Canada and Germany enjoy a longstanding cooperation in science and technology. Recognising the importance of international collaboration in promoting scientific discoveries, the NSERC and the German Research Foundation DFG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on research cooperation. The MoU provides an overarching framework to enhance opportunities for collaborative activities between Canadian and German research communities and sets out the principles for developing jointly-supported activities.
To facilitate the support of collaborative work between Canadian researchers and their German counterparts under this MoU, NSERC and the Divisions of Physics and Chemistry (PC) and Engineering Sciences (ING 1) at the DFG announced a call for proposals focused on Sustainable Processes and Chemistry. The proposed Canadian-German collaborative research projects must focus on basic and fundamental research and are expected to generate new knowledge and address one or more research challenges related to environmental sustainability.
This call for proposals on Sustainable Processes and Chemistry includes a two-stage application process:
- Step 1: Canadian researchers submit a modified Alliance International Collaboration grant application to NSERC (Submission to the DFG is not needed). The eligibility of the Canadian researchers will be reviewed internally by NSERC. NSERC shares the applications with the DFG in order to enable them to verify the eligibility of the German applicants. NSERC will convene a selection panel to assist with the assessment of applications.
- Step 2: If invited to continue, Canadian and German research teams will then submit a single collaborative research proposal (submitted by the German principal investigator to the DFG) that will undergo a scientific review process led by the DFG (submission to NSERC is not needed).
The modified Alliance International Collaboration grant applications must be submitted to NSERC by 7 December 2022.
