections and as a member of advisory committees for several National Institutes of Health. Prof. Nira Ben-Jonathan offers to demystify the process of applying for a U.S. federal grant by offering practical tips and expert advice to help you toward your goal of getting that grant!

If you believe you could benefit from this opportunity, please contact Jennifer Wenick at jennifer.wenick@weizmann.ac.il

• You could ask for either a one-on-one meeting with Prof. Ben-Jonathan, providing in your email to Jennifer information on the agencies you are interested in applying to (NIH, U.S. Air Force, ONR, DOE, etc.)
• In addition, you can express interest in attending a 1-2 hour lecture titled, “Grant applications to U.S. funding agencies”, and state on which agencies you would like to hear more application information; pending on the number of potential attendees Prof. Ben-Jonathan will be scheduled to deliver her lecture.

See the link for further details.

Have you ever submitted to a U.S. federal agency (what you thought was an excellent proposal) but never got funded?

We are delighted to inform you that the Research Grants and Projects Office now offers a new in-house scientific and grant consultation service to scientists submitting external grants to U.S. federal agencies.

Prof. (Emeritus) Nira Ben-Jonathan from the University of Cincinnati is a researcher of Cell and Cancer biology who is now serving as a Visiting Professor at the Weizmann Institute. She has vast experience with funding from U.S. federal agencies, both in terms of her own uninterrupted funding, and as a reviewer of hundreds of grants. Most importantly, she has served as a chairman of five NIH and Department of Defense study sections and as a member of advisory committees for several National Institutes of Health. Prof. Nira Ben-Jonathan offers to demystify the process of applying for a U.S. federal grant by offering practical tips and expert advice to help you toward your goal of getting that grant!

If you believe you could benefit from this opportunity, please contact Jennifer Wenick at jennifer.wenick@weizmann.ac.il

• You could ask for either a one-on-one meeting with Prof. Ben-Jonathan, providing in your email to Jennifer information on the agencies you are interested in applying to (NIH, U.S. Air Force, ONR, DOE, etc.)
• In addition, you can express interest in attending a 1-2 hour lecture titled, “Grant applications to U.S. funding agencies”, and state on which agencies you would like to hear more application information; pending on the number of potential attendees Prof. Ben-Jonathan will be scheduled to deliver her lecture.

See the link for further details.

Have you ever submitted to a U.S. federal agency (what you thought was an excellent proposal) but never got funded?

We are delighted to inform you that the Research Grants and Projects Office now offers a new in-house scientific and grant consultation service to scientists submitting external grants to U.S. federal agencies.

Prof. (Emeritus) Nira Ben-Jonathan from the University of Cincinnati is a researcher of Cell and Cancer biology who is now serving as a Visiting Professor at the Weizmann Institute. She has vast experience with funding from U.S. federal agencies, both in terms of her own uninterrupted funding, and as a reviewer of hundreds of grants. Most importantly, she has served as a chairman of five NIH and Department of Defense study sections and as a member of advisory committees for several National Institutes of Health. Prof. Nira Ben-Jonathan offers to demystify the process of applying for a U.S. federal grant by offering practical tips and expert advice to help you toward your goal of getting that grant!

If you believe you could benefit from this opportunity, please contact Jennifer Wenick at jennifer.wenick@weizmann.ac.il

• You could ask for either a one-on-one meeting with Prof. Ben-Jonathan, providing in your email to Jennifer information on the agencies you are interested in applying to (NIH, U.S. Air Force, ONR, DOE, etc.)
• In addition, you can express interest in attending a 1-2 hour lecture titled, “Grant applications to U.S. funding agencies”, and state on which agencies you would like to hear more application information; pending on the number of potential attendees Prof. Ben-Jonathan will be scheduled to deliver her lecture.

See the link for further details.

Deadline to the IMOA Extended Nitzan Foundation - Noah's Ark call has been extended from the original 21 February (RGP) and 28 February (Agency) to 21 March (RGP) and 28 March 2019 (Agency).

An Information Session on the French Embassy's Chateaubriand Fellowship (for students and researchers) will be taking place on Thursday, 24 January 2019 at 13:00, at the Weizmann Institute, Seminar Room 4 at the David Lopatie Hall of Graduate Studies (at Feinberg Graduate School).

Deadline to the Emerson Collective (EC) Weizmann - EC Cancer Research Fund Request for Proposals has been extended from the original 28 February (RGP) to 4 March (RGP) and 11 March 2019 (Agency). In addition, submission process has been changed into an online submission.

Proposal submission deadline to the ISF - Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) - Research Grants call has been extended from the original 27 December (RGP) and 3 January (Agency) to 8 January (RGP) and 15 January 2019 (Agency).

BSF encourages biologists to apply for BSF-NSF programs in biology (IOS, MCB and DEB) having year-round deadlines. For additional information see BSF's original message here.

Deadline to the Sanofi Innovation Awards Europe (iAwards Europe) Call for Pre-Proposals has been extended from the original 18 November to 17 December 2018. In addition, the call and template have been updated. SUBMISSION IS TO YEDA (Neta.pessah@weizmann.ac.il).

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Consolidator 2019 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to €2M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 7-12 years prior to 1.1.2019. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call and its eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

Please be reminded of ISF Registration and Full Proposal submission deadlines for the Individual Research Grants, Bikura, and Quantum Science and Technology programs:

• Registration: 23 October 2018, 13:00 Israel Time - to the agency
• Full proposal: 30 October 2018 - to the RGP (to reach the agency by 06 November 2018, 13:00 Israel Time)

Due to the expected upgrading of the Tafnit and GMS systems and consequential disabling, the RGP office's activity will be limited on this day.

The Submission Service for the ERC Starting 2019 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to €1.5M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage of starting their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 2-7 years prior to 1.1.2019. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call and its eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

During the Tishrei holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday-Tuesday, 10-11 September 2018
• Tuesday-Wednesday, 18-19 September 2018
• Monday, 24 September 2018
• Sunday, 30 September 2018
• Monday, 1 October 2018

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday-Thursday, 25-27 September 2018

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 9 September 2018
• Sunday, 23 September 2018

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

During the Tishrei holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday-Tuesday, 10-11 September 2018
• Tuesday-Wednesday, 18-19 September 2018
• Monday, 24 September 2018
• Sunday, 30 September 2018
• Monday, 1 October 2018

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday-Thursday, 25-27 September 2018

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 9 September 2018
• Sunday, 23 September 2018

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

The Abisch-Frenkel Foundation invites WIS researchers to a 25-year Celebration Symposium for the Promotion of Life Sciences in honour of Eva Abisch. The symposium will take place at the WIS on 19 December 2018. Registration is required by 2 November 2018 - please contact Sabrina Harris for registration and additional information.

During the Tishrei holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday-Tuesday, 10-11 September 2018
• Tuesday-Wednesday, 18-19 September 2018
• Monday, 24 September 2018
• Sunday, 30 September 2018
• Monday, 1 October 2018

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday-Thursday, 25-27 September 2018

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 9 September 2018
• Sunday, 23 September 2018

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

Due to division activity the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Wednesday, 5 September 2018.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

PRACE Research Infrastructure (under H2020) provides a persistent world-class high performance computing service for scientists and researchers from academia and industry in Europe, with its 18th call submission deadline on 30 October 2018. Further information is available here.

Deadline to the Rambam - Ernest and Bonnie Beutler Research Program of Excellence in Genomic Medicine has been extended from the original 16 July (RGP) and 23 July (Agency) to 30 September (RGP) and 7 October 2018 (Agency).

UPDATE (1 July 2018): Pre-proposal deadline to the Tashtiot Life Sciences and Biomedical Sciences call for proposals has been extended for a second time: the revised pre-proposal dates are 5 August (RGP) and 12 August 2018 (Agency). Note that full proposal deadlines have remained as before.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend an H2020 ERC-Synergy info-session with European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers. The session will take place at the David Lopatie Conference Centre, Presidential Reception Room on Tuesday, 3 July 2018 at 14:30-16:00.

If you have not yet registered and wish to participate in the workshop, please let us know by Sunday morning.

Deadline to the MICC-TICC Collaboration call has been extended from the original 1 July (to the RGP) to 7 October 2018 (to the RGP). In addition, the listing of preferred areas of research has been removed and application form updated.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on writing a successful ERC-Starting/Consolidator proposal taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Tuesday, 3 July 2018 at 09:00-14:00. The workshop will be given by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide an overview of the ERC-StG and CoG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal.

Full details of the day’s agenda and a registration link (required by Sunday, 1 July) can be viewed here.

Pre-proposal deadline to the IMOS Tashtiot Nano Safety call has been extended from the original 22 August (RGP) and 29 August (Agency) to 27 August (RGP) and 3 September 2018 (Agency). Full proposal submission (only for those invited to submit) has remained as before.

Deadline to the IMOS France - Israel Cooperation - Maimonide-Israel Research Program has been extended from the original 23 August (RGP) and 30 August (Agency) to 27 August (RGP) and 3 September 2018 (Agency).

Deadline to the Minerva Workshop or Group Visit has been extended from the original 17 June to 1 July 2018 (to the RGP).

An information session for potential ERC applicants, conducted by Dr. Ino Agrafioti, LS1 Panel Coordinator, ERC Executive Agency, will take place at the Weizmann Institute on the morning of Wednesday, 20 June 2018.

The session will take place at the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Biological Sciences, Room 591-C, between 09:30-12:30.

Please note that although the speaker is the coordinator of a specific panel, the session will be relevant for all potential applicants and will provide information on how to write a proposal, what is liked by the panels and what is not, myths vs. truth, etc.

If you have not yet registered and are interested in participating, please contact the EU-Desk as soon as possible.

Pre-proposal deadline to the IMOS Tashtiot Environment, Agriculture and Water Sciences call for proposals has been extended from 25 July (RGP) and 1 August (Agency) to 1 August (RGP) and 8 August 2018 (Agency). Invited full proposal deadline has been extended from the original 8 October (RGP) and 15 October (Agency) to 25 November (RGP) and 2 December 2018 (Agency).

Pre-proposal deadline to IMOS Engineering call for proposals has been extended from 25 July (RGP) and 1 August (Agency) to 1 August (RGP) and 8 August 2018 (Agency). Invited full proposal deadline has been extended from the original 8 October (RGP) and 15 October (Agency) to 3 December (RGP) and 10 December 2018 (Agency). 

Pre-proposal deadline to IMOS Tashtiot Life Sciences and Biomedical Sciences call for proposals has been extended from 25 July (RGP) and 1 August (Agency) to 1 August (RGP) and 8 August 2018 (Agency).

An H2020 ERC-Starting and Consolidator ‘Writing a Successful Proposal’ Workshop, with European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers, will take place at the Weizmann Institute on Tuesday, 3 July 2018.

The full details of the day’s agenda will be published closer to the date. Interested scientists are requested to inform the EU-desk by Wednesday, 14 June 2018.

The RGP office is checking the possibility of holding an H2020 ERC-Synergy info-session with European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers at the Weizmann Institute, in the afternoon of Tuesday, 3 July 2018. Interested scientists are requested to inform the EU-desk by Wednesday, 14 June 2018. Please note that the session will be held subject to sufficient number of participants.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Advanced 2018 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Tuesday, 22 May 2018.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

Dr. Lara A. Campbell, a Program Director in the Office of International Science and Engineering at the NSF, will give a short presentation and be available for pre-scheduled short personal meetings.

The session will take place on Wednesday 30 May 2018 from 14:30, at the de Picciotto Building, 1st Floor, Room 134. Note that number of sits is limited!

