Request for Proposals: HFSP Research Grant Program

The International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) develops and implements the Program. The aim of the Program is to promote, through international cooperation, basic research focused on the elucidation of the sophisticated and complex mechanisms of living systems, for the benefit of all humankind. It aims to complement, not duplicate, the frontier life science programs of the countries that financially support HFSPO.

Research topics may include biological functions at all levels of analysis, for example: studies on genes and individual molecules, intracellular networks, intercellular associations in tissues and organs, and networks underlying the complex functions of entire organisms including cognitive functions, as well as populations or ecosystems.

Types of Awards

• In addition to the above general requirements for all Research Grants, the following conditions apply specifically to the two schemes:
  • Research Grants – Program (RG-Program)
    • Research Grants – Program are meant to allow teams of independent researchers to develop new lines of research through a new collaboration. Priority will be given to novel research projects with the potential to extend the present frontier of the life sciences and teams including members from outside the life sciences. Applicants for RG-Program are encouraged to include independent investigators early in their careers as members of their team, high diversity of backgrounds (gender, origin, and others) and approaches is often adding to the quality of the work.
  • Research Grants – Early Career (RG-Early Career)
    • These awards are meant to encourage outstanding scientists in the initial period of their independent careers, to formulate novel and promising research projects. Typically, “Early Career” team members will have completed one or two periods of postdoctoral training and recently been appointed to independent staff positions that allow them to initiate and direct their own independent lines of research.

Funding Information

• Awarded teams receive funds in three consecutive years, the annual sum for the entire team is: 300,000 USD for a team of two; 400,000 USD for a team of three; 500,000 USD for a team of four or more members.
• Two members from the same country have to clearly bring different disciplines to the project. They will be jointly awarded an amount equivalent to 1.5 team members (currently 350,000 USD for a team of ‘2.5’ and 450,000 USD for ‘3.5’ team members).
• In the case of a two-member team with one member in a for-profit institution, the total annual award will be reduced to 150,000 USD. In other cases, the for-profit member will not be included when calculating the amount of the award.
• Each grant is awarded for a period of three years, but funds can be used during a fourth year.

Ineligible Projects

• Research of a purely applied nature. For example:
  • Projects of a primarily clinical and pharmaceutical nature are only considered if they allow new insights into fundamental biological mechanisms of disease;
  • Projects aimed at developing methods of diagnosis or treatment, including the search for potential drug targets or advanced trials of drugs under development;
  • Applied research in engineering, biotechnology, or nanotechnology, that does not address a fundamental biological problem;
  • Projects directly concerned with agricultural or forestry problems such as crop yield or breeding and environmental problems such as pollution.
• Research aimed at developing novel methods or the study of analogs or models of biological activity unless these methods allow new biological questions to be answered in the context of the aim of HFSP to fund fundamental research.
• Observational projects or systematic screening approaches.
• Large-scale data collection studies without a convincing rationale for the collection and detailed methodology for the data analysis; this includes systematic multi-species-omics analyses of populations or ecosystems, which do not address a fundamental biological question of general interest. However, studies of the mechanisms of species-species interactions or their co-evolution are eligible.
• Research in for-profit environments (but collaborations are allowed).
• Proposals representing standard or incremental approaches, obvious next steps in the field or the laboratory of one or more applicants (routine projects) and proposals that do not represent significant changes in research direction from previous work of the applicants are unlikely to receive funding.

Eligibility Criteria

• Scientists applying for a HFSP research grant must be organized as an international research team (with emphasis on intercontinental collaborations). Applications from individual researchers are not eligible. The HFSP research team may include 2 to 4 (rarely 5) members; one member of the team is designated as the Principal Applicant and the others as Co-Applicants.
• All team members must hold a research doctoral degree (PhD or equivalent) and lead a research group (of any size). Post-doctoral fellows are not eligible. All team members must be able to independently determine the course of the HFSP-funded project and have freedom to administer the awarded grant.
• HFSPO promotes new interdisciplinary collaborations across the world. Therefore, team members are expected to work in different disciplines and have their labs in different countries; for the rules on the country of affiliation of team members.
• HFSPO promotes new research collaborations. Therefore, the team members should not have collaborated before, they will normally not have published together and must propose a project significantly different from their ongoing research.
• Co-authorship in scientific publications is generally considered the result of a past or present collaboration, which is contrary to the spirit of the Program. However, some joint publications may be considered acceptable, for instance a multi-author review summarizing the field or a joint publication in a different field resulting from a much earlier collaboration. Applicants will need to enter the number and titles of co-publications between team members in the application form to guide the review committee in their assessment. More than three co-publications are very likely seen as proof for an ongoing collaboration and strongly reduce the chance of funding.
• HFSP encourages inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (shared values), and welcomes applicants of any gender, origin, cultural background, and age.
• Research Grant-Early Career:
  • Early Career applicants must be project leaders directing a research group. They must have full responsibility for the day to day running of their laboratories, and full control of the HFSP funds. In unclear cases, written confirmation may be requested from the Head of Department (or equivalent) that the applicant is in the position to carry out the research independently.
  • Postdoctoral researchers are not eligible to apply.
  • All members of an RG-Early Career team must be within 5 years of obtaining an independent position and must have obtained their first doctoral degree (PhD, MD or equivalent) no longer than 10 years before the deadline for submission of the Letter of Intent. Exceptions may be made for periods of parental leave, compulsory military service or absence for medical conditions, but not for periods of unemployment. If an applicant had a longer period of purely clinical service, please contact the HFSP grant office. Applicants should clearly list periods of parental leave (or similar) in the CV giving start and end date as well as the number of months, this number of months will be evaluated for an extension of the eligibility criteria.
  • Recognising the challenge of establishing an independent research group at an early stage of a career, special consideration will be given to the overall level of interdisciplinarity in RG-Early Career applications. Early career investigators will be expected to propose projects with team members having distinct expertise and coming from different disciplines of the life sciences if not from outside the life sciences.

For more information, visit HFSP.