AUDACE «Quebec-Luxembourg» Program, fall 2020

1. CONTEXT

The evolution of scientific research leads to international and interdisciplinary/intersectoral collaborations (according to the FRQ concept). Convinced that an intersectoral approach will open up novel research perspectives, introduce groundbreaking conceptual frameworks, cast new light on complex phenomena and provide innovative solutions to multidimensional issues, the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) invite members of their scientific communities from all research sectors as defined by the FRQ (natural sciences and engineering, health sciences, humanities and social sciences, arts and letters) to address new research perspectives by viewing them through the prism of a truly joint, co-constructed, integrated approach.

To encourage scientific collaboration between Québec and Luxembourg, both funding agencies decided to propose a bilateral program to fund collaborative projects between the scientific community of each part. More precisely, the FRQ and FNR aim to promote projects with a high level of risk in offering favourable conditions to researchers from Québec and Luxembourg for initiating projects with a high level of risk and the potential for high impacts, be they scientific, social, economic, technological, cultural, aesthetic, etc.

In this perspective, FRQ and FNR launch a call for bilateral proposals aligned to the objectives of the FRQ AUDACE program which succeeded to fill-in-the-gap in its funding programs in promoting exploratory intersectoral/interdisciplinary initiatives with the potential to radically transform research and creation. FRQ will act as lead-agency in this call.

With the international “Québec-Luxembourg” AUDACE program, researchers from Québec and Luxembourg are invited to submit proposals which: 

• are in line with an interdisciplinary/intersectoral (as defined by the FRQ) approach engage in a joint, co-created “research approach” whose mode of operation lies outside of the hierarchization of fields of knowledge – in the sense that they involve collaboration between at least two researchers from Québec coming from two sectors covered by different FRQ (Nature et technologies, Santé, Société et culture) andat least one researcher from Luxembourg with a complementary expertise ;
• dare to break with established frameworks and patterns of thought ;
• are likely to produce radically innovative knowledge and have a high potential for impact.

2. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

2.1. General objective

The FRQ and FNR aim with this international “Québec-Luxembourg” AUDACE program to support bold research that offers a departure from traditional approaches. For the purposes of this program, “bold” refers to the ability of the researchers and their project to go beyond the existing paradigms of their respective scientific cultures and fields of research – theories, practices, hypotheses, methods, and even modes of thought. The FRQ and FNR also wish to encourage innovative research proposals with a high potential to transform and to produce considerable impacts, regardless of their nature (scientific, social, economic, technological, cultural, aesthetic…).

2.2. Specific objectives

More specifically, through this program, the FRQ and FNR aim to:

• Foster intersectoral/interdisciplinary networking between scientific communities from Québec and Luxembourg by funding bold research projects;
• Encourage intersectoral initiatives by supporting projects at the crossroads of disciplines, domains and sectors (as defined by the FRQ);
• Provide funding for projects considered risky because of their boldness and which, due to their intersectoral nature, do not fall within the scope of the regular funding programs offered by each of the three FRQ.

By “interdisciplinary/intersectoral networking”, the FRQ and FNR are referring to a research and collaboration approach to work on a research topic, problem, method or question which, in order to shed new light on common or shared research issues, brings together at least two researchers from Québec coming at least from two sectors covered by different FRQ (Nature et technologies, Santé, Société et culture) and at least one researchers from Luxembourg with a complementaly expertise. We are talking about going beyond the simple combination or juxtaposition of several disciplines, domains and sectors (or even the instrumentalization of one discipline, domain or sector by another) to resolve a problem or tackle a research topic. From an intersectoral perspective, disciplines, domains and sectors must firmly engage in a joint, co-created “research approach” whose mode of operation lies outside of the hierarchization of fields of knowledge.

2.3 Competition frequency

In order to promote scientific collaborations between Quebec and Luxembourg and to foster inter-disciplinary exchanges on high-risk projects with a potential for high impacts, the two funding agencies are committed to offer this bilateral call AUDACE for three annual calls, respectively in fall 2020, 2021 and 2022.

3. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

The research teams must be led by two project leaders also called principal investigators, one from Québec and the other from Luxembourg, to meet the requirement of imputability respectively to the FRQ and FNR.