Researchers interested in participating, as well as researchers wishing to meet with Dr. Campbell at the end of the session, should contact Tami Koren (tami.koren@weizmann.ac.il ) by 17 May 2018. Please note that meetings will be scheduled only further to prior appointment, in order to allow for Dr. Campbell required preparation.

See here for additional meetings in other institutes.

We are pleased to inform you that an information session for potential ERC applicants will take place at the Weizmann Institute in the morning of Wednesday, 20 June 2018. The session will be conducted by Dr. Ino Agrafioti, LS1 Panel Coordinator, ERC Executive Agency.

Further details on the session, including the venue and schedule, will be published closer to the date.

Please note that although the speaker is the coordinator of a specific panel, the session will be relevant to all potential applicants and will provide information on how to write a proposal, what is liked by the panels and what is not, myths vs. truth, etc.

If you are interested in participating, please contact the EU-Desk as soon as possible.

Please contact RGP (Chaya.moykopf@weizmann.ac.il) as soon as a student and/or postdoc student starts working on an NIH-funded project for her to establish an eRA Commons account. This will save you a lot of time and energy trying to track down people who may no longer be at WIS at the time of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) submission.

During Passover Holiday the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following date:
Thursday, 5 April 2018

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:
Sunday – Wednesday, 1-4 April 2018

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Passover, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

Deadline for full proposal submission to the ISF Broad Institute Research Grants program has been extended from the original 9 April (RGP) and 16 April (Agency) to 30 April (RGP) and 6 May 2018 (Agency).

Deadline to the US DARPA - Strategic Technologies (HR001117S0015) call for proposals has been extended from the original 7 March (RGP) and 21 March 2018 (Agency) to 29 August (RGP) and 21 September 2018 (Agency).

The RGP moved to the 5th floor of the Stone Building and resumed its services. All other contact information remains as before.

Deadline to the IMOD Photonics Research Proposals for Security Applicability - OR RISHON has been extended from the original 25 March (RGP) and 8 April (Agency) to 23 April (RGP) and 30 April 2018 (Agency).

Please contact RGP (Chaya.moykopf@weizmann.ac.il) as soon as a student and/or postdoc student starts working on an NIH-funded project for her to establish an eRA Commons account. This will save you a lot of time and energy trying to track down people who may no longer be at WIS at the time of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) submission.

During Passover Holiday the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following date:
Thursday, 5 April 2018

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:
Sunday – Wednesday, 1-4 April 2018

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Passover, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

The RGP is relocating to the 5th floor of the Stone Building.

Due to the expected move, the RGP will be closed on the afternoon of Wednesday, 14 March, and all day Thursday, 15 March 2018. In addition, RGP services will be only partially available on the morning of Wednesday, 14 March, and all day Sunday, 18 March 2018.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP are required on these days, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

The RGP is relocating to the 5th floor of the Stone Building.

Due to the expected move, the RGP will be closed on the afternoon of Wednesday, 14 March, and all day Thursday, 15 March 2018. In addition, RGP services will be only partially available on the morning of Wednesday, 14 March, and all day Sunday, 18 March 2018.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP are required on these days, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

Deadline to the IMOA Groundnuts Research call for proposals has been extended from the original 8 February (RGP) and 15 February (Agency) to 25 February 2018 (RGP and Agency).

Please contact RGP (Chaya.moykopf@weizmann.ac.il) as soon as a student and/or postdoc student starts working on an NIH-funded project for her to establish an eRA Commons account. This will save you a lot of time and energy trying to track down people who may no longer be at WIS at the time of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) submission.

Deadline to the IMOH Big Data Call for Proposals TIMNA Project has been extended from the original 29 January (RGP) and 5 February (Agency) to 18 February (RGP) and 25 February 2018 (Agency). In addition, a 10% overhead may now be included in the project's budget.

The ISF updated its ISF-Broad call guidelines. The updated information has been incorporated in the ISF-Broad RGP webpage, and is also available here with the changes highlighted in yellow.

In addition, deadline has been extended for both Registration and Declaration of Intent submission:

• Registration: from the original 29 January to 12 February 2018 at 13:00 (Agency)
• Declaration of Intent submission: from the original 30 January to 13 February at 13:00 (Agency)

Pazi Foundation's new website is available at www.pazyfoundation.org.il/. Guidelines for submission of a new research proposal are available here and updated in the relevant RGP webpage (Research Grants and Equipment). Researchers are asked to upload the abstracts to the system as soon as possible in order to enable the Agency to deal with any malfunction.

The University of Illinois System Office of the Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation announces week-long travel support for its faculty, aiming at encouraging the development of new or the strengthening of existing collaborations with Israel. Applications are solicited from U of I System Faculty, and are to be submitted by 31 January 2018 or until all awards are made. For more information see call text.

Two major changes impact applications submitted for NIH due dates on or after 25 January 2018.

• Applicants are required to use FORMS-E. Wondering what this means for late applications or reviewers submitting under the continuous submission policies? See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-17-062 to learn more.
• Applications that include one or more clinical trials must be submitted in response to funding opportunity announcements that allow for clinical trials. See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-18-106 to learn more.

The Pazi Foundation is currently in the process of upgrading its website, and will soon be launching it. Until then, researchers interested in submitting a proposal are requested TO REFRAIN from submitting new proposals to the old website, as it is inactive and the files WILL NOT BE SAVED. Once the new website will be officially launched a notice will be circulated, and research proposals will be allowed to be submitted.

Deadline to the IMOS Israel-Italy Establishment of Virtual Joint Italian-Israeli Laboratories call for proposals has been extended from the original 28 December 2017 (RGP) and 4 January 2018 (Agency) to 18 January 2018 (RGP) and 25 January 2018 (Agency).

As of 1 January 2018, the US federal government is retiring the legacy PDF forms used to apply to the NIH. The NIH’s system of choice is now ASSIST, the Application Submission System and Interface for Submission Tracking, a web portal for researchers who wish to prepare, submit and track grant applications (https://public.era.nih.gov/assist). The following link provides info on how to apply: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to-apply-application-guide.html

As of 1 January 2018, the US federal government is retiring the legacy PDF forms used to apply to the NIH. The NIH’s system of choice is now ASSIST, the Application Submission System and Interface for Submission Tracking, a web portal for researchers who wish to prepare, submit and track grant applications (https://public.era.nih.gov/assist). The following link provides info on how to apply: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to-apply-application-guide.html

WIS researchers, please be advised that the NSF International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program supports international research and research-related activities outside the US for US science and engineering students  (i.e., student participants supported by IRES funds must be citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States). Note that Israeli investigators and/or students ARE NOT eligible to apply in the framework of this program. For further information, see here.

As of 1 January 2018, Workspace will replace the legacy PDF packages to submit applications to the US federal government through grants.gov. Workspace is a cloud-based online environment optimized for applicants who are collaborating on an application.

To apply or be part of an application, you will first need to register into Grants.gov. Please note that WIS PIs are required to create an ORGANIZATION applicant profile as opposed to an individual applicant profile. To help set up such profile, please contact Chaya Moykopf (chaya.moykopf@weizmann.ac.il) or Yael Karhash (yael.karhash@weizmann.ac.il) at the RGP, who will provide the DUNS number needed.

Since Workspace is an entirely new submission method, we kindly ask that you approach the RGP as soon as you consider applying. Early information of your intention to apply or be part of an application will help facilitate a smooth process for all.

For additional and updated NIH information, see here the RGP NIH webpages.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Consolidator 2018 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to €2M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 7-12 years prior to 1.1.2018. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call and its eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

As IMOS aims to expand and deepen the public's knowledge of all aspects of science and technology, it seeks to make researchers' outcomes accessible to the public.

• It is required that the research proposal include a detailed outreach implementation plan, at a cost of up to NIS 3,000 per research. This amount should be reserved as part of the budget appendix. See call text for further details.
• Reaching out and accessibility activities can include various means depending on the nature of the research and the preferences of researchers and the institution. For the extensive list see the call text. Note that any other activity that is NOT included in the said list will require the approval of IMOS scientific director.

In order to plan and implement the outreach requirement, WIS researchers are invited to contact Dr. Yossi Elran from the Davidson Institute of Science Education (yossi.elran@weizmann.ac.il).

Of the four application submission options currently available to NIH applicants, the option to use legacy PDF application packages will retire at the end of this year. Those who normally use these offline PDF packages will need to choose another submission method.

IMOS advised that the Computational Modelling with Functional Genomics of Clonal Evolution of Infectious Diseases research field in the IMOS France - Israel Cooperation - Maimonide-Israel Research Program has been changed to Computational modeling with functional and evolutionary genomics of infectious diseases.

During the Tishrei holidays (Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Thursday, 5 October 2017
• Wednesday-Thursday, 11-12 October 2017

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Sunday - Tuesday, 8-10 October 2017

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Wednesday, 4 October 2017

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Synergy 2018 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to €10M for a period of 6 years and is designed to enable minimum two to maximum four Principal Investigators and their teams to bring together complementary skills, knowledge, and resources in new ways, in order to jointly address ambitious research problems. A general overview of the call can be viewed here; for additional information please contact the EU Desk.

IMOS recently clarified that the call for China-Israel Cooperation has not yet been published in China. However, at a meeting held in August 2017 with representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Science and representatives of the Chinese Embassy in Israel, it was agreed that the research proposals will be submitted until the end of the aforementioned date (28 September) to the Israeli side only. After examining the proposals in terms of threshold conditions, the list of proposals will be communicated to the Chinese side. These proposals will then undergo a rapid process of evaluation and scientific judgment and the final recommendations regarding the proposals will be sent to the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. IMOS will endeavor, in coordination with its Chinese partners, to enable the funding of research grants to be awarded by the end of 2017. 

During the Tishrei holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Thursday, 21 September 2017
• Thursday, 5 October 2017
• Wednesday-Thursday, 11-12 October 2017

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Sunday - Tuesday, 8-10 October 2017

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Wednesday, 20 September 2017
• Wednesday, 4 October 2017

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

Deadline to the IMOS Japan - Israel Cooperation - ICT for a Resilient Society call has been extended from the original 1 October (RGP) and 15 October (Agency) to 16 October (RGP) and 23 October 2017 (Agency).

Deadline to the IMOA Extended Nitzan Foundation - Noah's Ark - Health Food call has been extended from the original 13 September (RGP) and 25 September (Agency) to 1 October (RGP) and 17 October 2017 (Agency).

Agency deadline to the Pazi Foundation (Keren Pazi) - Young Researcher Absorption Call for Proposals has been extended from the original 30 September to 1 October 2017; RGP deadline has remained as before - 24 September 2017.

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Tuesday, 12 September 2017.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Starting 2018 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to €1.5M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage of starting their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 2-7 years prior to 1.1.2018. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call’s eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

Deadline for the IMOS China - Israel Cooperation - Call for Project Proposals 2017-2019 has been extended from the original 24 July (RGP) and 31 July (Agency) to 24 September (RGP) and 28 September 2017 (Agency).

A meeting with Matthew D. Kane, NSF Program Director at the Division of Environmental Biology (BIO/DEB), Theresa Good, NSF Program Director at the Division of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience, and with  BSF representatives, regarding application to the BSF-NSF and BSF programs, will be taking place on Thursday, 7 September 2017, between 10:00 and 12:00, at the 7th Floor of the Acceleration Building (Koffler Tower).

Please note that although the speakers are from two Biology divisions, they will nevertheless provide information relevant to ALL NSF-BSF programs. In addition, BSF representatives will give a general presentation with tips for a successful BSF application process.

Researchers interested in participating should contact Revital Goldshtein (revital.goldshtein@weizmann.ac.il) by Sunday, 3 September 2017.

ISERD invites newcomers to Horizon 2020 to an Introduction Session on 25 September 2017. For more information and registration see here.

