solicitation

Learn about the new tracks in NSF’s Convergence Accelerator

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The NSF Convergence Accelerator has issued a new funding opportunity for three new research track topics: Equitable Water Solutions, Real-World Chemical Sensing Applications, and Bio-Inspired Design Innovations.

Researchers and innovators have two submission pathways to submit their proposals: Solicitation, NSF-23-590, and Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), NSFBAA-CA23-01.

  • Required letters of intent are due by July 11, 2023.
  • Full proposals are due by 5 p.m. local time on August 22, 2023.

More information on the tracks and potential topics can be found on the program webpage.

Opportunities to Learn More: Upcoming Webinars

Join an NSF Convergence Accelerator webinar to learn about the program and the current funding opportunity.

Webinars will be held: May 25, 2023 and June 6, 2023 from 3 – 5 p.m. EDT.

Register now

During the webinars, participants will learn about:

  • the program’s model and fundamentals, including:
    • the program’s phased approach
    • innovation processes used to accelerate basic research into practice
  • the solicitation opportunity and the research track focuses
  • required Convergence Accelerator fundamentals, and important submission information.

The goal of these webinars is to bring awareness of this exciting opportunity to develop use-inspired solutions to have a positive impact on national and societal challenges. 

Optional 30 minute Track Breakouts

At 4:30 p.m. EDT, join us for an optional 30 minute breakout session featuring the three track topics. Here you can ask additional questions and engage with similarly-interested stakeholders and researchers to potentially assist you in forming your team and formulating your proposal.

Engaging Scientific Societies in Culture Change: New BIO-LEAPS Solicitation

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Building off a successful DCL issued last year, we are pleased to announce the new Leading Cultural Change Through Professional Societies of Biology (BIO-LEAPS) solicitation.

The program aims to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in biology at scale through culture change by leveraging the leadership, broad reach, and unique ability of professional societies. Professional societies are uniquely positioned to help facilitate culture change in their disciplines through: publishing journals, fostering scientific discussion and debate, broad membership (including membership from academia, government agencies, and private businesses), hosting large scientific meetings that can serve as networking and professional development opportunities for people at many professional levels, and electing leaders that greatly influence views and norms within a discipline.

As we recognize that disciplines and societies may be at different points in assessing and addressing their culture, the program has three tracks — Evaluation, Design and Plan, and Implementation. The Evaluation Track is for projects focused on assessment and research of the values, norms, priorities, and practices associated with the culture of the discipline or sub-discipline. The Design Track is for projects to develop an evidence-based plan to address broad-scale culture change within a discipline or sub-discipline. The Implementation Track is for projects to implement evidence-based cultural change strategies that leverage the influence of biological professional societies.

Proposals are due on July 1, 2022.

For further explanation of the tracks, complete submission requirements, and additional information, please see the BIO-LEAPS program page and solicitation 22-542. You can also contact the working group at BIO-LEAPS@nsf.gov.

Two webinars (March 21, 2022 from 2-3 EST and April 22, 2022 from 3-4 EST) are being planned to provide the community the opportunity to learn more about the program and ask questions of cognizant program officers. Please monitor the BIO-LEAPS program page for registration links.

Check out the new Understanding the Rules of Life (URoL) Solicitation

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NSF has just released a revision to the new Understanding the Rules of Life: Emergent Networks (URoL:EN) solicitation that builds on previous solicitations and awards under NSF’s Understanding the Rules of Life Big Idea. The solicitation (22-532) also supports BIO’s efforts to integrate within and across the biological sciences, as well as support interdisciplinary science.

The program supports research to understand “rules of emergence” for networks of living systems and their environments. These emergent networks are made up of the interactions among organismal, environmental, social, and human-engineered systems that are complex and often unexpected given the behaviors of these systems when observed in isolation. The often-unanticipated outcomes of these interactions can be both wide-ranging and enormously impactful.

URoL:EN projects will use convergent scientific approaches to explore these interactions and contribute to understanding rules of life through new theories and reliable predictions about the impact of specific environmental changes on behaviors of complex living systems, or engineerable interventions and technologies based on a rule of life to address associated outcomes for societal benefit.