The part of the team from Québec must also include a minimum of one co-researcher also called co-investigator in addition of the principal investigator, each coming from a sector covered by a different FRQ (FRQNT, FRQSC or FRQS). 

Then a research team must be composed of a minimum of three persons, that is to say two principal investigators AND one co-investigator from Québec.

3.1 Eligibility of the two project leaders

3.1.1. Eligibility of the principal investigator from Québec

The person responsible for the application must have one of the following statuses defined in the Common General Rules (CGR):

• university researcher ;
• clinical university researcher ;
• college researcher.

He/she must also meet all general eligibility requirements set out in the CGR.

A project leader who is a college researcher, with or without a PhD, must be employed full-time by a college recognized by the FRQ to manage funding or a college centre for technology transfer (CCTT). He/she may also hold a full-time or part-time position as a CCTT researcher.

Retired researchers may assume the role of principal investigator and hence lead the project, provided they can prove that they are still active in research (publications, grants, student supervision, etc.). A letter from the university with which the researcher is affiliated must be provided, clearly indicating that 1) before retirement, the researcher was a regular professor; 2) for the term of the grant, he/she will have access to the facilities and logistical support required to carry out research activities and 3) he/she will continue to train/supervise students, where applicable.

Researchers with the status of university researcher or clinical university researcher and who receive a salary as a contracted professor (non-tenure track position) in a university recognized by the FRQ to manage funding must attach, in the “Other documents” section of the letter of intent form and, where applicable, the application form, a document from their university certifying that they will retain this position throughout the duration of the grant.

3.1.2. Eligibility of the principal investigator from Luxembourg

In order to be eligible as principal investigator (PI), researchers must comply with the FNR requirements for principal investigators and supervisors http://bit.ly/PIandSupervision.

3.2 Team configuration

The team members from Québec must include a principal and a co-investigator and the team members from Luxembourg must include at least one principal investigator. In addition to these three members, the research team shall consist of an unlimited number of co-investigators from Québec or Luxembourg.

3.2.1. Eligibility of co-investigators from Québec

In order to be eligible, a project must be headed by a team of one principal investigator AND at least one co-investigator from Québec each must work in a sector covered by different FRQ (Nature et technologies, Santé, Société et culture) and have one of the following statuses as defined in the CGR :

• university researcher;
• clinical university researcher;
• college researcher.

Any additional co-investigator must have one of the following research statuses as defined in the CGR:

• status 1 : “university researcher” ;
• status 2 : “clinical university researcher” 
• status 3 : “college researcher” ;
• status 4 : “other research statuses” different from statuses related to status 1, 2 and 3 mentioned above :
  • researcher in a government institution recognized by the FRQ ;
  • government or private sector researcher ;
  • person from a practice setting ;
  • artist ;
  • individual participant.

Retired researchers and university and clinical university researchers who receive a salary as a contracted professor (non-tenure track position) in a university recognized by the FRQ to manage funding must provide a letter from their university as described in Section 3.1.1 confirming their eligibility. If a researcher’s status cannot be validated in the absence of documents required under the program rules, that researcher will be removed from the list of team members before the letter of intent is presented to the relevance committee.

3.2.2. Eligibility of co-investigators from Luxembourg

In order to be eligible as co-investigator also called co-PI by the FNR, researchers must comply with the FNR requirements for principal investigators and supervisors http://bit.ly/PIandSupervision.

3.3 Participation in more than one project

A principal investigator from Québec cannot be responsible for more than one funding application under this bilateral program while a Luxembourg based applicant may only be named as principal investigator on up to two proposals to this call.

A principal investigator from Québec or Luxembourg may participate as co-investigator in an another application submitted to the present call for proposals.

It is possible to have the role of co-investigator in several projects submitted to this call for proposals. However, the relevance and feasibility of this type of multiple participation will be subject to evaluation.

4. SUBMISSION OF THE LETTER OF INTENT TO THE FRQ

Applicants must pre-apply by submitting a letter of intent (LOI) to the FRQ in the FRQSC E-portfolio of the principal investigator from Québec. A short INTER application form submitted via the FNR online submission system is also required by the FNR from the principal Investigator from Luxembourg. It comprises a completed FNR-INTER application form and an upload of the LOI submitted to FRQ. It must be submitted no later than five open days after the submission of the LOI to the FRQ.