Deadline to the IMOS Biometrics call has been extended from the original 28 August (RGP) and 4 September (Agency) to 17 September (RGP) and 26 September 2017 (Agency).

A meeting with Dr. Matthew D. Kane, NSF Program Director at the Division of Environmental Biology (BIO/DEB) and with  BSF representatives, regarding application to the BSF-NSF and BSF programs, will be taking place on Thursday, 7 September 2017, between 10:00 and 12:00, at the 7th Floor of the Acceleration Building (Koffler Tower).

Researchers interested in participating should contact Revital Goldshtein (revital.goldshtein@weizmann.ac.il) by 31 August 2017.

The Israel-EU R&D Directorate (ISERD) is organizing an info session on the Horizon 2020 Space calls, to be held on 9 August 2017. For further details and registration please see here.

Legacy PDF Application Package will be phased out in 31 December 2017.

• Applicants will no longer be able to download the older, single PDF application package of forms.
• Applicants can apply for grants using Grants.gov Workspace, which separates the application package into individual forms. Applicants can create a workspace, complete the individual PDF forms, and submit their application workspace package.
• The new online forms interface is now available in Grants.gov (as of February 2017) and is only accessible through Workspace.
• For any funding opportunities where applicants have downloaded the legacy PDF application package, they will be able to continue to submit that package until 31 March 2018.

For more information about Grants.gov Workspace, you may visit various Workspace resources:

• Grants.gov Workspace Overview
• Grants.gov Workspace Training Video Series
• Grants.gov Community Blog articles on Workspace

As this is a completely new way of submitting applications to the US federal government, we ask that you inform RGP early of your intention to submit (at least one month) to allow a smooth transition and work flow.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation.

The deadline to the IMOS Space Research - VENUS Project Images call for proposals has been extended from the original 10 August (RGP) and 17 August (Agency) to 27 August (RGP) and 3 September 2017 (Agency).

The deadline to the ADI Association for Duchenne Disease Applicable Research call for proposals has been extended from the original 24 July (RGP) and 31 July (Agency) to 10 September (RGP) and 17 September 2017 (Agency).

A meeting with Dr. Matthew D. Kane, NSF Program Director at the Division of Environmental Biology (BIO/DEB) and with  BSF representatives, regarding application to the BSF-NSF and BSF programs, will be taking place on Thursday, 7 September 2017, between 10:00 and 12:00, at the 7th Floor of the Acceleration Building (Koffler Tower).

Researchers interested in participating should contact Revital Goldshtein (revital.goldshtein@weizmann.ac.il) by 31 August 2017.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend an H2020 ERC-Synergy info-session with European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers, taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Monday, 31 July 2017 at 14:30-16:00.

Further details about this call and a registration link (required by Sunday, 23 July) can be viewed here.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on writing a successful ERC-Starting/Consolidator proposal taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Monday, 31 July 2017 at 09:00-14:00. The workshop will be given by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide an overview of the ERC-StG and CoG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal.

Full details of the day’s agenda and a registration link (required by Sunday, 23 July) can be viewed here.

• "Ktav Kabala" On-line Submission: The ISF recently sent notification letters. Awardees should upload the confirmation form ("Ktav Kabala vehitchayvut") through their personal account on ISF online. Please make sure to upload only "Ktav Kabala vehitchayvut (3 Pages)" and NOT the entire award letter. The option to upload the document will be available in the next few days. Note that NO Hard copies OR emails will be accepted!
• Next Cycle Deadlines:
  • Registration deadline: 23 October 2017 (Agency)
  • Submission deadline: 30 October (RGP) and 6 November 2017 (Agency)

  Calls for Proposals are expected to be issued in early September.

SAVE THE DATE - an H2020 ERC-Synergy info-session with European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers, will take place at the Weizmann Institute on Monday, 31 July 2017, between 14:30-16:00. Please see here for further details.

The ERC Synergy Grant scheme, which ran under two pilot calls in 2012 and 2013, will be re-launched in the ERC Work Programme 2018. It is expected that the call will be published on 19 July 2017 (subject to the adoption of the Work Programme 2018 by the European Commission), with a deadline of 14 November 2017. Please see here for further details.

IMOS recently (19/6/17) updated that the Israeli and French PIs may submit an application to the France-Israel PRC call for proposals without already having a joint publication; however, joint publications (as other joint products demonstrating a fruitful collaboration) are nevertheless an important criteria in the evaluation process. In addition, IMOS clarified that funding from other sources will be viewed favorably in the evaluation process.

SAVE THE DATE - an H2020 ERC-Starting and Consolidator ‘Writing a Successful Proposal’ Workshop, with European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers, will take place at the Weizmann Institute on Monday, 31 July 2017, between 09:00-14:00. Please see here for further details.

Deadline to the Minerva Program for Scientific Cooperation with Germany - Workshop or Group Visit has been extended from the original 18 June to 25 June 2017 (to the RGP).

The BSF provided NSF Computer Sciences directors presentation recently delivered; the presentation is available here.

Deadline to the VI-SEEM Project Access to Computing Resources call has been extended from the original 2 June (RGP and Agency) to 19 June (RGP) and 26 June 2017 (Agency).

ISERD conducts a survey among researchers at the academic and research institutes in order to understand their needs and motivations regarding involvement in the European Framework program and the services offered to them by ISRAD and the research authorities.

The questionnaire is intended for all researchers and not only for researchers who applied for grants from a European Framework program. For further information please see here.

The BSF advised that NSF Computer Sciences directors will give short presentations on the practical aspects of submission to BSF-NSF programs, to take place on the first week of June. Note that none of these will take place at the Weizmann Institute. Locations and dates are detailed here.

The submission service for the ERC Advanced 2017 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Information about the call including application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible here.

PIs that are currently in the last year of their ISF project may apply for a no-cost extension starting 15 May and until mid-July (a specific deadline was not provided). Application is submitted using the PI's personal ISF account.

The deadline to the DARPA Innovative Systems for Military Missions - DARPA-BAA-16-31 call has been extended from the original 2 April (RGP) and 28 April (Agency) to 29 May (RGP) and 12 June 2017 at 16:00 (US Eastern Time).

Deadline to IMOA Extended Nitzan Foundation - Noah's Ark - Microbiome in Animals and Plants has been extended from the original 30 April (RGP) and 7 May 2017 (Agency) to 14 May 2017 (RGP and Agency) at 15:00 (Israel Time).

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Tuesday, 9 May 2017 between 07:30 - 17:00.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

During Passover Holiday the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday - Tuesday, 10-11 April 2017

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Wednesday - Thursday, 12-13 April 2017

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Sunday - Monday, 16-17 April 2017

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Passover, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

During Passover Holiday the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday - Tuesday, 10-11 April 2017
• Monday, 17 April 2017

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Wednesday - Thursday, 12-13 April 2017

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 16 April 2017

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Passover, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

The BSF advised that the budget set for this year and for the next two years is insufficient to fund all of the existing BSF-NSF programs. Therefore, the BSF must limit the annual budget of all BSF-NSF projects involved in data collection and processing to $ 70,000, and of theoretical work to $ 40,000. Accordingly, the BSF will make the necessary changes in the budgets of all the active projects, both those that began this year as well as ongoing projects (including those that have already been renewed in the current budget year).

For further information, please see an email from Yair Rotstein, the BSF Executive Director.

Please note that researchers with relevant projects have been individually informed by the BSF.

The Research Grants and Projects (RGP) Office is pleased to announce that the new Grants Management System announced previously has launched and is now operational.

Aside from the advanced tools for grant management that the system will provide to RGP staff, it complements the services provided by the RGP to Weizmann researchers via the Researcher’s Grant Portal, which is accessible via direct link from the RGP home page (under "Grants & Forms").

The Researcher’s Grant Portal will provide each PI with access, on the one hand, to an overview of basic information on the researcher’s grants and grant applications (pending and approved), and on the other hand, to the researcher’s Internal Forms, under two tabs named accordingly.

In the framework of the new system, the Internal Form process has been significantly streamlined and simplified for the PI. By contrast to the current system whereby the PI must log into the system, initiate a new internal form, and fill in all the grant-related information before completing the relevant ethical declarations, the new system provides the PI with a direct link via e-mail to a pre-filled Internal Form for each grant, in which all the basic grant-related information has already been completed (based on information provided by the PI to the RGP about the submitted proposal), leaving the PI only to review the information, complete the declarations, and submit the form to the RGP.

The deadline for pre-proposals to the BSF Transformative Science Program has been advanced from the original 20 April (RGP) and 27 April (Agency) to 18 April (RGP) and 25 April 2017 (Agency).

The deadline to the JOY Ventures grants call for proposals has been extended from the original 13 March (RGP) and 20 March (Agency) to 26 March (RGP) and 30 March 2017 (Agency). In addition, the 2 minutes video statement is no longer mandatory.

The Research Grants and Projects (RGP) Office is pleased to announce that a new Grants Management System will be launched next week. In addition to providing the RGP staff with advanced tools for grant management and improved connectivity with related Weizmann systems, we will also be able to provide basic information to researchers on their research grants (pending and approved) via the Researcher's Grant Portal, which will be found at the URL from which the Internal Form system was previously accessed (accessible via direct link from the RGP home page, under "Grants & Forms").

The Researcher's Grant Portal will provide each PI with access, on the one hand, to an overview of basic information on the researcher's grants and grant applications, and on the other hand, to the researcher's Internal Forms, under two tabs named accordingly.

In the framework of the new system, the Internal Form process has been significantly streamlined and simplified for the PI. By contrast to the current system whereby the PI must log into the system, initiate a new internal form, and fill in all the grant-related information before completing the relevant ethical declarations, the new system provides the PI with a direct link to a pre-filled Internal Form in which all the basic grant-related information has already been completed (based on information provided by the PI to the RGP about submitted proposals), leaving the PI only to review the information, complete the declarations, and submit the form to the RGP.

Please note that the transition to the new system will require a period of three days (March 19-21, 2017), during which time no new projects will be able to be created in Tafnit. In case of urgent matters which require attention in Tafnit, please coordinate with the RGP in advance of the transition period (no later than Wednesday, 15 March 2017).

We would like to take this opportunity to remind all Weizmann faculty and staff that the Weizmann Institute places prime importance on the ability to create and maintain an environment that encourages the highest standards of excellence, ethics and integrity, and compliance with the requirements of research sponsors and national and international legislation.

Detailed information about the policies in place at the Weizmann Institute to ensure such compliance and ethical standards, as well as the Weizmann Institute’s Code of Ethical Conduct, can be found at the following URL (also accessible via a direct link on the RGP home page, under RGP Additional Services > Ethics and Compliance):

http://www.weizmann.ac.il/RGP/content/Ethics-at-WIS

Deadline to the Garvan - Weizmann Collaborative Program Call for LOIs has been extended from the original 20 March to 3 April 2017 (to the RGP).

Deadlines to the US DARPA Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) (HR00117S0019) call for proposals have been extended from the original 13 March to 20 March 2017 (Agency Abstract), and from the original 1 May to 8 May 2017 (Agency Full Proposal). Note also the consequent changes in the submission deadlines to the RGP.

ISERD recently advised that KAMIN will also be available as a funding mechanism for the QuantERA ERA-Net call for proposals. Please be reminded that YEDA will be handling this call.

H2020 ERC 2017 Advanced Workshop- response required by Tuesday 28 February 2017

We are checking the possibility of holding an H2020 ERC-Advanced Workshop, with European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers. The planned date is Tuesday 4 April 2017 (~09:00-13:30). The workshop will take place subject to a minimum number of participants and we would, therefore, like to check your interest and availability.

