BSF Climate Solutions: Submission

Eligibility

• The PIs must have obtained a PhD, an MD, or an equivalent degree.
• The PIs must be faculty members or equivalent.
• BSF only funds scientists from institutions of higher learning, government research institutions, hospitals and other non-profit research organizations.
• Applications by for-profit organizations are not allowed, but a scientist who is affiliated with such an organization may be an applicant on a BSF proposal, if the organization is committed to funding the PI’s part in the research.
• It is allowed to hold simultaneously a regular BSF grant or an NSF-BSF grant, as well as a grant from this program. Therefore, an investigator may submit in the same year both an application to any of these grant programs, as well as a Climate Solutions application. However, BSF will not award two grants to research programs that have significant overlap in their objective and research plan.
• U.S. government scientists who seek funding from the BSF must consult the BSF office before committing to the research program, as U.S. government institutions often refuse to sign the standard BSF contract.

Collaborative Research

Applications must involve active collaboration between scientists of both countries. Therefore, prior to submission of applications, prospective applicants must complete the collaborative arrangements necessary for the submission of a joint proposal.
Research collaboration between Israeli and American scientists is seen by the BSF as a fundamental requirement. A joint research program must be presented in the form of a single, coordinated application, in which the roles and tasks of the respective partners are clearly defined. Each application should have at least two, and no more than six. principal investigators.
Collaboration should involve joint planning of research and evaluation of results, and may take the form of:

• Joint research activities where interdependent projects of a single program are conducted in different laboratories and may involve shared funding or complimentary sources of funding.
• Provision of research facilities, materials, equipment and/or services to cooperating scientists.
• Exchange of personnel.

Although not mandatory, the BSF expects that if the research leads to publications, they will be authored jointly by the Israeli and American PIs, expressing the collaborative nature of the work.

The BSF also expects that the PIs from both countries will jointly develop the application, particularly the research plan. When it is apparent that this was not the case, it is considered to indicate a lack of collaboration and it lowers the chances of the application to be funded.

Financial Terms

• Maximum grant request for a BSF research grant is $600,000 over four years. A shorter period will not necessarily increase the size of the annual allocation.
• Financial support can be provided to either the Israeli or U.S. PI, or to both. Budget distribution typically reflects the division of research tasks. Generally, the BSF respects the budget distribution requested by the PIs.
• The award amount is determined by factors such as research period, nature of the research (theoretical or experimental), and the number of PIs requesting Maximum grants will be made out to experimental projects, in which the U.S. and Israeli scientists both request funding.
• BSF allows only 15% institutional overhead over total direct costs, irrespective of whether grantees are affiliated with an Israeli or US institution.

BSF does not allow any salary payment to a PI, including summer salary

Submission Information

• (Pre)proposals to the BSF Climate Solutions program should be submitted via the BSF online system, ahead of the deadline specified in the current program announcement.
• Proposals that do not adhere to BSF requirements for page format, number of pages, supporting documents etc. will not be accepted.
• No changes to the proposal can be accepted after the deadline.
• All PIs requesting financial support must do so with on-line approval of their institutional Research Authority (full proposals only).
• Proposals not meeting BSF regulatory requirements will not be accepted.
• There is no need for providing hard copies of applications.

Please note that the online submission forms of this program are the same as for the regular BSF research grants. Therefore, some sections and their corresponding forms are different or not relevant for this program. Please make sure to carefully read the Regulations of this program that clarify the instructions for submission.