No additional information (i.e. on the budget details and justification or the work plan) is required at this stage of the competition. 

The FRQ LOI represents a pre-application which will be reviewed by a relevance committee in view of the program’s objectives (section 2) and criteria (section 6.1). Following this relevance review, those teams with the most relevant projects will be invited to submit a full application.

The E-form of the FRQ LOI can be filled out in French or in English. According to the CGR the title and the abstract must be written in the English and in French in the English version of the E-form. These pieces of information may be used by the FRQ and FNR for promotion and dissemination purposes. (see the FNR instructions for more details https://www.fnr.lu/fnr-international-cooperation/ )

4.1 E-form

The principal investigator must complete the letter of intent E-form in his/her FRQSC E-portfolio. He/she must first create a user account on the FRQnet website if this has not already been done to get a personal identification number (PIN). Individuals who already have a personal identification number (PIN) have direct access to a FRQnet account and must update their profile in their E-portfolio.

At the letter of intent stage, the team description must be limited in addition to the principal investigator to :

• the principal investigator (PI) from Luxembourg designated in the E-form « chercheur principal international » section who must :
  • meet the eligibility requirements specified in section 3.1.2 ; 
  • have a personnel FRQnet account with a personal identification number (PIN) to have access to his or her FRQSC E-portfolio ;.
• one co-investigator from Québec designated in the E-form “cochercheur” section who must:
  • have a personnel FRQnet account with a personal identification number (PIN) to have access to his or her FRQSC E-portfolio ;
  • work in a sector covered by a different FRQ than the sector the principal investigator works in (Nature et technologies – Santé – Société et culture) as specified in section 3.2.1;
  • be have one of the following research statuses listed in the CGR:
    • university researcher;
    • university clinical researcher :
    • college researcher.

If the team is composed of more than the three members identified in the letter of intent, the project description included with the electronic form should mention this, specifying each person’s contribution (see section 4.2). Where applicable, all members of the team, from Québec and Luxembourg, will eventually be identified in the application form.

Any documents that are not required and which are included with the LOI will not be submitted to the relevance committee. Applicants will not be notified of any information or documents missing from the application. Any documents received after the deadline for the LOI submission, or exceeding the formats specified in these rules will not be considered.

Le principal investigator from Luxembourg identified in the “international principal investigator” E-form section and the co-investigator from Québec identified in the “co-investigators” section must give consent in their FRQSC E-porfolio for their participation to the project. Their consents are mandatories for the LI submission buy the principal investigator.

We invite the applicant to consults the documents available in the Toolbox of the international “Québec-Luxembourg” AUDACE program web page to prepare their LI.

Only forms completed and transmitted electronically will be accepted.

4.2 Documents to be included in the E-form

The principal investigator from Quebec is asked to submit the following documents in the E-form of the letter of intent:

• A three-page PDF document written in French or in English containing: 
  • a project description addressing the program objectives (section 2) and the evaluation criteria (see section 6.1) ;
  • a paragraph describing the project co-construction process that led the team to submit a letter of intent ;
  • a paragraph describing the approach that will lead to the accomplishment of the project and each member’s contribution to this process.

We encourage applicants to write their research proposal in English.

• For the principal investigator AND the co-investigator from Québec:  an abridged CV of no more than 2 pages. The abridged CVs must respect the FRQ abridged CV presentation rules (available here) and summarize, in the order listed :

1. The research sector covered by one FRQ (sciences naturelles et génie, santé, sciences sociales and humaines ou arts et lettres)
2. Academic training (degrees) and employment;
3. Professional experience and leadership;
4. Expertise and contributions relevant to the proposal submitted to the FRQ.

• For the principal investigator (PI) and the-investigator from Luxembourg (international principal investigator):
  • The appendix AUDACE_FRQ-FNR_2021-2022;
  • The FRQ abridged CV of no more than 2 pages. The abridged CVs must respect the FRQ abridged CV presentation rules (available here) and summarize, in the order listed:
    1. Research sector (according to the FRQ and related to the research domain)
    2. Academic training (degrees) and employment;
    3. Professional experience and leadership;
    4. Expertise and contributions relevant to the proposal submitted to the FRQ.