Please notify the EU Desk by Tuesday 28 February 2017 if you are interested in participating in the workshop and are available on 4 April 2017.

The ERC-Advanced Grant (AdG) is designed to support independent researchers with a track record of significant research achievements in the last ten years. The maximum grant amount is 2.5 million Euros with an option to request an additional amount of 1 million Euros for the purchase of major equipment and/or access to large facilities.

The ERC-2017-AdG call deadline is 31 August 2017 and the call is scheduled to open in mid-May.

IMOA has extended the deadline of its invitation to gather ideas for a future call for proposals for innovative and focused products to be developed in the area of agriculture using genome editing technologies. Note that no funding is being offered. IMOA guidelines are available here and ideas should be submitted via email to dality@moag.gov.il by 1 March 2017 (instead of the original 1 February 2017).

Deadline to the National Institute for Testing and Evaluation (MALO) Call for Proposals has been extended from the original 21 February (RGP) and 28 February (Agency) to 26 March (RGP) and 31 March 2017 (Agency).

H2020 ERC 2017 Advanced Workshop- response required by Tuesday 23 February 2017

We are checking the possibility of holding an H2020 ERC-Advanced Workshop, with European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers. The planned date is Tuesday 4 April 2017 (~09:00-13:30). The workshop will take place subject to a minimum number of participants and we would, therefore, like to check your interest and availability.

Please notify the EU Desk by Tuesday 23 February 2017 if you are interested in participating in the workshop and are available on 4 April 2017.

The ERC-Advanced Grant (AdG) is designed to support independent researchers with a track record of significant research achievements in the last ten years. The maximum grant amount is 2.5 million Euros with an option to request an additional amount of 1 million Euros for the purchase of major equipment and/or access to large facilities.

The ERC-2017-AdG call deadline is 31 August 2017 and the call is scheduled to open in mid-May.

Effective January 25, 2017: NIH eliminated most types of appendix materials for grant applications intended for due dates on or after January 25. Applications will be withdrawn if they are submitted with appendix materials that are not specifically listed in NOT-OD-17-035, or specified in the specific funding opportunity announcement to which you are applying.

IMOA has advised that a new call for collaboration with researchers from Japan is expected to be published during February. See here for additional information received from Dr. Avi Perl, Chief Scientist at IMOA.

An updated list of regulated infectious agents and toxins (from 17/1/17) is now available, further to new regulations of the pathogens law approved by the Knesset. This list now includes pathogens that were considered to be of Biological Safety Level 2 (BL2). Researchers who are in possession of BL2 agents are requested to contact Dalia Seger at their earliest convenience.

The deadline to the University of Michigan - UM/Israel Research Partnership call has been extended for the second time from the 8 January (RGP) 15 January 2017 (Agency) to 22 January (RGP) and 25 January 2017 (Agency).

Note that REGISTRATION deadline to the ISF-Canada call has been extended from 11 January to 16 January 2017.

IMOS has clarified that in the Israeli form of the IMOS-Italy call for proposals items 1 through 3 should be limited to a total of 8 pages (instead of 10 pages, as indicated in the form), similarly to the Italian version.

The full proposal deadline to the ISF-NSFC (China) call for proposals has been extended from the original 5 January (RGP) and 12 January (Agency) to 11 January (RGP) and 18 January 2017 (Agency).

The Israel Academy Contact Center is launching its new computer program and interactive bulletin board, aimed at enabling researchers to advertise positions and edit them, including positions for EU Marie Curie fellowships. For further information and instructions see here.

The objective of the H2020 consultation is to collect information from a wide audience on different aspects of Horizon 2020 implementation. Individual researchers and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation by 15 January 2017. See here for more information and for access to the online questionnaire.

Deadline to the US DARPA-BAA-16-18 call for proposals has been extended from the original 7 December 2016 (RGP) and 21 December 2016 (Agency) to 7 March 2017 (RGP) and 21 March 2017 (Agency).

Deadline to the Weizmann - EPFL call for proposals has been extended from the original 1 December to 4 December 2016 (to the RGP).

The RGP puts great effort in searching for and publishing calls relevant to WIS researchers, and in circulating these via the RGP website and weekly bulletin. Occasionally, researchers come across agencies or specific calls that are unbeknown to the RGP. In such cases, kindly contact the RGP’s Research Information Services officer, Danna Piroyansky, in order to enable further processing and circulation of these new agencies/calls. As always, the RGP is at your disposal, and available to all queries related to research grants and projects.

The deadline to the Weizmann - Texas A and M University Collaborative Program call has been extended from the original 1 December to 15 December 2016 (to the RGP).

eRA is strengthening the security of its modules on November 30 by moving to the "https only" secure connection for websites, as mandated for all federal agencies. With the implementation of this security protocol, older internet browsers may not work, and you may need to update your browser to access any eRA module, including eRA Commons, ASSIST, IAR and iEdison.

An October 26 eRA email bulletin lists the web browsers and versions that will continue to work after the security upgrade. While these versions will continue to work past November 30, for an optimal experience when using eRA modules, we encourage you to use the browsers and software versions listed in the eRA browser compatibility statement. (Note that eRA uses Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer to develop and test its modules for browser compatibility.)

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Consolidator 2017 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to EURO 2M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 7-12 years prior to 1.1.2017. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call’s eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

During Sukkot the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday, 17 October 2016
• Sunday-Monday, 23-24 October 2016

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday - Thursday, 18-20 October 2016

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 16 October 2016

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

During the Tishrei holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah) the RGP will be staffed by duty officers and provide essential and urgent services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday-Tuesday, 3-4 October 2016
• Tuesday-Wednesday, 11-12 October 2016
• Monday, 17 October 2016
• Sunday-Monday, 23-24 October 2016

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday - Thursday, 18-20 October 2016

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 2 October 2016
• Sunday, 16 October 2016

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us well in advance.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

Full proposals for the Ceramics program and the Condensed Matter and Materials Theory program within the BSF-NSF Materials call can be submitted to the BSF by the Israeli scientist only, and by the research authorities of all Israelis requesting funding at any time during the year, following the NSF restrictions, which include a limit of a single proposal per year. Israeli PIs applying to these programs should inform the BSF office of the planned submission in these two programs, to enable tracking of the processing by the NSF.

Scientists/Staff Scientists/Heads of core facilities whom have been approached by EU Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) and/or are participating in such a network, including Preparatory Phase projects funded under FP7, are requested to contact the EU Desk immediately.

A NEW internal program is being launched this year for funding of dedicated scientific equipment for individual research groups, with a 9 October 2016 deadline. For more information please see the relevant RGP webpage.

Dr. Linda Hyman, Director of the NSF Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) Division will give a short presentation and be available for pre-scheduled short personal meetings.

The session will take place on Thursday 22 September 2016, 09:00 - 12:00, at the de Picciotto Conference Room (New Administration Building, Floor 0).

Researchers interested in participating, as well as researchers wishing to meet with Dr. Hyman at the end of the session, should contact Cocava Cohen (Cocava.cohen@weizmann.ac.il) by 20 September 2016. Please note that meetings will be scheduled only further to prior appointment, in order to allow for Dr. Hyman required preparation.

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Monday, 12 September 2016 between 09:30 - 15:00.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

The GIF Information Session has been rescheduled and will take place on Sunday 18 September 2016, 10:00 - 11:30, at the Presidential Reception Room, The David Lopatie Conference Centre.

Mrs. Mina Horesh (Head of GIF Science Administration) and Dr. Cellina Cohen (Head of GIF Science) will present the GIF programs, discuss recent changes to the application process, refer to specific questions that were submitted before the session, and be available for pre-scheduled short personal discussions.

Researchers interested in participating, as well as researchers wishing to submit questions to and/or meet with GIF representatives at the end of the session, should contact Cocava Cohen (Cocava.cohen@weizmann.ac.il) by 15 September 2016. Please note that questions will be referred to and meetings will be scheduled only further to prior appointment, in order to allow for GIF representatives required preparations.

IMOS/MOST wishes to stress that researchers who have received funding from the agency must acknowledge IMOS’ support in publications, conferences and/or the media. See here for IMOS letter with the required phrasing according to type of funding.

The GIF Information Session at the WIS, originally scheduled for 5 September 2016, HAS BEEN CANCELLED. The RGP will communicate any new information on a future meeting via the RGP bulletin and website.   

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Starting 2017 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to Euro 1.5M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage of starting their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 2-7 years prior to 1.1.2017. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call’s eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

The RGP bulletin will not be issued in the coming two weeks. The next bulletin will come out during the week which begins on 14 August 2016.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on Writing a Successful ERC-Starting/Consolidator Proposal.
The workshop (originally planned for 3 August 2016) will take place on Thursday 4 August 2016, 09:00-14:00 at the Koshland Seminar Room ("The Aquarium"), Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research.
The workshop will be given by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide an overview of the ERC-StG and CoG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal.

Full details of the day’s agenda can be viewed here.

A meeting with BSF representatives regarding opportunities and tips for application to the BSF and BSF-NSF programs (with score submission errors and how to avoid them) will be taking place on Thursday 28 July 2016 at 09:00 in the Wix Auditorium (the small hall).

Researchers interested in participating, as well as researchers wishing to meet with BSF representatives at the end of the day, should contact Cocava Cohen (Cocava.cohen@weizmann.ac.il) by 24 July 2016. Please note that meetings could be scheduled only further to prior appointment, in order to allow for BSF representatives required preparations.

Schedule:

• 09:00 - Gathering and light refreshments
• 09:15 - 10:45 - Lecture by Dr. Yair Rotstein (BSF Executive Director) - 'NSF-BSF: Opportunities and Pitfalls'
• 10:45 - 11:00 - Break
• 11:00 - 12:00 - Lecture by Dr. Heni Haring (BSF Executive Director Assistant) - 'The BSF program: General overview’
• 12:00 - 13:00 - Meetings with researchers (further to prior appointment)

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on Writing a Successful ERC-Starting/Consolidator Proposal taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Wednesday 3 August 2016 at 09:00-14:00. The workshop will be given by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide an overview of the ERC-StG and CoG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal. Full details of the day’s agenda and registration (required by Sunday, 24 July) can be viewed here.

LOI deadline for the CURE Post-Traumatic Epilepsy Award has been extended from the original 29 June (RGP) and 6 July (Agency) to 13 July (RGP) and 20 July 2016 (Agency). Full proposal submission deadline has also been extended and is only for those invited to submit.

Deadline to the IMOS Tashtiot (Infrastructures) Space Research call for proposals has been extended for a second time from the original 3 May (RGP) and 10 May (Agency) to 21 July (RGP) and 28 July 2016 (Agency).

The July deadline of the BSF-NSF Joint Program Earth Sciences in Tectonics call for proposals has been extended from 26 June (RGP) and 3 July (Agency) to 7 July (RGP) and 14 July (Agency) 2016.

The deadline to the IMOS France-Israel Cooperation - Maimonide-Israel Research Program has been extended from the original 8 June (RGP) and 16 June 2016 (Agency) to 23 June (RGP) and 30 June 2016 (Agency).

Deadline to the Minerva Foundation - German Research Group Visit or Workshop at the Weizmann Institute call has been extended from the original 13 June (to the RGP) to 3 July 2016 (to the RGP).

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Advanced 2016 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

The deadline to Rambam's Ernest and Bonnie Beutler Research Program of Excellence in Genomic Medicine has been extended from the original 10 May (RGP) and 18 May (Agency) to 24 July (RGP) and 31 July 2016 (Agency).

The ISF has clarified that PIs interested in requesting a no-cost extension for their ISF grants must submit such requests using the ISF Online system between 15 May and 30 July of the latest grant's year. Any such request received after 30 July will not be considered.

