2024 National Natural Science Foundation of China and National Science Foundation of the United States Biodiversity Collaborative Research and Exchange Project Guide
According to the bilateral cooperation agreement between the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States, and the consensus reached with the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) of Brazil and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, the parties will continue to solicit and fund cooperative research and exchange projects in the field of “Biodiversity of a Changing Planet (BoCP)” in 2024. This project aims to deepen bilateral cooperation between China and the United States in the field of biodiversity, and encourage Chinese scientists to carry out multilateral cooperation such as China-US-Brazil, China-US-South Africa, and China-US-Brazil-South Africa.
1. Project Description
This project includes international (regional) cooperative research projects among organizations (referred to as cooperative research projects) and international (regional) cooperative exchange projects (referred to as cooperative exchange projects).
1. Collaborative research projects.
1. Funding areas
The “Biodiversity for a Changing Planet” project builds on the “Multidimensional Biodiversity” and “Intersection of Ecology and Evolution” projects, but focuses on the functional and dynamic dimensions of biodiversity in the context of a changing planet. Please see Annex 1 for a description of the specific funding areas.
Project proposals must be guided by key scientific issues and clarify the deficiencies in theories, methods, basic conditions and data of existing scientific research on the dynamic changes of biodiversity, functional diversity, and their interactions with climate and the Earth system. This project encourages research teams to include multidisciplinary experts in evolutionary biology, ecology, paleontology, organismal biology, systems science, biogeography, marine science, geobiology, geology and climatology to clarify complex biodiversity issues in the context of a dynamic Earth system.
The US project guidelines are available at:
https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/biodiversity-changing-planet-bocp/nsf24-574/solicitation.
2. Application code
Chinese applicants should select the Life Science Department code (C03) or the Earth Science Department code (D01, D02, D05, D06) as the application code 1 according to the research content and fill in the Chinese application form.
3. Funding scale
The funding scale is about 3 projects.
4. Funding intensity
The Chinese side’s funding intensity for approved projects is no more than 4.5 million yuan in direct funds, including research funds and international travel expenses (economy class air tickets) for Chinese researchers to carry out exchange activities, living expenses abroad and other expenses closely related to exchange activities. The US side’s funding intensity is no more than 2.5 million US dollars per project, including research funds and international travel expenses for US researchers to carry out exchange activities, living expenses abroad and other expenses closely related to exchange activities.
5. Application requirements
(1) The funding period must be 5 years.
The research period in the application should be May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2030.
(2) The number of domestic cooperative research units shall not exceed 2.
(3) Applicants must submit their project applications to the scientific funding agencies in their respective countries (i.e. NSFC, NSF, FAPESP, NRF).
(4) Project applications should reflect strong alliances and complementary advantages.
2. Cooperation and exchange projects.
1. Funding areas
This collaborative exchange program aims to promote the establishment of new research teams by researchers in participating countries of the “Biodiversity on a Changing Planet” project. Given the complexity of such collaborations, the project encourages people without previous collaborations to form teams with innovative research and technical approaches, aiming to prepare for research on key but unverified, novel or high-risk characterization predictions in the complex biodiversity functions and dynamic change dimensions in the context of a changing planet. Applications based on existing collaborative teams will not be funded. Please see Annex 1 for a description of specific funding areas.
The US project guidelines are available at:
https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/biodiversity-changing-planet-bocp/nsf24-574/solicitation.
2. Application code
Chinese applicants should select the Life Science Department code (C03) or the Earth Science Department code (D01, D02, D05, D06) as the application code 1 according to the research content and fill in the Chinese application form.
3. Funding intensity
The Chinese side’s funding intensity for approved projects is no more than 1 million yuan in direct funds, including international travel expenses (economy class air tickets), overseas living expenses and other expenses closely related to exchange activities for Chinese researchers. The US side’s funding intensity is no more than 500,000 US dollars per project, including international travel expenses, overseas living expenses and other expenses closely related to exchange activities for US researchers.
4. Application requirements
(1) The funding period must be 3 years. The research period in the application should be May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2028.
(2) Applicants must submit their project applications to the scientific funding agencies in their respective countries (i.e. NSFC, NSF, FAPESP, NRF).
II. Application Requirements
1. Applicants for collaborative research projects shall meet the following conditions.
1. Possess a senior professional and technical position (title).
2. As a project leader, you are currently undertaking or have undertaken a National Natural Science Foundation project of 3 years or longer.
3. Have a good cooperation foundation with foreign (regional) partners.
4. For detailed information on application qualifications, please refer to the 2024 National Natural Science Foundation Project Guide.
2. Applicants for cooperative exchange projects shall meet the following conditions.
1. The project leader who is currently undertaking a National Natural Science Foundation project of 3 years or longer.
2. Participants who are currently undertaking a National Natural Science Foundation project of three years or longer and have a senior professional technical position (title) or a doctoral degree, or are recommended by two scientific and technical personnel with senior professional technical positions (titles) in the same research field, and must be approved by the person in charge of the fund-funded project.
3. Chinese and foreign applicants should establish a new cooperative relationship to lay the foundation for subsequent substantive cooperative research.
- For detailed information on application qualifications, please refer to the 2024 National Natural Science Foundation Project Guide.
III. Item-limited application regulations
1. Collaborative research projects.
The National Natural Science Foundation International (Regional) Cooperation Research Project includes inter-organizational international (regional) cooperation research projects and key international (regional) cooperation research projects. This cooperation research project belongs to inter-organizational cooperation research projects. Applicants must comply with the following restrictions when applying:
1. Applicants (excluding main participants) can only apply for one international (regional) cooperative research project in the same year.