Depending on the person’s role (principal investigator, international principal investigator or co-investigator), please refer to the corresponding section of the E-form to insert the FRQ abridged CV(s) prepared as requested.

The appendix required for the PI from Luxembourg must be attached in the “Other document” section of the E-form.

If applicable, a letter from the university including the information described in Section 3.1.1 must be provided for each member of the team with one of the following research statuses:

• retired researcher;
• university researcher or clinical university researcher who receives a salary as a contracted professor (non-tenure track position) in a university recognized by the FRQ to manage funding;

This letter must be attached in PDF format in the “Other documents” section of the form. If needed, a single PDF document can include several university letters.

5. APPLICATION PROCESS

Only those applicants whose letters of intent receive a favourable review from the relevance committee will be invited to apply. The principal investigators from Québec from recommended applications will receive an e-mail inviting them to complete and submit an electronic application form along with the required supporting documents. 

Teams invited to submit an application must complete :

1. the FRQ E-form made available in the E-Portfolio (FRQSC platform) of the principal investigator who submitted the letter of intent.
2. A full INTER application submitted via the FNR online submission system no later than 5 workings days after the submission deadline by the FRQ. Please refer to the FNR INTER guidelines for more details: https://www.fnr.lu/fnr-international-cooperation/

Both application process are described in the following sections.

5.1 E-forms from Québec and documents to be included

Any application that does not contain sufficient information to establish its eligibility or to evaluate its scientific quality will be declared ineligible by the FRQ.

Only forms completed and transmitted electronically will be accepted.

Any documents that are not required and which are included with the submitted application will not be forwarded to the evaluation committee. Applicants will not be notified of any information or documents missing from the application. Any documents received after the deadline for application, or exceeding the formats specified in these rules will not be considered. Any document submitted after the deadline will not be considered. Once submitted to the FRQ the E-form is no more available. 

All members of the team, including those already identified in the letter of intent form, must be identified in the application form.

To complete the application form :

• all co-investigators from Québec and Luxembourg must be identified respectively in the co-investigators and international co-investigators section;
• the principal investigator from Luxembourg and all co-investigators from Québec must have a personnel FRQnet account with a personal identification number (PIN) to have access to their FRQSC E-portfolio;
• the principal investigator from Luxembourg and all co-investigators from Québec must give consent in their FRQSC E-porfolio for their participation to the project. Their consents are mandatories for the LI submission by the principal investigator.

The PI will submit the application in her or his FRQSC E-porfolio including the following documents :

• A three-page PDF document written in French or in English containing: 
  • a project description addressing the program objectives (section 2) and the evaluation criteria (see 6.1) ;
  • a paragraph describing the project co-construction process that led the team to submit a letter of intent ;
  • a paragraph describing the approach that will lead to the accomplishment of the project and each member’s contribution to this process.

We encourage applicants to write their research proposal in English.

• For the principal investigator and all co-investigators from Québec: an abridged CV of no more than 2 pages. The abridged CVs must respect the FRQ abridged CV presentation rules (available here) and summarize, in the order listed :

1. Research sector covered by one FRQ (sciences naturelles et génie, santé, sciences sociales et humaines ou arts et lettres) ;
2. Academic training (degrees) and work experience ;
3. Professional activities and contributions ;
4. Relevant expertise and contributions pertaining to the application submitted to the FRQ.

• For the principal investigator and all co-investigators from Luxembourg :
  

  • The appendix AUDACE_FRQ-FNR_2021-2022;
  • An abridged CV of no more than 2 pages (available here). The abridged CVs must respect the FRQ abridged CV presentation rules (available here) and summarize, in the order listed:

1. Research sector (according to the FRQ and related to the research domain)
2. Academic training (degrees) and work experience ;
3. Professional activities and contributions ;
4. Relevant expertise and contributions pertaining to the application submitted to the FRQ.