During the Passover holiday the RGP will be providing essential services only.

• The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates: Sunday - Wednesday, 24-27 April 2016
• The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following date: Thursday, 28 April 2016

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please be aware that signatures could not be provided and make sure to contact us by the middle of next week (19 April 2016).

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Passover, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

Deadline to the Rising Tide Translational Cancer Research Fund call for proposals has been extended from the original 1 May deadline to 15 May 2016 deadline (to the RGP).

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on Writing a Successful ERC-Advanced Proposal taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Thursday 5 May 2016 at 09:00-13:30 (the week after Pesach).

The workshop will be given by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide guidance for preparing an ERC-AdG proposal and will discuss issues of specific concern for advanced applicants, as well as advise on proposal resubmission and applying for a second ERC grant. Full details of the day’s agenda and registration (required by Sunday, 10 April) can be viewed here.

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Monday, 11 April 2016.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

The BSF Board has resolved to make the following changes in the split submission program, effective immediately:

• Ecology (and Systematic Biology) will move to the Life Sciences year (odd years).
• Marine/Aquatic Biology will move to the Life Sciences year (odd years) and will be incorporated into Ecology.
• All of Psychology, except Psychobiology, will move to the Physical and Social sciences year (even years).

In order to smooth the change, the following steps are being taken in the transition years:

• Psychology (except Psychobiology) applications will be accepted in 2016 (even though Psychology was also submitted in 2015).
• Ecology (and Systematic Biology) and Marine/Aquatic Biology applications (which were last submitted in 2014) will be accepted in 2016, and then again in 2017.

Submission in all other disciplines (including Psychobiology) have not changed. Any scientist who feels that he has a special problem resulting from this change is invited to contact the BSF.

IMOS advised that the deadline for the Italian Partner within the IMOS-Italy call for proposal has been confirmed as 14 April 2016 (instead of 7 March 2016 as published originally).

Deadline to the IMOA Chief Scientist Central Fund in Agriculture and Rural Development Research Grants has been extended from the original 15 March (RGP) and 22 March (Agency) to 22 March (RGP) and 29 March (Agency).

Note that the Atomic Clock with Enhanced Stability (ACES) - DARPA-BAA-16-19 full proposal deadline has been ADVANCED from the original 17 April (RGP) and 1 May (Agency) to 13 April (RGP) and 29 April 2016 (Agency).

Deadline to IMOA Groundnuts Research Call for Proposals has been extended from the original 22 February (RGP) and 29 February (Agency) to 8 March (RGP) and 15 March (Agency) 2016.

MAFAT representatives will arrive at the Weizmann Institute to meet researchers in relation with IMOD 2016 call for proposals. The meeting is intended to provide further information and expand on the new MAFAT call recently issued, to meet current awardees and potential applicants, and to initiate a fruitful and personal dialogue between MAFAT personnel and WIS researchers.

The meeting will take place on Thursday, 3 March 2016 at 09:00, at the David Lopatie Conference Center and will include:

• MAFAT presentations (1 hours)
• Q and A session (0.5 hour)
• One on one meetings with researchers (1 hour)

Researchers interested in attending the presentation and/or scheduling a one on one meeting are requested to contact Regina Krizhanovsky (regina.krizhanovsky@weizmann.ac.il, Tel.: 4027) by Sunday, 28 February 2016.

A new H2020 funding option has been published in the area of Research Infrastructures which provides the prospect for researchers to join currently established research infrastructure networks in given areas and receive funding for operational costs for their existing research infrastructures and for networking activities. Click here for more information.

For further information please contact Galit and Gabi at the EU-Desk.

Deadline to the EU COST Actions has been extended from the original 16 February (RGP) and 23 February (Agency) to 18 April (RGP) and 25 April 2016 (Agency).

For further information on Scientific Premise in NIH Grant Applications see here.

IMOA has published the following notice, inviting researchers to a symposium towards the launching of a call for joint research with the food industry. The symposium will take place on 18 February 2016.

At the request of the NSF-BSF Israeli advisory panel, the BSF has changed the regulation that allowed the submission of more than a single NSF- BSF application. The new regulation states: Each Israeli scientist is allowed to submit only a single pre-proposal/full proposal [to BSF-NSF programs]. Moreover, an Israeli scientist who has any pending NSF-BSF application, or has any active NSF-BSF grant that is not in its last year, is not allowed to submit an application to any of the NSF-BSF programs.

The NIH recently introduced new SCIENTIFIC requirements in order to enhance the reproducibility of research findings in NIH applications. For a summary and further information please see here.

Deadline to IMOA Non-Surgical Sterilization of Stray Cats and Dogs call for proposals has been extended from the original 12 November (RGP) and 19 November (Agency) to 22 December (RGP) and 29 December 2015 (Agency).

ISF has advised that the current Broad Institute - Postdoctoral Fellowships application cycle is CANCELED due to budget difficulties.

Deadline to the WIS - University of Michigan - Technion Collaboration Program has been extended from the original 1 December to 20 December 2015 (to the RGP).

Further to ISF decision, reports MUST be submitted online only; NO HARD COPIES REPORTS ARE REQUIRED. If researchers indicate that certain papers have been published as a result of research funded by the ISF, they should upload the relevant files to the website, or, alternatively, enclose a list with links to the said papers.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Consolidator 2016 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to 2M Euro for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who received their PhDs within 7-12 years prior to 1.1.2016 and are at the career stage in which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call’s eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

Please note the following in regards to ISF new guidelines for registration and submission deadlines, and for reports submission:

1. Registration: Further to ISF decision, and unlike in previous years, REGISTRATION TO THE ISF ONLINE SYSTEM MUST BE COMPLETED BY THE INDICATED DEADLINE (25 October 2015 at 12:00).
2. Full Proposal: Further to ISF decision, and unlike in previous years, Research Authorities' review and administrative changes WILL NOT be able to be entered into the proposal after the Agency deadline (8 November at 12:00). Therefore, submission deadline to the RGP, as to all other Research Authorities, will be a week in advance (1 November) of the Agency deadline. APPLICANTS SUBMITTING TO THE RGP AFTER 1 NOVEMBER WILL NEED TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT THE RGP MIGHT NOT BE IN A POSITION TO REVIEW THE PROPOSAL AND CORRECT IT ADMINISTRATIVELY.
3. Reports Submission: Further to ISF decision, reports must be submitted online only; NO HARD COPY REPORTS ARE REQUIRED.

NIH has issued Notices of Correction for Foreign Institutions Eligibility for the following funding opportunities (note that although in the original RFAs below Foreign Institutes still appear as ineligible, they are in fact eligible to submit):

• Health Disparities and Alzheimer's Disease (R01) - PAR-15-349
• Emerging Directions for Addressing Health Disparities in Alzheimer's Disease (R03) - PAR-15-350
• Major Opportunities for Research in Epidemiology of Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Resilience (R01) - PAR-15-356
• Understanding Alzheimer's Disease in the Context of the Aging Brain (R01) - PAR-15-357
• Capturing Complexity in the Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Involved in the Etiology of Alzheimer's Disease (R01) - PAR-15-358
• Novel Approaches to Diagnosing Alzheimer's Disease & Predicting Progression (R01) - PAR-15-359

The BSF has published new regulations that will be relevant to all BSF-NSF programmes from now on:

• Scientists will be allowed to submit both to an NSF-BSF program and the regular BSF program, including similar applications.
• In the event that they are awarded a grant in both programs, they will be funded in both, unless the research application is mostly similar, in which case only their NSF-BSF program will be funded.
• In the case of similar NSF-BSF and regular BSF applications, in which the NSF evaluation was not completed by the time the regular BSF awards are made, the BSF will defer its decision regarding a possible grant to this application, until the NSF-BSF awards are announced.

All others eligibility regulations that appear in the Calls for Proposals are still applicable.

The ISF has published a letter referring to submission of applications to the 2016 cycle, stressing the differences between the current application cycle and previous cycles, and clarifying the new submission process.

1. Registration: Be advised that further to ISF decision, and unlike in previous years, REGISTRATION TO THE ISF ONLINE SYSTEM MUST BE COMPLETED BY THE INDICATED DEADLINE (25 October 2015 at 12:00).
2. Full Proposal: Be advised that further to ISF decision, and unlike in previous years, Research Authorities' review and administrative changes WILL NOT be able to be entered into the proposal after the Agency deadline (8 November at 12:00). Therefore, submission deadline to the RGP, as to all other Research Authorities, will be a week in advance (1 November) of the Agency deadline. APPLICANTS SUBMITTING TO THE RGP AFTER 1 NOVEMBER WILL NEED TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT THE RGP MIGHT NOT BE IN A POSITION TO REVIEW THE PROPOSAL AND CORRECT IT ADMINISTRATIVELY.

The RGP will publish additional information and updates referring to the various ISF programs in early October, further to information received from the ISF (as in the case of the Bikura Program). 

During the Sukkot holiday the RGP will be providing essential services only.

The RGP office will be closed on the following dates:

• Monday, 28 September 2015
• Sunday, 4 October 2015
• Monday, 5 October 2015

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

• Tuesday - Thursday, 29 September - 1 October 2015

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following dates:

• Sunday, 27 September 2015.

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please make sure to contact us by 21 September 2015.

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Sukkot, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

Please be informed that the next RGP bulletin will be issued after the holidays.

IMOS has published a clarification regarding the Israel-Czech Cooperation Program call for proposals.

Deadline to the IMOS - France-Israel - Maimonide-Israel Research Program call has been extended from the original 1 September (RGP) and 8 September (Agency) to 6 October (RGP) and 13 October (Agency).

Please be informed that the next RGP bulletin will be issued after the holidays.

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Thursday, 17 September 2015.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

Anyone wishing to apply to the NIH with a due date of 5 October 2015 should be mindful that, due to the holidays, administrative personnel will either be entirely off or work on a skeleton staff capacity.

Applications for which WIS is the applicant PI should be submitted to RGP by 8 September 2015, after having received Finance approval.

Applications where WIS is a subaward, should be submitted to RGP by 20 September 2015 after having received Finance approval.

Finance will be unavailable to approve budgets from 27 September until 7 October 2015.

A presentation on the Life sciences application process in the NSF will be provided by Dr. Michelle Elekonich (from the NSF) at the WIS, on Thursday, 3 September 2015, between 14:00 - 16:00, at the Presidential Reception Room of the Lopatie Building. Researchers intending to participate are kindly asked to inform Cocava Cohen at the RGP.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Starting 2016 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to Euro 1.5M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage of starting their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 2-7 years prior to 1.1.2016. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call’s eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on Writing a Successful ERC-Starting /Consolidator Proposal taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Monday 7 September 2015 at 09:00-14:00.

The workshop will be given by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide an overview of the ERC-StG and CoG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal. Full details of the day’s agenda and registration (required by Sunday, 30 August) can be viewed here.

Israel Chemicals (ICL) and the Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani center (ARO) advised that the Center for Fertilization and Plant Nutrition (CFPN) call for proposals is withheld until further notice; applications will not be accepted until announced otherwise.

The deadline to the WIS-UK call for proposals has been extended from the original 30 July 2015 to 2 August 2015 - to the RGP.

Within the Weizmann Institute there is a Video Conferencing Bridge (SCOPIA). It is ideal for work group sessions from all over the world, allowing video sessions (and presentations) for up to 20 participants.

