São Paulo Princeton
Princeton-São Paulo Partnership Initiatives: Call for Proposals
Under the “Memorandum of Strategic Partnership Between Princeton University and The University of São Paulo” (herein after referred to as “ MOU”), The University of São Paulo (USP) and Princeton University will support departments, programs, and centers seeking resources to sustain on-going teaching and research collaborations. The goal is to create programs for students and faculty to move back and forth across borders with the institutional support of their home and host universities as part of enduring collaborative teaching and research ventures. Proposals will be submitted to a Joint Governance Committee comprised of faculty and administrators from both universities.
Bilateral collaborative research and teaching ventures should include a balanced representation of scholars from both institutions. Applicants are required to meet any national requirements for funding and follow the general regulations of their respective university. Applications that do not meet these requirements will not be considered. This initiative does not encompass student exchange programs for semester and academic year study abroad. All inquiries for graduate and undergraduate study abroad programs should be directed to: USP International Office and Princeton Office of International Programs, and the Princeton Graduate School.
Three types of proposals will be considered.
A. Smaller seed grants to enable clusters of faculty and graduate students to convene to explore prospects for future collaborations. Maximum support: $10,000.
B. Medium-size grants for joint graduate-student workshops. These thematic or disciplinary workshops should be designed by faculty on both sides but incorporate graduate students in the planning and execution. These may focus on dissertation write-up meetings, topical exchanges, or training meetings. Maximum support: $50,000 for two years.
C. Large grants for three years activity. Maximum support: $200,000.
These proposals may include:
1. For undergraduates:
a. Department-designed and led initiatives focused on joint courses or internship programs. These may include Policy Task Forces, Junior Seminars, and summer laboratory internships. What will be important is that these initiatives fit within – and indeed embellish by internationalizing – the applying department’s curriculum.
b. As much as possible, we encourage applicants to consider ways of integrating students and faculty from a partner institution into these initiatives. A Junior Seminar, for instance, could involve a co-taught course with students and faculty from both sides. The summer laboratory internships could involve direct student and faculty exchanges.
2. For graduate students:
a. Travel allowances for residencies abroad. Applicants should indicate where they would like their students to have a home abroad in the course of their studies and research with quid pro quos for graduate students from partner institutions.
3. Post-doctoral appointments for up to two years. Applicants and their partners will enjoy a joint post-doc who will divide her/his time between the two institutions and be embedded within a collaborative research project.
4. Travel allowances for faculty residencies for faculty wishing to spend significant (that is, beyond a single conference) time at a strategic partner institution as part of an on-going research and teaching collaboration. The duration of these residencies may vary by unit or discipline, so may the time period. Some may be for summers. Others may take place over the academic year, from one week during one of the semester breaks, to a month or more. It will be important that such proposals involve consultation with chairs or directors as they may involve modifications to how faculty expedite their teaching and advising. We especially encourage younger faculty engagement.
5. None of the above. If applying departments or centers have ideas that conform to the overall objective of this partnership-building process, we welcome them and early discussions with the Director of the Council for International Teaching and Research at Princeton or the Vice Provost for Research at USP.
We strongly encourage interested parties to begin the process of internal discussion and consultation with their chairs, directors, or in full faculty meetings. While these initiatives should conform to the university’s emphasis on internationalization through bottom-up, faculty-led ventures, they should not come at the expense of a department’s educational commitments to students and colleagues.
General Considerations
- Preference given to initiatives that contribute to the internationalization of departments, centers, or programs
- Preference given to projects that enhance the intellectual life of departments, centers and programs
- Preference given to proposals that sustain flows both ways between Princeton and USP
Criteria for project selection
Important criteria in the selection process include:
- Quality and innovativeness of the research or teaching project,
- Feasibility of the plan,
- Cost-effectiveness of the budgetary plan,
- Competence and expertise of the teams of scholars,
- Effective communication and cooperation between the faculty in each country and added value of the collaboration, mobility of researchers and students between the participating countries,
- Prospects for sustainability beyond the terms of the grant.
Proposal Requirements and Evaluation Process
All applications will be reviewed by the Princeton-USP Joint Governance Committee and will be ranked according to the criteria above.
Applicants of a bilateral collaborative project within this call must submit their joint application to their respective university. The joint application has to be accompanied by a specific “Princeton University – University of São Paulo Application Form”. All documents and respective forms must be submitted in English.
Applications arriving late and applications not meeting the requirements will not be considered. No legal entitlement can be derived from the submission of a project description.
Two stage proposal process
Stage 1:
Submission of a letter of intent that includes a short project description and explanation for how the initiative fits into the sponsoring unit’s international research and teaching objectives. Chairs and Directors, if not the authors of the letter, must approve in advance. First stage applications should include:
- Cover application page with name and address of the principle investigators,
- Joint summary of project intent (one page maximum, 12pt and 1.5 line spacing),
- Due March 29, 2013
- Notification April 17, 2013
- At or before notification, the Princeton Council for International Teaching and Research/USP Vice Provost for Research will provide feedback to the proposers regarding the suitability of the initiative and about key issues the Stage 2 proposal should address.
Stage 2:
Submission of the full proposal with an accompanying narrative project description of no more than 12 pages that includes:
- Completed application cover page
- An overview description of the field of study and general intellectual context of the project suitable for a non-specialist audience
- An explanation of how the proposal will promote global aspirations of the home unit
- An explanation of how it will situate Princeton /USP scholars in the partnership
- A detailed plan for the operation and functions of the initiative
- Explanation of the profile and interests of the peer institution
In addition to the narrative, proposals should include:
- CV’s for principal participants at Princeton and USP (individual professional bibliographies are not required).
- Rough year-by-year budget with amounts specified by category (travel, hosting, salary etc.), plus annual totals. Budgets cannot support hiring of administrative staff.
- A discussion of any additional resources (office or laboratory space, library access etc) required for the project and of their availability.
- Indication of additional financial support from host units or external grants.
- Letters of participation and support from the partner institution(s)
- Approval of the relevant Princeton and USP chairs, deans or directors
Application Deadline:
- Due May 24, 2013
- Notification by June 17, 2013
All proposals must be submitted in English by faculty members on both sides simultaneously to representatives at USP (Provost for Research) and Princeton (Council for International Teaching and Research).
All proposals will be evaluated and ranked by six faculty members on both sides. These evaluations and rankings will be rendered to the Joint Governance Committee which will make all final decision.
All grants require annual reports to be submitted at the end of each year of the grant : September 1st.
Submission:
For Princeton, stage 1 and 2 proposals are to be submitted in MSWord or .pdf format by email to Sharon Kulik ( sakulik@Princeton.EDU, 8-6592) no later than 5 pm (EST) on the designated due dates.
For USP, stage 1 and 2 proposals are to be submitted in MSWord or .pdf format by email to the office of the Provost for Research Office - prp@usp.br Vice Provost for Research no later than 17:00 São Paulo time on the designated due dates.
Contact Information:
For more information, for Princeton, contact Professor Jeremy Adelman, Director of the Council for International Teaching and Research, adelman@princeton.edu; or Sharon Kulik, Assistant to the Director, sakulik@Princeton.EDU , 8-6592. For USP, Professor Belmira Bueno ( bbueno@usp.br ), USP Associate Provost for Research or José Ricardo Barbosa ( jric@usp.br ), Research Provost Office Assistant