• For the principal investigator from Luxembourg only :

• The form “Commitment_Principal Investigator-Luxembourg_2021-2022”;

Depending on the person’s role (principal investigator, international principal investigator, co-investigator, international co-investigator), please refer to the corresponding section of the form to insert the abridged CV(s) prepared as requested

The appendix required for all team members from Luxembourg must be attached in the “Other document” section of the E-form.

• A digital accompanying document no more than 2 Mb describing the project or its leaders, in French or in English. The choice of content is left up to the applicants but its duration do not exceed 18- seconds. The following formats are accepted:
  • a video or audio recording; 
  • an animated PowerPoint presentation with a maximum of 10 slides.

This document must be identified as follows: APPLICANT’S NAME-APPLICATION NUMBER  and sent to the FRQ at the following web address: link to the cloud.

• One page of budgetary justifications – équipe du Québec ;
• One page of budgetary justifications – équipe du Luxembourg ;
• Where applicable, an ethical justification of up to one page for the use of human subjects, human biological materials or animals.
• If applicable for the principal investigator and co-investigator(s) from Québec, a letter from the university of Québec including the information described in Section 3.1.1 must be provided for each member of the team with one of the following research statuses:
  • retired researcher;
  • university researcher who receives a salary as a contracted professor (non-tenure track position) in a university recognized by the FRQ to manage funding;
  • clinical university researcher who receives a salary as a contracted professor (non-tenure track position) in a university recognized by the FRQ to manage funding.

This letter must be attached in the “other documents” section of the E-form. If required a unique PDF document must be attached for several letters.

5.2 E-form of the FNR and documents to be included

A full INTER application must be submitted including a detailed budget requested, a budget justification, as well as a work plan. Please refer to the FNR INTER guidelines for more details (https://www.fnr.lu/fnr-international-cooperation/).

The Proposal must be submitted by the coordinating institutions’ administrations (i.e. not by the Luxembourg PI) in electronic format to the online submission system (FNR Grant Management System) https://grants.fnr.lu no later than 5 workings days after the submission deadline by the Lead Funding Agency.

6. EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS

6.1 Evaluation criteria

• Level of intersectoral integration (35 points)

In concrete terms, intersectoral networking in research – which cannot be reduced to a merely collaborative approach – takes shape through:

• The joint design and development, within the project, of research problems that engage research questions or topics common to or shared by representatives of the different sectors and domains;
• The development of an innovative methodology, adapted to each research problem and integrating approaches from each sector or domain represented within the project;
• Team composition: complementarity between the expertises of all team members coming from different sectors and domains as well as the peculiarity of their association 

• Potential for disruptive innovation (45 points)

By “disruptive innovation”, the FRQ mean significantly challenging the foundations, knowledge and practices that govern a field of research, or the approaches and methods that commonly underpin the study of a research topic. A project’s potential for disruptive innovation lies in its capacity, thanks to its intersectoral focus, to go beyond the boundaries of what is known, to break with its inherited frameworks and standards in order to produce radically new knowledge of a theoretical, epistemological, methodological, aesthetic or technological nature that will transform the research field. The applicants must demonstrate that the anticipated breakthroughs of the project have a real potential for disruption.

• Scope of the anticipated impacts (20 points)

For the purposes of this program, the notion of “impacts” is understood to mean “deliverables”, in the broadest sense of the term. The potential impacts under this program, which must be of benefit to Québec society, can be scientific, social, economic, technological, cultural, or aesthetic in nature.

In all cases, the impacts of the project, as envisaged, must be considerable in the event of success. 

Finally, the budget estimates are analyzed by the committee, which verifies their consistency with the submitted project.

6.2 Application evaluation process

As agreed to between the FRQ and FRN, the FRQ acts as lead-agency in this call and the application evaluation process is similar to the evaluation process of the annualised FRQ AUDACE program. Applications will be in competition to the once submitted to the annual FRQ AUDACE program. The FRQ will also manage of these processes all along the competition.

As indicated in Section 4 of the CGR, the Fonds receive funding applications, check their eligibility and submit them for scientific evaluation by a committee whose members are recognized for their skills, expertise and achievements relating to the program objectives and the applications submitted. 

