Application Submission Deadline: December 5, 2014 

Application Submission Address: istcinfo@istc.int

BACKGROUND 

The International Science & Technology Center (ISTC) is accepting proposals from collaborative research teams involving scientists from institutions in Georgia and in the United States of America for the 2014 Georgia-U.S. Small Grant Initiative for Research Collaboration on HIV, Tuberculosis (TB), Hepatitis, announced during the “Program-Development Workshop on HIV, TB and Hepatitis” convened in Tbilisi, Georgia, from June 16-18, 2014. This ISTC initiative is developed and implemented in partnership with the Georgian Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs (MOLHSA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), USA.

ISTC is an intergovernmental organization connecting scientists from countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Georgia with their peers and research organizations in the EU, Japan, Republic of Korea, Norway and the United States. ISTC facilitates international science projects and assists the global scientific and business community to engage with CIS and Georgian institutions to advance scientific knowledge and expand research expertise. For more information visit www.istc.kz 

MOLHSA implements state governance and state policy in the fields of labor, health and social affairs. The mission of the Ministry is to promote the Georgian population's good health and functional capacity, promote healthy working and living environments, ensure that there are sufficient social and health services. Specific agencies within MOLHSA conduct research and undertake other actions to protect the public's health and response to outbreaks of infectious disease. For more information visit www.moh.gov.ge

Below is the link to the MOLHSA proposal announcement website:

http://www.moh.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=GEO&sec_id=29&info_id=2135

NIAID is an institute within the National Institutes of Health, the research agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Itconducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. For more than 60 years, NIAID research has led to new therapies, vaccines, diagnostic tests, and other technologies that have improved the health of millions of people in the United States and around the world. For more information visit:http://www.niaid.nih.gov/

SCOPE 

Awards, each up to $100,000 USD total costs, will be made in support of one-year projects, with the possibility of up to one year no-cost extension if justified. Research teams consisting of Principal Investigators from clinical or research institutions in Georgia are eligible to apply, but they must include a U.S. Principal Investigator as a collaborator. Actual award amount will be determined based on the proposal and budget justification. The ISTC award will be made to the Principal Investigator from Georgia (Georgian PI). The Principal Investigator from the U.S. will be the collaborator on the project (henceforth referred to as the U.S. Collaborator).

A.Goals:

1. Advance knowledge in the proposed area of scientific investigation related to HIV, HIV co-infections, TB and hepatitis.
2. Foster new or expanded biomedical research collaborations between U.S. and Georgian investigators and institutions. It is expected that proposals will focus on questions of direct relevance to Georgia and the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 
3. Establish collaborations and obtain research results that lay a foundation for the preparation of subsequent funding applications to the NIH, Georgian research funding organizations, and other biomedical research funding agencies.

B.Research Priorities:

1. Proposals responsive to this call will focus on: HIV, HIV co-infections (not limited to HIV-TB, HIV-hepatitis and TB-hepatitis), TB and hepatitis as these diseases are relevant to Georgia and the adjoining region.
2. The following types of research may be responsive:
   • Basic research;
   • Prevention research;
   • Clinical research (but not clinical trials);
   • Epidemiology;
   • Virology / Microbiology;
   • Applied/Translational research (including, but not limited, to diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines);
   • Genomics;
   • Bioinformatics.

PROGRAM SUPPORT INFORMATION 

For questions about the electronic proposal submission process, or for further information about this program, please contact the ISTC Senior Program Coordinator below. Inquiries by e-mail are strongly encouraged and will result in prompt response:

Mr. James K. Jubilee,

Chief Administrative Officer

International Science and Technology Center

Nazarbayev University

Block 39, Room 85

53, Kabanbay Batyr Ave

010000 Astana, Kazakhstan

Cell: +7 (702) 714-0494

Office: +7 (7172) 769-512

E-mail: jubilee@istc.int

Internet-site: www.istc.kz

You can find the detailled information with respect toPROPOSAL APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS, ISTC EXPECTATIONS OF GRANTEES, SPECIAL PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS etc. by dowloading this PDF file ---->Download

Application Submission Address: istcinfo@istc.int

Frequently Asked Questions:

Question 1: ISTC usually requires involvement of “weapon scientists” in ISTC supported research projects. What is the requirement for this call for proposals?

Answer: ISTC defines “weapon scientists” broadly to include many biological fields of research, particularly in relation to research on infectious diseases. Thus, for this call, applications will be considered responsive if they engage scientists working in the fields of: virology, immunology, infectious diseases that affect humans and related areas of scientific investigation. 

Question 2: Can an organization submit more than one application given that each application has a different Georgian PI and U.S. collaborator? 

Answer: Yes, more than one application may be submitted from an organization provided each application has a different Georgian PI and U.S. collaborator. The Call for Proposals states in Section III Eligibility Criteria that a specific Georgian PI and U.S. collaborator (i.e., one collaborative team) can only submit ONE proposal and should attempt to submit their strongest one.

Question 3: Can an inpidual researcher be included in more than one proposal, for example can a person serve as PI on one proposal and be included as a collaborating researcher or advisor in another proposal? 

Answer: Additional clarification: According to Section III Eligibility Criteria (bullet 5) “Georgian PIs/ U.S. Collaborators from one team are NOT permitted to serve as team members on other submitted proposals.” This is clarified to allow “PIs to apply as PIs in only one proposal, but can participate in more than one project as a team member as long as such a person’s combined workdays devoted to all projects are not more than 220 days per year plus 10% for overtime. A PI may participate in more than one proposal.

