Following an agreement with funding organisations in 21 countries, the European Science Foundation is launching a Call for Outline Proposals for Collaborative Research Projects (CRPs) to be undertaken within the EUROCORES Programme “4-D Topography Evolution in Europe: Uplift, Subsidence and Sea Level Change” (TOPO-EUROPE). The Programme will run for 3-4 years depending on national funding regulations and will include national research funding, as well as support for networking and dissemination activities provided by the ESF1. The Programme aims to support high-quality multidisciplinary research. 

Full Proposal Submission

In response to the Call for Outline Proposals, 47 Outline Proposals were submitted. The TOPO-Europe Review Panel was convened on 21 and 22 June 2007 in Strasbourg to sift the Outline Proposals according to the assessment criteria. Successful applicants are invited to submit Full Proposals online. Deadline for submitting Full Proposals: 21 SEPTEMBER 2007, noon CET.

Before preparing the application, applicants should 

• read carefully the Application Guidelines for Full Proposal
  
• contact their national funding organisations, to ensure compliance with their specific national regulations and internal requirements. (please check specific national requirements here)

As part of the Proposal, applicants will be asked to provide the overall budget of the CRP (Table A), a specification of the budget per IP (Table B) and the Sum of the requested IP budgets per year (Table C).

The Project Leader will be responsible for correctly entering the data. Principal Investigators and Associate Partners are responsible for supplying the Project Leader with complete and correct data.  

For further information, please see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).   

Note that the Collaborative Research Project as a whole, not its individual components, will be assessed.

Assessment Criteria for Full Proposals

At the Full Proposal stage, the assessment will focus on the scientific quality of the research plan for a Collaborative Research Project.

1. Scientific quality of the CRP and IP proposals 
2. Level of multidisciplinary integration within the CRP
3. Qualification of the applicants (suitability for this CRP; international standing)
4. Level of collaboration and integration between the IPs in the CRP
5. Feasibility, incl. suitability of the methods selected
6. European added value and relation to other projects (risk of double-funding and track record for collaboration).

Call for Outline Proposals

The Call for Outline Proposals can be found here (pdf) THE CALL IS NOW CLOSED

• Outline Proposals are to be submitted by 9 May 2007 -
  online Application form
• A Funding Overview of TOPO-EUROPE can be found here (pdf)
• Application template for Outline Proposals can be found here (word)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION :
Applicants should contact their national funding agencies in order to verify eligibility and ensure compliance with the relevant agencies’ granting rules and regulations.
Please check special national requirements of Funding Agencies and FAQ before submitting your outline proposal http://www.esf.org/activities/eurocores/calls.html#c501