Submissions must be made by March 1, 2022.

We encourage you to monitor the BIO homepage on NSF.gov and the URoL:EN program page for further information and opportunities to connect with the cognizant program officers.

New BIO Funding Opportunity for the Reintegration of Biology

NSF_BIO6 Comments

Supporting fundamental biological research that takes an integrative approach to understanding life’s key innovations is a priority for the BIO Directorate. Despite biology’s unifying goal of understanding the processes that generate and sustain life, the actual practice of modern biology has become increasingly fragmented into subdisciplines due, in part, to specialized approaches required for deep study of narrowly defined problems.

BIO now aims to strengthen the connections between biological subdisciplines and encourage a reintegration of biology through a new funding opportunity: Biology Integration Institutes. Letters of Intent are due on December 20, 2019 and full proposals are due on February 6, 2020.

The Biology Integration Institutes will support collaborative teams of researchers at a level not feasible in most existing core programs and over a more extended timeframe than is typical of standard NSF awards. Our goal is to stimulate creative integration of diverse biological disciplines using innovative experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches to discover underlying principles operating across all levels of life, from biomolecules to organisms, species, ecosystems, and biomes. While this solicitation focuses on the integration of biological disciplines, any field beyond biology may be included as needed to address the overarching biological theme.

We also intend for the Institutes to enable research and training in a truly integrated environment, preparing the next generation of biological scientists to pursue discipline-spanning research throughout their careers. In these ways, the Biology Integration Institutes will enable the workforce and innovations that will inspire new applications to drive our bioeconomy and provide solutions to pressing societal challenges.

Proposals may be submitted in one of two tracks. Implementation proposals are for teams that have already developed an Integrative Research Plan around a theme of significance, designed an educational approach that employs effective methods for depth and breadth of training, and prepared a cohesive and sustainable Management Plan that is ready for deployment. Design proposals are for teams to develop communities and groundbreaking ideas to be submitted to later competitions as Implementation proposals through diverse and sustained activities, including workshops and follow-up meetings.

This funding opportunity is a part of BIO’s larger efforts to stimulate integrative thinking in the biological research community. To learn more about the Biology Integration Institutes, visit the solicitation and program website, or reach out to the cognizant program directors:

Updated IRES solicitation now available

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The NSF’s Office of International Science and Engineering has released an updated solicitation for the International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program. IRES focuses on active research participation by U.S. students in high quality international research, education and professional development experiences in NSF-funded research areas. The updated solicitation can be found on the NSF website.

The overarching, long-term goal of the IRES program is to enhance U.S. leadership in research and education, and to strengthen economic competitiveness through training the next generation of research leaders.

The solicitation has three tracks, two of which are new to the program.

  • Track I: IRES Sites projects engage a group of undergraduate and/or graduate students in active, high-quality collaborative research at an international site with mentorship from researchers at a host facility. IRES Sites must be organized around a coherent intellectual theme that may involve a single discipline or multiple disciplines funded by NSF.
  • Track II (New): Advanced Studies Institutes (ASI) are intensive short courses with related activities that engage advanced graduate students in active learning and research. ASIs typically range in length from ten to 21 days and must be held outside the United States. ASIs must have a compelling rationale for their international location and should involve U.S. and foreign researchers. ASIs enable students to develop skills and broaden professional networks, leveraging international participation and complementary resources.
  • Track III (New): New Concepts in International Graduate Experience projects propose, implement and evaluate creative ideas for catalyzing the development of globally engaged U.S. scientists and engineers at the graduate student level. Professional societies and organizations in the U.S. are invited to propose innovative large-scale programs to provide high-quality international research and professional development experiences for U.S. graduate students.

Submission Deadlines: January-February 2018

Webinar: November 30, 2017, 2:00 – 3:30pm

OISE contacts:
Dr. Maija Kukla
Track I

 

Dr. Fahmida Chowdhury
Tracks II & III