• Detailed explanation for Windows and Mac OSX users is available at: http://video.weizmann.ac.il/webroot.old/scopia2/scopia2/Weizmann_Video_Bridge.html
• To Install SCOPIA desktop application from the following site: http://vc.weizmann.ac.il?client
• To verify the installation visit: http://vc.weizmann.ac.il/?ID=54444&autojoin
• To open a virtual room, please send an email to : alon.sharfi@weizmann.ac.il

The presentation of Prof. Zeev Rosenzweig (formerly director of the international program of the chemistry division of the NSF), that took place at the WIS on 21 June 2015, is available here.

Deadline to the IMOH Feasibility Studies in Alternative Methods to Animal Testing call for proposals has been extended from the original 25 August (RGP) and 1 September (Agency) to 31 August (RGP) and 7 September (Agency) 2015.

The Full Proposal deadline for the DARPA DSO Office-Wide BAA (DARPA-BAA-15-39) call for proposals has been extended from the original 16 June (RGP) and 2 July 2016 (Agency) to 16 June (RGP) and 30 June 2016 (Agency).

Deadline to the Weizmann - WIN-Systems Biology International Collaborative Pilot Projects has been extended from the original 1 July to 16 July 2015 (to the RGP).

EURAXES has clarified that the call for expressions of interest from PIs holding an ERC grant to host Japanese postdoctoral researchers will be launched by the ERC later this year and the first Japanese visits will take place in 2016.

Further to a request received from the Euraxess Israel administration, researchers wishing to express their interest in hosting MSCA fellows, please complete this request form and forward it to the attention of Dana Dvash (dana.dvash@weizmann.ac.il) at your earliest convenience. (Further information on MSCA in general is available via the RGP MSCA webpages).

The BSF-NSF are expecting to start a new program with the Materials division of the NSF. At the planned meeting Prof. Zeev Rosenzweig (formerly director of the international program of the chemistry division of the NSF) will describe the new program, explain the differences between submission to the NSF and to the ISF or BSF, and point out possible pitfalls in the NSF applications. Prof. Rosenzweig will also answer questions regarding BSF-NSF opportunities more generally. The talk is expected to be relevant to scientists from materials, condense matter physics (which is part of material sciences at the NSF), chemistry, biotechnology and nanotechnology, and will take place on Sunday, 21 June 2015, 14:30 - 16:30 at the Michael and Anna Wix Auditorium (#16 in the Campus Map). Researchers intending to participate, please contact Cocava Cohen (cocava.cohen@weizmann.ac.il) by 18 June.

Deadline to the Minerva German Research Group Visit or Workshop at the Weizmann Institute has been extended from the original 15 June to 29 June 2015 (to the RGP).

We are happy to announce a new pilot initiative for providing guidance to Weizmann scientists in locating and matching H2020 calls relevant to their research. For this purpose, the RGP has concluded an agreement with Bgator, an experienced European consultancy company.

Generally, the service provided by the company will include two skype meetings with the researcher: the first, to familiarize the consultant with the scientist’s research activities and funding needs; the second, to present and discuss the findings of the survey conducted by the company. Scientists will also receive a report detailing the relevant calls and their compatibility with their specific research activities and funding needs.

The cost of this service is Euro 1,000 out of which Weizmann will cover 2/3 and the remaining 1/3 will be covered by the scientist.

Kindly note that the number of participants in the pilot is limited. Therefore, please contact the EU Desk as soon as possible, should you wish to take part in the pilot and/or receive any further information.

Following the pilot’s conclusion and based on the feedback from participating scientists, the option to offer the service to a broader number of scientists, in the future, will be assessed.

Further to clarifications received from the agency regarding the Weizmann - Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Brazil call for proposals, the CV section of the WIS PI should correspond to the FAPESP instructions on CVs. Namely, the proposal should include a summary of the PIs’ CV and CVs of collaborating researchers from both sides (in English, following the guidelines at www.fapesp.br/en/6351)

Deadline to the Weizmann - Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Brazil call for proposals has been extended from the original 29 May to 12 June 2015 (to the RGP).

The new Research Grants and Projects (RGP) website has been operating now for over one year. During this time, we have received a number of comments, many positive and others providing constructive feedback for improvements.

The RGP has been working with the Information Services Division to correct any problems identified on the website, and to provide added functionality. We hope to be able to complete this upgrade by Autumn 2015.

In view of this, and as requested previously, we welcome any additional comments/suggestions users of the site may have which would help us focus our efforts as best possible.

Please send feedback regarding the new website to Dr. Danna Piroyansky (danna.piroyansky@weizmann.ac.il).

Deadline to the Adelis Foundation call for proposals has been extended from the original 14 May to 7 June 2015.

Deadline to the US DOD DARPA call Technologies for Host Resilience (THoR) (DARPA-BAA-15-21) has been extended from the original 5 May (RGP) and 19 May (Agency) to 26 May (RGP) and 9 June (Agency).

Deadline to the WIS - Clore-Krenter-Katz call for proposals has been extended from the original 30 April to 17 May 2015 (to the RGP).

Prior to publication of a call for proposals in Synthetic Biology, IMOH has announced a RFI for relevant themes. These should be emailed to Ronit.Meyuhas@moh.health.gov.il by 20 May 2015.

Amended instructions for reporting publications in the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) are available here.

In order to find reviewers as part of IMOA Chief Scientist Call, researchers intending to submit an application for a Meyzam (project) are invited to email DalitY@moag.gov.il at IMOA with the following information: 1) Names of PI and other researchers, 2) Name of the Meyzam, 3) Preferred evaluation committee, 4) Abstract (if available). This information should reach IMOA preferably by 22 April 2015.

Pre-proposals deadline to the BSF Transformative Program has been extended from the original 9 April (RGP) and 16 April (Agency) to 15 April (RGP) and 20 April 2015 (Agency).

Deadline to the Rising Tide call for applications in cancer research has been extended from the original 1 April to 1 May 2015 (to the RGP).

The Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (released 31 March 2015) includes changes in statutes, regulations, and policies that have been implemented since the previous version, including the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for HHS Awards.

Deadline to the John Templeton Foundation Research Grants has been extended from the original 25 March (RGP) and 1 April 2015 (Agency) to 8 April (RGP) and 15 April 2015 (Agency).

During the Passover holiday the RGP will be providing essential services only.

The RGP office will be open until 12:30 PM on the following dates:

* Sunday - Wednesday, 5-8 April 2015

The RGP office will be open until 11:30 AM on the following date:

* Thursday, 9 April 2015

If any signatures or assistance from the RGP office are required during this period, please be aware that signatures could not be provided and make sure to contact us by the middle of next week (31 March 2015).

Please note that the Projects Branch in the Finance Division will be closed throughout Passover, and that researchers will not be able to have their budgets approved during that time.

The NIH expects Investigators preparing grant applications involving the generation or use of large-scale genomic data to:

• State in the cover letter that the studies proposed will generate large-scale human and/or non-human genomic data, and include a genomic data sharing plan in the application;
• Briefly address their plans for requesting access to the data, and state their intention to abide by the NIH Genomic Data User Code of Conduct in the Research Plan of the application, in the event applicants plan to use controlled-access human genomic data from NIH-designated data repositories as a secondary user to achieve the specific aims in the application;
• Make every effort to include a genomic data sharing plan in the application that outlines plans to comply with the expectations outlined in the Policy, and
• Plan to transition to a consent for future research uses and broad sharing, if possible, if the studies involve human participants and were initiated before the Policy's effective date and used consents that do not meet the expectations of the GDS Policy, in the event that the applications involve research funded prior to the Policy's effective date.

Deadline for the US DOD - DARPA call for Innovative Systems for Military Missions (DARPA-BAA-14-25) has been extended to 16 April (RGP) and 24 April 2015 (Agency) for Executive Summaries and for White Papers (which are strongly encouraged but not mandatory). Full proposal deadline has remained 24 April 2015 (Agency)

Deadline to the ISF - India call for proposals has been extended from the original 16 March (RGP) and 24 March (Agency) to 2 April (RGP) and 14 April 2015 (Agency).

The UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), in which Israel is a member, enables Israeli researches to apply for appointment as committees members via a call for participation. Submission is via an online form with a 31 March 2015 deadline, and candidates are asked to cc Rina Stitcher from the Ministry of the Environment to the application. Note that for time being neither the IPBES nor the Ministry of the Environment are offering funding for this activity. For further queries please contact Ayelet Rozen at the Ministry of the Environment. 

After 17 years of dedicated service at the RGP, Drora Kaplan has chosen to assume new responsibilities within the department of Organic Chemistry. Over the course of her duties at RGP, Drora has handled a way array of functions, ending as the officer in charge of Israeli agencies, among other things. We would like to thank Drora for her contribution throughout the years, and wish her success in her new position.

Please note that Drora’s files will be redistributed among the existing team and hence please consult our website for more info http://wws.weizmann.ac.il/RGP/content/contact-information

We thank you for your patience during this period of transition.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on Writing a Successful ERC-Advanced (AdG) Proposal taking place at the Weizmann Institute on Wednesday 18 March, 2015 at 09:00-13:00.
The workshop will be given by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers who will provide an overview of the ERC-AdG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal.
Full details of the day’s agenda and registration (required by tomorrow, Friday 13 March) can be viewed here.

Further to ISF clarification, researchers with active grants are eligible to apply to the ISF-INCPM call for proposals even if they currently are in the project's last year (excluding an extension year)

The Submission Service for the ERC Advanced 2015 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Accordingly, application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

Deadline to the BSF-NSF Marine Oceanography call for proposals has been extended from the original 18 February (Agency) to 22 February 2015 (Agency).

PRACE Research Infrastructure (under FP7) provides a persistent world-class high performance computing service for scientists and researchers from academia and industry in Europe, with its 11th call submission deadline on 18 March 2015. Further information is available here.

Anyone considering submitting a pre-proposal for particular studies (Mechkarim Partaniym) to the IMOA - Chief Scientist Central Fund call for proposals is requested to first contact Dr. Doron Amit, Head of the RGP, for further information and clarifications.

The Israel-EU Research and Development Directorate (ISERD), in collaboration with the UK Embassy and the UK-Israel Tech Hub, is organizing an brokerage event in the field of Neuroscience. The event will be held on 10 March 2015. For further details and registration please see here.

NIH Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration will be taking place in Baltimore, Maryland, on 6-8 May 2015. Sessions are offered in three tracks: administrators, investigators, and all interests. Further information is available here.

NIH has published an Insider’s Guide to Peer Review for Applicants.

Deadline for the IMOA Cotton Research Call has been extended from the original 29 January (RGP) and 5 February (Agency) to 3 February (RGP) and 8 February 2015 at 10:00 (Agency).

Pre-proposal submission deadline for the BSF-NSF Program in Environmental Biology has been extended from the original 20 January 2015 to 27 January 2015 (to Agency).

Application and award summary data for fiscal year 2014 are now available in the NIH Data Book.

Submission deadline for the Weizmann - Pasteur Joint Research Program is on 20 January 2015.

In an attempt to assist researchers in locating partners for collaborative H2020 projects, the RGP is interested in establishing a database of scientific European societies (non-profit) that specialize in the detection of calls for proposals, partners searches, and consortia building.

An example of such a society is the EIBIR (European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research, which is linked to the ERS, the European Radiology Society), that offers its members professional guidance and support with collaborative projects (http://www.eibir.org/services/). More detailed information on the EIBIR project related services can been found here: http://www.eibir.org/services/project-related-services/.

In order to identify similar scientific societies and create a database that will be relevant to your scientific areas of interest, we would highly appreciate it if researchers who are familiar with such societies share this information with the RGP (doron.amit@weizmann.ac.il). The end result will be the establishment of a shared WIS database that enables and encourages researchers to participate in H2020 collaborative projects.

Deadline for new application to NIPI has been extended from the original 24 December (RGP) and 31 December 2014 (Agency) to 7 January (RGP) and 11 January 2015 (Agency).

