Inria Associate Teams programme

Associate Teams 2013-2015: call for projects 2012

 An Associate Team is a joint project created between an Inria project-team and a research team from abroad. The two partners jointly define a scientific objective with a clear added value for each of them, a research plan and a program for bilateral exchanges. To promote and develop such scientific collaborations throughout the world, by supporting high quality research projects, Inria’s International Relations Department annually launches a call for proposals.

Program goals and priorities 

In the context of its strategic plan, the Associate Teams program is one of the main instruments for Inria to implement its international scientific strategy. For the 2012 call, the program is aimed at:

  • Structure Inria partnerships: particularly with the East Coast of the United States (Boston area) and in India. Special consideration will be given to proposals contributing to International Research Units in partnership with CNRS (in particular IFCAM Bangalore, JFLI Tokyo, I-RICE Taiwan). Our partners in Taiwan (National Science Council) and Japan (JSPS through Ayame) have committed to jointly support a selected number of Associate Teams[1].
  • Strengthen existing collaborations: by creating a task force on a joint project in the context of Inria international laboratories or research programs with California (Inria@SiliconValley), Illinois (JLPC, Chicago), Chili (Inria Chile) and China (LIAMA and Shanghai area).
  • Support new partnerships: by putting together complementary competencies to explore new topics with foreign countries (except European Union member states with which application to European programs are encouraged).

[1] See section "Specific agreements in 2012"

Funding

An Associate Team is funded for a three year period, with a maximum amount of:

  • 20.000 euros/ year for the first and second year;
  • 10.000 euros/year for the third year.

The Associate Team budget is dedicated to:

  • exchanges between France and the partner country for researchers, engineers, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and interns;
  • the organisation of joint workshops.

Proposal of a new Associate Team, selection process and continuation

Submission

The Inria researcher coordinating the project (hereafter called the Associate Team coordinator) submits the application form online

Selection process

The scientific evaluation of the proposals is done by the COST-GTRI. The "Groupe de travail Relations internationales du Comité d’Orientation Scientifique et Technologique of Inria" conducts the scientific evaluation of most of the programs carried out by the International Relations Department.

 The evaluation criteria are:

  • the quality of the partnership (capacity and will to work together);
  • the quality of the proposal (motivation of the general problems, identification of the main challenges, intended approaches/methodologies/techniques);
  • the relevance and consistency of the work and exchanges programs;
  • the expected impact of the Associate Team for each partner.

 Projects involving both junior and senior participants will be particularly appreciated.

 Contribution of the foreign partner to the budget of the Associate Team is strongly valued.

 Based on this evaluation by the COST-GTRI and the program goals and priorities, the International Relations Department proposes a selection of Associate Teams to Inria executive management, which makes the final selection.

Year to year continuation

An Associate Team is created for a period of 3 years and a follow up of its activities is ensured each year by Inria’s Department of International Relations. For that purpose, each Associate Team coordinator has to create and update a dedicated website, properly referenced from his Inria Project-team website. The Associate Team website presents the partners, scientific objectives, work program and accounts for the activities, exchanges, technological developments, joint publications and co-supervised PhD generated by the team.

Evaluation and renewal

At completion of the third year, the coordinator presents a final report of the Associate Team activities and results.

The Associate Teams coordinators can ask once for the renewal of the Associate Team for an additional three years period. The application process is similar to the proposal for a new Associate Team, except that a clear positioning of the scientific goal with that of the initial associate team is expected. The proposal is evaluated under the same criteria. An Associate Team can be renewed only once for a cycle of three years. The maximum funding for a renewed Associate Team is 10.000 euros/year. A necessary condition for the renewal is that the partner institution contributes financially to the exchanges.

The French coordinator of a non-renewed Associate Team wishing to continue its activities can make a declaration of “Inria International Partner” which will allow the collaboration to be identified as a solid partnership. It will also be a criterion for the selection in other programs of the Department of International Relations. There is no specific timetable for the submission of an "Inria International Partner." Declarations can be made during all year. Such declaration should be submitted on the web site.

Specific agreements in 2012

In the context of specific agreements with NSC - Taiwan (National Science Council) and JSPS - Japan (Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science):

  • The submission of proposals has to be done in parallel to Inria and to the partner institution in Japan (JSPS) or Taiwan (NSC);

Attention: please be advised that for Japanese applicants, the deadline for submission to JSPS is September 12th, 2012;

  • The selection process is carried out by a joint selection committee;
  •  NSC and JSPS grant additional funding to the partner team in Taiwan and Japan respectively.

 For more information:

 Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science –JSPS

 National Science Council Taïwan - NSC

Keywords: Call for projects International relations Associate teams

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