Question 4: Should an organization use the proposal templates available on the ISTC web-site athttp://www.istc.ru/ISTC/ISTC.nsf/va_webpages/ProposalPackageEng or will specific proposal forms will be developed for this call? 

Answer: Specific proposal forms will not be developed for this call. An organization may use the proposal template available on the ISTC web-site as this may expedite the ISTC approval process. 

Question 5: With regards to the template for the research proposal, is the description of the proposed research project limited to 2 pages (i.e., summary section) and are there any instructions on margins, spacing, font, etc.

Answer: Yes, the summary section is limited to 2 pages and the detailed project information section limited to 20 pages with total package not to exceed 0,8MB. The proposal should be in MS Word; recommended fonts are Times New Roman (preferably), Aerial or Courier 10; margins 1.25 cm and line spacing single.

Question 6: Regarding a proposal sending samples to the US that can not be done in Georgia, can the fee for service charge be invoiced to Georgia and included under their budget?

Answer: Yes. If invoiced to Georgia, the fee could be included in their budget.

Question 7: Can a US Federal employee act as a collaborator on a project?

Answer: Yes. The ISTC does not have a US Federal employee restriction for project participation.

Question 8: Is it necessary to include budget narrative along with budget justification in the proposal? Or should budget be presented onlyin financial information section (section 9 in the proposal) without detailed text description? What about travel costs, should the justification for travel costs be provided? 

Answer: Any item of requested equipment valued at more than $500 USD must be specifically described and justified in the Budget Narrative. The budget information only has to be presented in the financial information section. At this point you only need to indicate the travel costs, you do not need to provide justification.

Question 9: Which institution should be included in the partner information section of the proposal (section 4.2.)? 

Answer: NIH/NIAID should be included as the Partner as they are the ISTC Partner. For the initial stage of the proposal process, this section can be left blank.

Question 10: When a particular project will not need any material costs and equipment to be purchased and a significant portion of the requested funds would be allocated to inpidual participants from leading and participating institutions, is there is a limitation in the amount for payment to inpidual participants/ personnel? 

Answer: The payment limitation for inpidual participants is up to the proposal reviewer. The ISTC recommended payment limit to all participants of the project is 50 - 70% of total project cost.

The ISTC recommended ceiling for grant rates is indicated in the table below: 

Guidelines for Daily Rates grants levels:

Question 11: Proposal supporting documents must include a formal collaboration letter from the US PI and Participating Institution Concurrence. Besides these,Should “CONFIDENTIALITY & MUTUAL NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT (C&NDA) BETWEEN RECIPIENT INSTITUTE & PROJECT COLLABORATOR” and “MATERIALS TRANSFER AGREEMENT” be submitted with proposals? 

Answer: These agreements have to be submitted. They should be submitted with the proposal if you already have them. If you do not have them they can be submitted at a later date. The obligatory documents that have to be signed and submitted with the proposal are letters from Collaborators (from each Collaborator if there is more then one in PDF format) and participating institution concurrence. Please submit Participating Institution Concurrence in English. Each institution participating in the project must provide a concurrence form, stating its agreement with ISTC principles, including Monitoring and Auditing commitment, and Intellectual Property Rights principles, and its agreement on its scope of participation as described in the proposal. 

Question 12; Is there a requirement for signed clearance letters from the US collaborator’s institution to be submitted with the proposal? 

Answer: No, not from the US collaborator's institute. As mentioned in question 11, the obligatory documents that have to be signed and submitted with the proposal are letters from the Collaborators (from each Collaborator if there are more then one in PDF format). Collaborators should get the required approvals from their institute before signing a letter of collaboration.

Question 13: Does “Host governmental concurrence” have to be submitted?

Answer: Yes, Host Government Concurrence should be obtained from one of the agencies authorized by the Georgian government to confirm the support of the ISTC project activities. If HGC has not been obtained yet, the proposal can still be submitted. If the project is selected for funding, HGC has to be obtained before project implementation. 

Question 14: If the project requires participating institution in Georgia, should “participating institution concurrence” be submitted? 

Answer: Yes, please submit Participating Institution Concurrence in English. Each institution participating in the project must provide a concurrence form, stating its agreement with ISTC principles, including Monitoring and Auditing commitment, and Intellectual Property Rights principles, and its agreement on its scope of participation as described in the proposal. 

Question 15: What is the Weapon Expertise category for project participants? 

Answer: Biological Weapons Experts. ISTC defines “weapon scientists” broadly to include many biological fields of research, particularly in relation to research on infectious diseases. Thus, for this call, applications will be considered responsive if they engage scientists working in the fields of: virology, immunology, infectious diseases that affect humans and related areas of scientific investigation.

Question 16: Where should US collaborator funds be shown? Does “Estimated total cost of the project” include funding request for US collaborator? Should US collaborator funds be only allocated to travel or anything else (e.g. reagents etc)? 

Answer: Under ISTC regulations you can not add US Collaborator travel to the Georgian Institution budget. We handle this like all other NIH personnel travel by direct payments for tickets, hotel, etc. Please make a note in the proposal so that the total budget for the Georgian side and US side's travel doesn't exceed $100,000 USD. As proposals do not normally cover US expenses, there is no place for the expenses in the template. The funds to cover US Collaborator travel will be taken from a separate budget at ISTC. For example, if your proposal is selected and you note $10,000 for the US collaborator, the project would be funded for $90,000.00 and $10,000.00 would be set aside in a separate budget account to cover the US collaborator travel.