NOTE: This program will potentially support PhD students in your laboratory. The project is not intended for all PhD students. An a priori consent is required for such an appointment and a condition for such consent is that the students be identified as being exceptional by the FGS Dean. Please contact Prof. Irit Sagi for queries regarding the academic qualifications and standing of prospective students. 

H2020 MSCA Innovative Training Networks (ITN) 2015 call update: the submission service for this call is available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. This grant provides support for doctoral training programmes for early-stage researchers (ESRs) under the supervision of scientists from academic and non- academic host institutions participating in a consortium. The participation of Weizmann scientists in ITN will be endorsed by Weizmann for the European Training Networks (ETN) mode only (the EID and EJD modes will not be endorsed).

Please note that for the ITN 2015 call, ESRs to be recruited under an ITN-ETN project are to be enrolled in the PhD track at the Feinberg Graduate School (as opposed to the ITN 2014 call in which the recruitment of Postdocs/Visiting Scientists was possible). Therefore, the recruitment of proposed excellent young researchers in the framework of this programme must receive a priori consent of the FGS Dean. It is important to emphasize that the project is not intended for all PhD students and that only outstanding candidates will be approved.

Further information about this call can be found on the RGP website. For additional information, please contact the EU Desk.

A new NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy becomes effective with NIH grant applications submitted for the 25 January 2015 due date and thereafter.

Applicants preparing such grant applications are expected to:

• State in the cover letter that the studies proposed will generate large-scale human and/or non-human genomic data, and
• Include a genomic data sharing plan in the application. If sharing of human data is not possible, applicants should provide a justification explaining why they cannot share these data and provide an alternative data sharing plan.

For further information please contact Chaya Moykopf at the RGP.

NIH will require use of a new biosketch format in applications for research grants submitted for due dates on or after 25 January 2015. Between now and that time, applicants will have the choice of using the old or new biosketch format.

The revised forms and instructions are now available on the SF 424 (R&R) Forms and Applications page. The new format extends the page limit from four to five pages, and allows researchers to describe up to five of their most significant contributions to science, along with the historical background that framed their research. Investigators can outline the central findings of prior work and the influence of those findings on the investigator's field.

For further information please see the relevant NIH Notice.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Consolidator 2015 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to 2M Euro for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who received their PhDs 7-12 years prior to 1.1.2015 and may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

Deadline to the Weizmann-University of Michigan Collaboration Program has been extended from the original 1 November to 10 November 2014.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Starting 2015 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

This grant provides funding of up to Euro 1.5M for a period of 5 years and is designed to support researchers who are at the stage of starting their own independent research team or programme and received their PhDs 2-7 years prior to 1.1.2015. Note that the eligibility time-window may be extended in several cases. For additional information on the call’s eligibility criteria please contact the EU Desk.

Webinar on What You Need to Know About NIH Application Submission and Review for Research Project Grants (R01) is offered on 10 November 2014 by the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR). Potential applicants will be able to Meet the Experts in the NIH Webinar and receive useful insights into the submission and peer review processes. See here for more information.

The Chief Scientist at the Israel Ministry of Agriculture (IMOA) has requested that suggestions for potential calls for research centers will be submitted to IMOA Steering Committees chairs by 1 December 2014.

The ISF has updated that due to financial cuts throughout the higher education system, the Petroleum Alternatives for Transportation Program has now been CANCELLED. No applications to this program will be considered in 2014-2015.

IMOS (Ministry of Science) has requested to convey Online Submission Clarifications to all potential applicants.

Deadline for the Weizmann-EPFL Collaboration Program has been extended from the original 1 October to 7 October 2014.

The ISF has updated that due to financial cuts throughout the higher education system, the Translational Bio-Med Research Program has now been CANCELLED. No applications to this program will be considered in 2014-2015.

Starting on 15 September, Switzerland will enjoy the status of an AC in the following parts of Horizon 2020: Pillar 1 (containing ERC, FET, Research Infrastructures and MSCA), and in 'Spreading excellence and widening participation'. Note that this will apply to all calls with a deadline on or after 15 September 2014, and will be valid until end of December 2016. For all other parts of Horizon 2020, Switzerland will have the status of a developed third country.

Deadlines for the BSF-NSF Joint Program in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS) has been extended from the original 23 October (RGP), 30 October (Agency), and 28 October (NSF). The new submission deadlines are 12 November (RGP) and 19 November (Agency) 2014. The updated NSF deadline is 14 November 2014.

Deadline to the Modern Agriculture Foundation - In-Vitro Meat Feasibility Study call for proposals has been extended from the original 28 August (RGP) and 31 August (Agency) 2014 to 8 September (RGP) and 15 September (Agency) 2014.

New and updated forms (for 2014) are now available for the IMTI-KAMIN-Yeda call for proposals, under the Mode of Application section of the call.

The deadline for IMOH and D-Cure Diabetes Research Grants has been extended from the original 7 August (RGP) and 14 August (Agency) to 14 August (RGP) and 21 August (Agency) 2014 at 15:00.

Deadline to the IMOD (MAFAT) Cyber Technologies Division Calls for Proposals has been extended from the original 24 July (RGP) and 31 July (Agency) 2014 to 4 September (RGP) and 11 September (Agency) 2014.

Deadline for the IMOA - Depletion of Soil and Drainage - Excellence Center (Merkaz Metsuyanut) has been extended from the original 6 August (RGP) and 13 August (Agency) to 20 August (RGP) and 27 August (Agency) 2014.

BSF representatives will arrive at the Weizmann Institute to meet researchers in relation with BSF and BSF-NSF programmes.

The meeting will take place on Sunday,20 July 2014, between 09:00 and 11:00, at the David Lopatie Conference Centre, Presidential Reception Room, and will include presentations to all researchers (about 1.5 hours) and to neurobiology researchers (about 0.5 hours).

Researchers interested in attending the meeting are requested to contact Cochi Cohen (cocava.cohen@weizmann.ac.il) at their earliest convenience.

Due to the current situation in Israel, the ERC-Advanced workshop which was scheduled for Wednesday, 16 July, 2014 between 09:00-13:00 has been cancelled. All optional individual advisory sessions scheduled for the 16-17 July have also been cancelled. Further notification will be circulated should the lecturer reschedule her visit to Israel.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a workshop on Writing a Successful ERC-Advanced (AdG) Proposal that will be held at the Weizmann Institute on Wednesday, 16 July, 2014 at 09:00-13:00.

The workshop, by European consultant Ms. Lotte Jaspers, will provide an overview of the ERC-AdG under H2020 and of the proposal structure with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal. Full details of the agenda and registration (required by Sunday, 13 July) can be viewed here.

Due to a departmental outing, the RGP and AAO Offices will be closed on Monday, 7 July 2014.

If any signatures or other assistance from the RGP or AAO are required on this day, please make sure to take this into consideration and contact us before or after the aforementioned times.

Short one-on-one advisory sessions (~45 min.) with Ms. Jaspers are offered to ERC-AdG applicants and will be held at the Weizmann Institute on the afternoon of Wednesday, 16 July.

During these sessions, prior to which researchers will be asked to provide a short outline of the challenge they aim to address and chosen panel, the consultant will provide feedback and further information on the chosen panel, ideas for structuring the project and how elements as groundbreaking nature, ambition and feasibility could be best addressed within the proposal.

Additional details and registration (required by Sunday, 6 July) can be viewed here. Please kindly take note that as the number of sessions is limited, they will be confirmed to researchers in order of registration. Should there be high demand, additional slots may also be made available on Thursday, 17 July.
Scientists are not required to pay for these sessions and are under no obligation to later engage the consultancy services of Yellow Research.

The deadline for the Minerva German Research Group Visit or Workshop at the Weizmann Institute has been extended from the original 1 July to 15 July 2014.

Further to information received from the BSF please note that the next submission deadline for the  BSF Regular Grants will be 13 November 2014 (the website will be open for submissions from 1 September). The next submission deadline for the joint BSF-NSF Computational Neuroscience Grants will be 28 October 2014 (submission to the NSF). Further information will be announced as soon as it becomes available.

Deadline to the VATAT Infrastructure in Academia Roadmap has been extended from the original 8 July (RGP) and 15 July (Agency) 2014 to 18 September (RGP) and 1 October (Agency) 2014.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Advanced 2014 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Accordingly, application guidelines and proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

Further to IMOS clarification, please note that Israeli PIs applying to the Britain - Israel Cooperation - Cyber Security call for proposals must provide their UK collaborators submitting the proposal with a completed form which clearly identifies the total costs sought from INCB/MOST for the components of the project which will be carried out in Israel.

Deadline for the Pazi Foundation Young Researcher Absorption Call for Proposals has been extended from the original 24 June (RGP) and 1 July (Agency) to 24 July (RGP) and 1 August 2014 (Agency).

Horizon 2020 ERC-AdG training workshop
Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a Horizon 2020 ERC-AdG training workshop with European consultant, Ms. Lotte Jaspers The workshop will comprise an overview of the ERC-AdG under H2020 and of the proposal structure, with a focus on how to address the evaluation criteria and maximize the impact of the proposal.
About the consultant: Lotte Jaspers, a partner at Yellow Research, a European consultancy company, has extensive experience in running EU workshops, in the pre-submission proposal review of EU projects and has served as an invited expert evaluator for the European Commission.
When and where: The workshop will be held at the Weizmann Institute on Wednesday 16 July, 2014 between 09:00 13:00.
Registration: Researchers who wish to attend the ERC-AdG Workshop, are requested to register at their earliest convenience to allow us to prepare accordingly.

Optional individual training sessions
We are checking the option of offering potential ERC-AdG applicants short one-on-one advisory sessions with Ms. Jaspers. During these sessions, in which researchers will be asked to provide a short outline of the challenge they aim to address and chosen panel, the consultant will provide feedback and further information on the chosen panel, ideas for structuring the project and how elements as groundbreaking nature, ambition and feasibility could be best addressed within the proposal.
When and where: The sessions will be held at the Weizmann Institute on Wednesday 16 July afternoon and/or Thursday 17 July, 2014.
Registration: If you are interested in a short one-on-one advisory session, please kindly register at your earliest convenience by Sunday 22 June 2014.

Please note that due to a limited number of sessions that will be available, in case of high demand, the sessions will be confirmed to researchers in the order of registration. Further details of both the workshop and the one-on-one sessions will be published soon.

The deadline for the IMOS France-Israel Cooperation (Maimonide) call for proposals has been extended from the original 29 May (RGP) and 10 June (Agency) to 16 June (RGP) and 19 June (Agency) 2014.

Deadline for the IMOS France - Israel Cooperation - PICS (Projets Internationaux de Cooperation Scientifique) program has been extended from the original 22 May (RGP) and 29 May (Agency) to 16 June (RGP) and 19 June (Agency) 2014.

The BSF in collaboration with the NSF has provided an update regarding the various BSF-NSF programs in 2014. For further information please see the following message from the BSF.

The deadline for the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority joint call has been extended to 26 May (RGP) and 3 June (Agency) 2014.

Please note that the deadline to IMOD 2014 call for proposals was extended from the original 8 May (RGP) and 16 May (Agency) to 23 June (RGP) and 30 June 2014 (Agency).

The new Research Grants and Projects (RGP) website has been operating now for over 3 months. While we believe the new website to represent a significant improvement in user-friendliness and responsiveness to researchers needs, we ask you to help us improve the new site further by reporting any problems you may have encountered. Please send such reports, as well as any feedback you feel is relevant regarding the new website, to Dr. Igal Nevo (igal.nevo@weizmann.ac.il) by 1 June 2014 at the latest.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend a short presentation and learn about a new funding initiative: Healthy Living and Active Ageing - a 500 million Euro consortium in areas of vaccine and personalized medicine.

