GUIDELINES
Article 1. General Considerations
1. The overall objective of the call “State Grant for the development of joint research and educational programs in the world’s leading research centers and their further application in Georgia» is to create the research center of international standing in Georgia with utilization of best practice of foreign leading research institutions.
2. The call is organized in compliance with the rules defined by the resolution #30 of Government of Georgia of 21 January 2011 and the order of Director General of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation #6 of 01 February 2011.
3. The call is administered by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation (hereinafter referred to as Foundation).
Article 2. Participation
1. Project proposals can be submitted by the higher educational organization - university (hereinafter referred to as university) being authorized by current legislation as the legal entity of public law. Once the project is awarded the university will be considered as a grantee.
2. Each university can submit only one project proposal.
3. Project proposal should be prepared jointly by the university and its partner organization – foreign scientific-research center (hereinafter referred to as Partner).
4. Project proposal should make provision for conducting joint scientific research in partner organization with participation of post-doctoral fellows (person who has held the doctoral degree for less than six years at the time of application).
5. Project proposal should imply the obligatory research-related educational component in the form of doctorate program(s). In particular, participation of PhD students (hereinafter referred to as pre-doc) including PhD students of the applying university, in planned research is obligatory.
6. Project proposal may assume additional investment from foreign scientific foundations or other donor organizations, provided the additional funds are used in compliance with the project objectives.
7. Project proposal should make provision for continuation of research program in Georgia at the university in particular after is completion. Namely, the commitments of university to the project research staff and PhDs involved in terms of providing them with appropriate working conditions and research infrastructure necessary for continuation of studies after project completion should be clearly described. Besides, university and partner should agree on what part of research infrastructure and computer techniques being purchased from the project budget to be transferred to the Georgian party.
8. Grantee – university bears the responsibility for implementation of the project.
9. The project should have scientific supervisor, citizen of Georgia with PhD degree or its equivalent who will manage the program during project implementation and proceed with his duties (in Georgia) after project completion in a period specified in project (at least one year). The scientific supervisor together with beneficiary university is responsible for the project’s scientific outcomes as well as for reporting on the project activities.
10. During the implementation of the project the scientific supervisor is an employee of the partner organization and receives the remuneration from the partner.
11. The sanctions to be applied in case of non-fulfillment of objectives envisaged in the project will be defined in the grant agreement.
Article 3. Project budget
1. Project proposal should include budget description (Annex 3).
2. Financing allocated by the foundation may envisage the following items/cost categories:
a) Post-doctoral stipend;
b) Stipend for PhD student;
c) Remuneration for the supporting and administrative personnel;
d) Travel costs of young doctors and PhD students for their participation in scientific conferences, also the costs for round-trip from Georgia to the partner organization;
e) Goods and services;
f) Purchase of research equipment, including the research-relating computers and other techniques;
3. The budget should reflect amount of co-funding from partner; Each year co-funding provided by partner should not be less than amount requested from the foundation .
4. Maximum duration of the project is 4 years.
5. Funds requested from the foundation should not exceed GEL 700 000 per year.
6. Annual funding of the project will be provided in quarterly installments.
Article 4. Submission of applications
1. Deadline for submission of project applications to foundation is 1 March 2011, 18:00. Proposals submitted after this deadline will not be accepted.
2. A hard copy of project application and other related documents should be submitted to foundation.
3. The following documents should be submitted for the participation in the call:
a) Letterhead – statement on participation in the call, confirmed by the signature of the University’s rector and project’s scientific supervisor with indication of the project’s title, duration, funds requested from the foundation and share of co-financing (Annex 1).
b) Description of the project (Annex 2).
c) One page project’s resume (in Georgian and English).
d) Letter of concurrence of partner organization with signature of the authorized person confirming participation in the project and co-funding (original and certified Georgian translation).
e) Project budget (Annex 3).
f) CV of the project’s scientific supervisor (Annex 4)
g) Copy of the document proving the scientific/academic degree of the project’s scientific supervisor.
i) Timetable of the project’s implementation.
4. The foundation reserves the rights for withdrawal of project proposal at any stage of competition if it does not meet the objectives of the call and contains falsification.
5. Submission of project proposals to the foundation is available in the working hours from 10:00 till 18:00.