Nonetheless, as the committee members for this type of program come from a variety of different backgrounds, applicants are encouraged, in the documents submitted for evaluation, to present their project in such a way as to be easily understandable in a multidisciplinary context.

The project evaluation process takes place in two phases:

• Phase 1: analysis by the scientific committee of the submitted application and accompanying document;
• Phase 2: interview with the leaders of the projects selected in Phase 1 for a presentation before the scientific committee.

According to the terms of the agreement between the FRQ and FNR, the final decision concerning the project to be funded by the competition rests with the agreement of both parties. Each partie will be liable for the funding of researchers from its area, according to the rules and politics applicable to each partie.

The conditions governing funding decisions are specified in Section 4.5 of the CGR. 

7. IMPORTANT DATES

• July 9th, 2020 : Launch of the call for projects. The international “Québec-Luxembourg” AUDACE program rules and letter of intent E-form are made available online;

• September 16th : Deadline for submission of letters of intent (4 p.m.) by the managing and employing institution of the principal investigator (PI) to the FRQ;

• September 23th : Deadline for the submission of short INTER application form via the FNR online submission system;

• November 9th : Teams shortlisted by the letter of intent relevancy review are invited to submit a full proposal. The application FRQ E-form is made available online in the principal investigator E-portfolio (FRQSC) who submitted the LOI;

• December 9th : Deadline for submission of applications E-forms (4 p.m.) by the managing and employing institution of the principal investigator (PI) to the FRQ;

• December 16th : Deadline for submission of full INTER applications by the coordinating institutions’ administrations to the online submission system (FNR Grant Management System) https://grants.fnr.lu.

• February 2021 (early) : Preselected teams after the Phase 1 of the evaluation (individual evaluations) will be invited to the interview with the scientific committee;

• March 2021 : Interviews with the leaders of the projects and the international scientific committee; 

• April 2021 : Announcement of the results.

8. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE RESULTS

8.1 Awards from Québec

For the conditions regarding the announcement of funding, refer to Section 5 of the CGR.

A copy of the certificate of ethics for the use of human subjects, human biological materials or animals as part of the project is required on the awarding of any grant, if applicable. Payment of the grant is contingent on the submission of the certificate and related documents, refer to Section 5.4 of the CGR.  

The payment of the grant will respect the rules related to ethic considerations and in accordance to the CGR (section 5.5.).

8.1 Awards from Luxembourg

See Inter guidelines for details: https://www.fnr.lu/fnr-international-cooperation/.

9. DESCRIPTION AND NATURE OF THE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

9.1 Financial assistance from Québec

The funding consists of a grant of up to $100,000 over a period of 12 months. In the documents submitted for evaluation, the use of the funding amount may be spread over 24 months.

In accordance with the program objectives, the grant must be used to cover expenses directly related to the implementation of the project. All budget items listed in the CGR are eligible (refer to Section 8 of the CGR).

Indirect costs equivalent to 27% of the grant amount will be paid in addition to the research grant, to a maximum of $27,000.

9.2 Financial assistance from Luxembourg

The funding consists of a grant of up to 100,000 € over a period of 12 months. In the documents submitted for evaluation, the use of the funding amount may be spread over 24 months.

Indirect costs equivalent to 25% of the grant amount will be paid in addition to the research grant, to a maximum of 25,000 €.

10. FOLLOW-UP AND ACCOUNTABILITY

10.1 Funding from Québec

In accordance with the CGR, the holder of a grant obtained under this program is required submit a final report, the format of which will be communicated in due course to the project leader who submitted the application.

In addition, in the interest of promoting the impacts of the projects funded under this program, teams must contribute, on invitation, to events such as forums, conferences and follow-up or transfer activities organized by the Fonds. The Fonds de recherche du Québec also encourage funding recipients to carry out knowledge mobilization activities (transfer, sharing, valorization, dissemination, etc.) for practice settings and the general public, whenever such activities are relevant in the context of their research.

10.2 Funding from Luxembourg

The final report transmitted by the reseach team to the FRQ manager program will be send to the FNR.

11. EFFECTIVE DATE

These rules apply to the 2021-2022 FRQ fiscal year.

12. CONTACT