The presentation Concept for a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) in Healthy Living and Active Ageing, by Mr. Holm Keller, Executive Vice President for University Development and Incubator, Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Germany, will take place on Wednesday, 28 May 2014 at 10:15-11:15 A.M. at the Zacks Hall (Mezzanine level, Stone Administration Building).

Background:
The KIC, led by the Leuphana Healthy Ageing Net, has been formed in anticipation of the call by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), published in February 2014, to address a fundamental aspect of demographic change: Healthy Living and Active Ageing, and has been joined by the Weizmann Institute, thus enabling Weizmann researchers to participate.

Five industries have been identified as having the potential to address the challenges identified by the EIT and will serve as the focus areas of this consortium:

• Immunization for Adults
• Value-Based Healthcare
• Personalized Medicine
• Predictive Medicine
• Independence and Scalable Care Solutions

For an overview and further details about the project and the topics concerned please visit the website: http://healthy-ageing.leuphana.com.

In order to make the appropriate arrangements, researchers interested in attending are kindly requested to RSVP via email to the EU Desk by Sunday, 25 May 2014.

The AFM-Telethon call for proposals deadline for both Research Projects and Trampoline Grants has been extended from the original 22 May (RGP) and 30 May (Agency) to 26 May (RGP) and 2 June 2014 (Agency).

The deadline for the IMOs-Italy call for proposals has been extended from the original 8 May (RGP) and 15 May (Agency) to 25 May (RGP) and 5 June (Agency) 2014. Please note that IMOS has clarified that Israeli PIs may submit more extended proposals than their Italian collaborators (up to 8 pages). In addition, the form has been revised to include also an abstract.

The Israel-EU Research and Development Directorate (ISERD), in collaboration with the UK Embassy and the UK-Israel Tech Hub, is organizing an brokerage event in the field of Nano-Bio and Neuroscience, with the aim of identifying potential UK-Israel collaborations towards H2020 calls (in 2015) in the Health and NMPB challenges. The event will be held on 30 June 2014. For further details and registration please see here.

The form for the IMOS-France call for proposals has been revised. The revised form is available under the Mode of Application section of the call.

Ehud Galun, Head of Materials Department at MAFAT as well as additional MAFAT representatives will arrive at the Weizmann Institute to meet researchers in relation with IMOD 2014 call for proposals. The meeting is intended to provide further information and expand on the new MAFAT call recently issued, to meet current awardees and potential applicants, and to initiate a fruitful and personal dialogue between MAFAT personnel and WIS researchers.

The meeting will take place on Thursday, 22 May 2014 at 09:00, at the Zacks Hall and will include:

• MAFAT presentations (1.5 hours)
• Q and A session (0.5 hour)
• One on one meetings with researchers (1 hour)

Researchers interested in attending the presentation and/or scheduling a one on one meeting are requested to contact Drora Kaplan (drora.kaplan@weizmann.ac.il, Tel.: 4027) by Sunday, 18 May 2014.

The deadline for the TELEM-VATAT Neuroscience Research - Support for Equipment Purchase call has been extended from 6 March (RGP) and 13 March (TELEM-VATAT) to 21 May (RGP) and 1 June 2014 (Agency).

Researchers wishing to submit applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 5 June 2014 deadline are requested to note that due to Shavuot holiday (during which the RGP offices will be closed), applications will need to be submitted by 1 June 2014. For this reason, potential applicants should provide the RGP with the complete application no later than 18 May 2014, in order to make it in time for the 5 June deadline.

Deadline for the IMOA Collaboration with China call has been extended from 23 April (RGP) and 30 April (Agency) to 15 May (RGP) and 22 May (Agency) 2014. In addition, IMOA has clarified that there is now no obligation for the Israeli PI to sign any Chinese letter of commitment.

Deadline for the Weizmann Staff-Scientists internal grant has been extended from the original 15 April to 16 April 2014.

The information on the estimated evaluation timeframes for the 2014 ERC Starting (StG), Consolidator (CoG) and Proof of Concept (PoC) calls are available on the RGP ERC calls and Deadlines tab, at the table under the Evaluation Timeframe column.

The European Commission has recently published a Self-evaluation form for FET Open Research Projects (FETOPEN 1) and FET Proactive calls. The form reflects the FET-specific evaluation criteria and aims to help applicants identify ways to improve their proposals. The form is available on the RGP FET webpage , under the CALLS FOR THIS ACTIVITY section, below the calls table.

The ERC has announced an extension to the deadline for the 2014 Starting Grant call due to technical problems on the Participant Portal on Tuesday 25 March. The new deadline is now Thursday 27 March 2014, at 17:00 Brussels time.

The BSF in collaboration with the NSF is expected to publish a call for proposals in the field of neuroscience, presumably in the coming week. US pre-proposals deadline is 1 May 2014. For further information at this stage please see the following message from the BSF.  

Deadline for the EU H2020-FETFLAG-2014 call (included in the H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme) was extended from the original 10 April to 2 June 2014 (RGP) and 10 June 2014 (Agency).

EU - Horizon 2020 update: the Submission Service for the ERC Consolidator 2014 Call is now available on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal. Accordingly, proposal form templates are accessible on the RGP website.

Dear ERC grant holder,

Further to the notification sent to you as an ERC grantee who is eligible to submit a Proof of Concept (PoC) proposal, we would like to remind you of the visit at Weizmann of Ms. Veronica Beneitez Pinero (PoC Call Coordinator) and Mr. Janne Salo (Scientific Officer) from the ERC Executive Agency located in Brussels who will be giving a short presentation (~1hr) on the ERC PoC funding scheme under the H2020 program (Euro 150,000 for up to 18 months).

The presentation Writing an ERC-PoC Proposal for ERC Grant Holders will take place on Tuesday, 4 March 2014 at 09:00 - 10:00 AM at the Presidential Reception Room at the David Lopatie Conference Centre.

If you intend on submitting an ERC-PoC proposal, we highly encourage you to attend. Please notify the EU Desk at your earliest and by Friday, 28 February, if you wish to attend and have not yet registered.

Further information on the ERC PoC scheme and deadlines can be found at the RGP ERC page below and in the attached ERC work program (pages 34-40): https://www.weizmann.ac.il/RGP/content/eu-horizon-2020-ideas-program-erc

Deadline extended for the TELEM - VATAT Neuroscience Research - Support for Equipment Purchase call for proposals - to 6 March (RGP) and 13 March (TELEM-VATAT) 2014.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: additional information for the ERC Proof of Concept call is now available on the RGP website including application guidelines and proposal form templates

The Israel-EU R&D Directorate (ISERD) is organizing an info session on the Horizon 2020 Space and Security calls, to be held on 24 February 2014. For further details and registration please see here.

The deadline for the Ministry of Science (IMOS) - Tashtiot Space Research call for proposals HAS BEEN EXTENDED from the original 10 February (RGP) and 17 February (IMOS) to 24 February (RGP) and 3 March (IMOS) 2014.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: additional information for the ERC Starting and Consolidator 2014 calls is now available on the RGP website including application guidelines and proposal form templates (for the ERC Starting Call only).

The Pasteur - Weizmann Joint Research Program deadline has been extended from 31 January to 23 February 2014 - to the RGP.

The Research Grants and Projects (RGP) Office is pleased to announce the launch of our new website.

Emphasis has been placed on providing a comprehensive and effective search utility for potential funding opportunities to support your research.

While we believe the new website to represent a significant improvement in user-friendliness and responsiveness to researchers’ needs, we ask you to help us improve the new site further by reporting any problems you may encounter. Please send such reports, as well as any feedback you feel is relevant regarding the new website, to Dr. Igal Nevo (igal.nevo@weizmann.ac.il).

Please be reminded that the deadline for the Pasteur - Weizmann Joint Research Program is approaching, on 31 January 2014.

The Israel-EU R&D Directorate (ISERD) is organizing a launch event for the EU Horizon 2020 programme, to be held on 3 February 2014. For further details and registration please see here.

UKRO, a leading UK-based information and advice service on EU research and higher education (to which the Weizmann Institute is subscribed), offers a Targeted Information Service to its subscribers. All researchers from the Weizmann Institute are eligible to register for this service, which allows users to:

• receive e-mail information packages tailored to their specific research and policy interests at a frequency of their choice;
• view their chosen information on a tailored personal news page on the UKRO web site;
• bookmark articles of specific interest for easy access at all times via the personal news page; and
• search for specific funding and policy information.

The registration process is completely straightforward and is achieved by completing a simple online form available on the UKRO website (select the link "Create Profile" from the main page). The registration process takes only a couple of minutes to complete.

More information on the Targeted Information Service is available in the User Guide available on the UKRO site.

Weizmann researchers are invited to attend Horizon 2020 workshops by European consultant, Ms. Lotte Jasper. The workshops on Writing Successful Proposals for ERC and Collaborative Projects will be held at Weizmann on Tuesday, 21 January 2014. Full details of the workshops’ agenda and registration can be viewed here.

Presentations are available for the H2020 infoday @ Weizmann by ISERD (which took place on 12 January 2014):

• H2020 General
• Health, Food, Environment and Energy
• ERC and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
• Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology (NMPB)
• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Deadline for the Yeda-Sela Center for basic research grants was extended to 20 January 2014 - to the RGP.

EU Horizon 2020 Info-day at the Weizmann Institute - 12 January at the Schmidt Lecture Hall

EU - Horizon 2020 update: ICT (Information Communication and Technologies) calls full information is now available on the RGP website.

EU - Horizon 2020 update: Health, demographic changes and wellbeing calls full information is now available on the RGP website.

In collaboration with ISERD the Weizmann Institute is organising an EU HORIZON 2020 PROGRAMME INFO-DAY FOR RESEARCHERS AND DEPARTMENTAL ADMINISTRATORS to take place on 12 January 2014 between 9:00 AM and 15:30 PM at the Schmidt Lecture Hall. For further details and the day's agenda see here. For registration please contact the RGP office EU desk by Wednesday, 8 January 2014

Further to a visit to the Weizmann Institute in November 2007 by Dr. Antonio Scarpa, Director of the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR), we learned a number of relevant and very interesting points:

• The Israeli success rate in NIH grant applications is 30%, as compared to under 10% for US applicants!
• Israel is in 7th place worldwide among non-US recipients of NIH grants, and Dr. Scarpa clearly stated that there is room for improvement (i.e. he is encouraging more submissions from Israel)
• In terms of review, contrary to common misconceptions, there is no bias against foreign applications! (as can be witnessed from the high success rate of Israeli applicants)
• 25% of grants allocated by the NIH are reserved for "new/young investigators" (Note: a "New investigator" is defined as a researcher, including senior/advanced researchers, who has never had an NIH grant). Thus, anyone who has not yet had an NIH grant is strongly encouraged to apply!
• It is NOT necessary, or even helpful, to include a US investigator as a co-PI on an application, unless of course it is warranted on a scientific basis
• The NIH is willing to accept Israeli reviewers to serve in CSR Study Sections (this can on occasion be done remotely, so you will not necessarily be required to travel to the US), and Dr. Scarpa has generously agreed to receive a list of such potential reviewers from the Weizmann Institute. This is a unique opportunity of which the RGP strongly recommends that Weizmann Institute researchers take advantage! The RGP will periodically forward the details of those Weizmann Institute researchers who express such an interest to the CSR. The information we need to receive is as follows:
  • Name
  • Degree(s)
  • E-mail address
  • Web address
  • Area of Expertise: key words (please limit to 10)
  • Study Section or IRG, if known (see the Center for Scientific Review's Study Section Roster and/or Review Group Description)
  • Recent funding sources