Skoltech-MIT Next Generation Program
4th Call for Proposals
I.Program Overview
Skoltech and MIT announce the 4th Call for Proposals for the Next Generation Program (NGP) consisting of joint projects. This call is for faculty-initiated projects in research, education, and/or innovation.
A team jointly led by a PI from Skoltech and a PI from MIT may submit a single, integrated proposal in one or more of the following areas:
Research areas of science and engineering:
- Data Science
- Life Sciences and Health
- Cutting-edge Engineering & Advanced Materials
- Energy Efficiency
- Advanced Studies
Areas of education, innovation, and entrepreneurship:
- Course Development
- Educational Initiatives
- Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development
In this 4th Call for Proposals, Skoltech and MIT expect to award approximately 10–11 joint projects. The total funding per NGP research project is up to 20 million rubles for Skoltech and $800K–1,050K for MIT (to be provided in 3 parts), for a total 2½-year grant period. The total funding per collaborative project in areas of education, innovation, and entrepreneurship is up to 4 million rubles for Skoltech and up to $200K-400K for MIT, for a 1- or 2-year grant period.
The projects have an anticipated start date of January 1, 2022. Each project will have a mid-term project review.
II.Eligibility and Requirements
Eligibility criteria and requirements:
- The proposal needs to be initiated jointly by a Skoltech faculty member or organizational stream representative and an MIT principal investigator (co-Project Leaders);
- The proposal should involve coherent activities with clearly defined and essential contributions from each participating co-Project Leader;
- The proposal should provide substantial impact in research, innovation, and/or education;
- Each co-Project Leader may be involved with only one application within the 4th Call for NGP Proposals.
III.Application and Review Process
The 4th NGP Call for Proposals consists of a two-stage peer-review process:
a.White Paper Submission
A completed White Paper (the template is available below) should be submitted jointly by Skoltech and MIT co-PLs by e-mail to Next.Generation@Skoltech.ru by September 1, 2021.
White Papers will be pre-screened for completeness. The NGP Steering Committee appointed by the Skoltech Provost and by the MIT Associate Provost for International Activities will perform a preliminary evaluation of the White Papers.
Announcement of the selected White Paper proposals and feedback from the Committee will be provided by October 15, 2021.
white-paper-template-4th call-ngp
b.Full Proposal Submission
Selected teams of co-PLs will be invited to submit a Full Proposal (a template form will be provided by October 15, 2021) by e-mail to Next.Generation@Skoltech.ru. The Full Proposal submission deadline is November 15, 2021.
The Steering Committee will evaluate the Full Proposals with the additional involvement of internal and external experts and select the awardees.
Announcement of the selected Full Proposals will be made by January 28, 2022.
For Skoltech PLs funding will be released upon negotiation of budgetary components and the formal signing of the respective documents.
IV. Timeline
| Submission of White Paper (WP) | September 1, 2021 |
| Announcement of selected WPs | October 15, 2021 |
| Submission of the Full Proposal (FP) | November 15, 2021 |
| Announcement of selected FPs | January 28, 2022 |
| Anticipated start date of the award | January 1, 2022 |
V. Submission and Contacts
The White Papers and invited Full Proposals should be submitted by e-mail to Next.Generation@skoltech.ru by a Skoltech co-PL by the respective deadlines.
For NGP inquiries please contact Ms. Karina Khapchaeva, Head of Research Initiative Office, at k.khapchaeva@skoltech.ru and/or Ms. Deliana Ernst, Assistant Director, MIT Skoltech Program at mitskoltech@mit.edu.
Appendix
Eligibility and Requirements for Skoltech applicants:
Successful awards will meet the following eligibility criteria and requirements:
- The Skoltech co-Project Leader should be employed at Skoltech full time during the full term of the project;
- All projects, especially the research projects, will be selected based on their potential for having substantial impact;
- The proposal should be cost-efficient, with research scope matching the amount of funding requested;
- The proposal should leverage Skoltech expertise and resources but should not duplicate work already supported by other funds.
Each co-Project Leader may be involved with only one application within the 4th Call for NGP Proposals. Recipients of previous awards are invited to submit a proposal for a new project. Recipients of current NGP awards are excluded from submitting a project proposal within this Call for NGP Proposals.
General Evaluation Criteria
The following Evaluation Criteria will be applied for selection of the proposals:
- Overall assessment of the proposal:
- Expected impact;
- Excellence and novelty of the proposed activity;
- Qualification of the team involved;
- Likelihood of success;
- Value of expected deliverables (for non-research projects).
- Assessment of contribution of the project to Skoltech capacity development in one of the three main areas:
- Research (including visibility of research excellence, knowledge exchange, new expertise created; research personnel growth and development; research infrastructure development; partnership network created);
- Innovation (including new research directions/ideas with the consideration of practical use; new methods, products, processes; design with potential practical application; intellectual property perspectives); or
- Education (including curriculum development, course development, other curriculum activity; MSc and PhD students’ research; other education-related activities).
Budget Guidelines
The overall project budget will be distributed among co-PLs based on specified co-PL’s expenditures. Skoltech part should be budgeted in Rubles, MIT part should be budgeted in USD.
Budget Guidelines for Skoltech
At Skoltech, funds should be spent within a respective calendar year with no carry-over allowed.
The following expenditures are permitted under the NGP program at Skoltech:
- Project Personnel costs (salaries and benefits for research and technical staff, including employees and new hires); Skoltech faculty salaries and Skoltech student stipends cannot be charged to the project budget.
- Bench fees for Skoltech MSc and PhD students (costs associated with support of research activities of the students, including travel support);
- Business trips
- Materials, supplies, and services
- Subcontractors (no more than 20% of the total budget);
- Equipment (no more than 10% of the total budget)
Budget Guidelines for MIT
Funding may be used for MIT salaries (including summer salaries as well as RA, postdoc, and other salaries), tuition for MIT students, materials & supplies, services, equipment, travel & meeting costs to facilitate collaboration with Skoltech, and indirect costs. MIT funds should be spent according to the respective MIT policy.
The white paper or full proposal does not need to be routed via Kuali Coeus (KC). Only if a grant is awarded will the proposal need to be routed via KC.
Additional Information and Support
Conflict of Interest
PLs and other project participants must declare any potential Conflict of Interest in their proposal.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality will be maintained of all proposal material, and all expert reviewers will be required to respect the confidentiality of proposals. However, proposal authors should be aware that an abstract of successful proposals will be treated as public information. Therefore, at the co-PLs’ discretion, if there is specific information in the proposal that is business-confidential and not intended for public dissemination, it should be clearly labeled as such. This information will be withheld from public distribution if the proposal is successful.