2. The person in charge of an international (regional) cooperative research project shall not apply as an applicant for the cooperative research projects listed in this guide.
3. If you apply for and undertake the cooperative research projects listed in the guidelines as an applicant and as a person in charge, the total number of projects applied for and undertaken by personnel with senior professional and technical positions (titles) is limited to 2 (there is no limit for being a major participant).
4. Other restrictions on the number of applications in the 2024 National Natural Science Foundation Project Guide.
(2) Cooperation and exchange projects.
1. Applicants for cooperative exchange programs are not subject to the restriction that “applicants can only apply for one program of the same type in the same year”.
2. The total number of international (regional) cooperation and exchange projects under the same inter-organizational agreement framework that you are applying for as an applicant and undertaking as a project leader is limited to one.
3. Applications for the cooperation and exchange projects listed in this guide are not subject to any restrictions on the total number of projects that can be applied for and undertaken.
- Other restrictions on the number of applications in the 2024 National Natural Science Foundation Project Guide.
IV. Application Notes
1. Notes for applicants
The application form for cooperative research projects and cooperative exchange projects shall be filled out online. The specific requirements for applicants are as follows:
1. Before filling out the application form, applicants should carefully read the relevant contents of this project guide and the “2024 National Natural Science Foundation Project Guide”. Project applications that do not comply with the project guide and relevant requirements will not be accepted .
2. Chinese applicants must log in to the GRANTS Science Foundation Network Information System (http://grants.nsfc.gov.cn/) and write the “National Natural Science Foundation International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project Application” (hereinafter referred to as the “Chinese Application”) according to the writing outline and relevant requirements. The specific steps are:
(1) Select the “Project Leader” user group to log in to the system. After logging in, click “Apply Online” to enter the application interface. Click the “Add New Project Application” button to enter the interface for selecting the scientific department to which the application project belongs. Click “Apply for General Scientific Department Project” to enter the interface for selecting the project category.
(2) Click the + sign on the left side of “International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Projects” or the “Expand” button on the right side to expand the drop-down menu.
(3) Applicants for collaborative research projects should click “Fill in the application” on the right side of “Inter-organizational collaborative research (Inter-organizational collaborative agreement project)” to enter the “Collaboration agreement” selection interface. Select “NSFC-NSF (China-US)” from the drop-down menu and enter the approval number of the fund project to be supported as required by the system. After passing the qualification certification, you will enter the specific application form filling interface.
(4) Applicants for cooperative exchange projects should click “Fill in application” on the right side of “Cooperative exchange (Inter-organizational cooperative agreement project)” to enter the “Cooperative agreement” selection interface. Select “NSFC-NSF (China-US)” from the drop-down menu and enter the approval number of the fund project to be supported as required by the system. After passing the qualification certification, you will enter the specific application form filling interface.
3. Inter-organizational cooperative research projects and cooperative exchange projects are all funded by fixed-rate subsidies. Applicants should carefully read the budget preparation requirements in the application instructions of the “2024 National Natural Science Foundation Project Guide”, strictly follow the “National Natural Science Foundation Project Fund Management Measures (Caijiao [2021] No. 177)” and “National Natural Science Foundation Project Fund Budget Table Preparation Instructions”, and carefully and truthfully prepare the “National Natural Science Foundation Project Fund Budget Table”.
4. Application Materials Requirements
After the applicant completes the application, he/she shall submit the electronic application and attached materials online. There is no need to submit a paper application. After the project is approved, the paper signed and sealed page of the application shall be bound to the end of the Funding Project Plan and submitted together. The signature and sealed information shall be consistent with the electronic application.
Attached materials include:
(1) A copy of the full application submitted in English to NSF by the U.S. collaborator.
(2) Cooperation Agreement. The applicants of the cooperative research project must reach an agreement on the content of the cooperation and intellectual property rights, and sign a cooperation agreement (the sample agreement is attached in Appendix 2).
(3) Letter of Intent for Cooperation. Applicants for cooperative exchange projects must provide a letter of intent for cooperation signed by all foreign applicants.
5. The English name of the cooperative research project filled in the Chinese application form must be exactly the same as the English project name submitted by all collaborators. To facilitate identification by the project management department, applicants should use prefixes such as ” BoCP : US-China:”, “BoCP: US-China-Sao Paulo:”, “BoCP: US-China-South Africa:” or “BoCP: US-China-Sao Paulo-South Africa:” when filling in the Chinese project name of the cooperative research project or cooperative exchange project.
6. In the process of preparing application materials and implementing projects, if the research content involves issues of animal and plant resources, the project applicant or undertaker and the supporting unit must strictly abide by the relevant national regulations on the protection of animal and plant resources; if it involves issues of human genetic resources, they must strictly abide by the relevant provisions of the “Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Human Genetic Resources” (State Decree No. 717) and do a good job in the management of human genetic resources in my country in international cooperation.
(II) Matters needing attention by the supporting unit.
The supporting unit shall review the authenticity, completeness and compliance of the application materials submitted by the applicants of the unit, and the target relevance, policy compliance and economic rationality of the declared budget. This project is included in the scope of paperless application. Regarding the submission of the unit’s scientific research integrity commitment letter and project list, please refer to the ” Notice on the Application and Completion of the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2024″ for implementation .
3. Acceptance of project applications.
The deadline for online application is 16:00 on September 6, 2024 (Beijing time).
If you encounter any technical problems, please contact GRANTS System Technical Support (Information Center) at +86-10-62317474.
V. Project Contact Person
Chinese contact: Luo Jingyu
Tel: 010-62326479
Email: luojy@nsfc.gov.cn
US contact: Christopher Balakrishnan
Tel: +1 703 2922331
Email: biodiversity@nsf.gov