Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors

Transcription

1 Domain Science Call for proposals Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 2017 The Hague, February 2017 Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research

2 Contents 1 Introduction Background Available budget Validity of the call for proposals 2 2 Aim 3 3 Guidelines for applicants Who can apply What can be applied for When can applications be submitted Preparing an application Conditions on granting Submitting an application 10 4 Assessment procedure Procedure Criteria 14 5 Contact details and other information Contact Other information 16 6 Annexe(s) About the escience Center The escience Technology Platform (estep) The Dutch National e-infrastructure escience Center core technological competences 21

3 1 Chapter 1: Introduction / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 1 Introduction 1.1 Background Big data is the 21st century natural resource for innovations in society, economy and science. Pervasive technologies such as Internet of Things, high tech sensors, digitization of collections, and social media lead to massive amounts of collected data. The value ascribed to these big data is found in unexpected patterns hidden in the data, the causal relations, related predictive powers, and decision support that can subsequently be attained. Unearthing the value of raw big data as so to obtain hindsight, insight, foresight and possibly forecast in any application domain requires breakthroughs in advanced ICT science, data science and digital technologies. Digitally enhanced science, or escience, is an inherently multi-disciplinary pursuit concerned with bridging the gap between the demands of compute- and dataintensive research in scientific domains on the one hand, and the capabilities of state-of-the-art ICT on the other ranging from high-performance computing and networking, to large-scale data management, and novel big data analysis methods. The challenge of escience is not only to ensure that most value is gained from new research endeavours, but also to exploit the often domain-independent nature of the underlying escience requirements. As such, escience aims to deliver sustainable and discipline overarching solutions, made available for reuse and tailored to problemspecific needs. Also, escience aims to not reinvent the wheel, but rather to utilize and creatively combine existing methods and tools as much as possible. The Netherlands escience Center (NLeSC) is the national hub for the development and application of domain overarching software and methods for the scientific community. The escience Center develops crucial bridges between increasingly complex modern e-infrastructures and the growing demands and ambitions of scientists from across all scientific disciplines. The application of digitally enhanced scientific practices is a fundamental toolbox for all researchers and is a prerequisite to ensure the Dutch knowledge sector remains competitive and the greatest return can be achieved from scientific investments. In support of this goal the escience Center funds and participates in multidisciplinary projects with optimal datahandling, efficient computing and big-data analytics at their core. The KIA.ICT describes the ICT innovation themes that provide economic advantages and societal challenges to several top sectors, and devides these into overarching domains, one of which is COMMIT2DATA. COMMIT2DATA aims at strengthening knowledge, valorization and dissemination of data science, stewardship and technology for the top sectors. The goal of COMMIT2DATA is to support intersecting, coherent projects within different subprogrammes, in order to avoid fragmentation and to stimulate collaboration (see figure 1). In the vertical subprogrammes, research, valorisation and dissemination is carried out based on a domain-specific questions and demands. Several fundamental challenges apply to all top sectors. Within COMMIT2DATA these are the so-called horizontal intersecting themes focused on data analytics and data handling, with a focus on more generic opportunities in data science and stewardship. For this reason, the horizontal subprogrammes focus on more than one domain. Given the excellent opportunities for added value when joining forces between Data Science and escience and the strong alignment between the intersecting themes of COMMIT2DATA and the core technological competences of the escience Center, with this call for proposals the Board of the Netherlands escience Center (NLeSC) and the

4 2 Chapter 1: Introduction / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors Board of NWO Domain Science invite researchers to submit proposals on the intersection between the escience Center core technological competences, which are aligned with the COMMIT2DATA intersecting themes, and the vertical subprogrammes of COMMIT2DATA. Starting from the core technological competences of the escience Center, this call addresses the cross-sectoral research challenges described in the COMMIT2DATA White Paper. Furthermore, the proposed research should likely have an impact in one or more top sectors. Funded projects will become part of the Commit2Data program. Research, valorization and dissemination interaction with other projects addressing similar application domain challenges is stimulated and expected as so to strengthen the national big data ecosystem. 1.2 Available budget For the 2017 call the total budget is approximately M 2. Of the total budget, the escience Center will provide M 1 as in-kind funding in the form of escience engineers appointed to the project. Only proposals that are assessed as excellent or very good will be eligible for funding. Proposals of insufficient quality will not be eligible for funding even if there is sufficient budget. 1.3 Validity of the call for proposals This call for proposals is valid until the closing date August 31, 2017, 14:00 hours CE(S)T. PLEASE NOTE: The closing date for the compulsory pre-proposals is 18 May 2017, 14:00 CEST.

5 3 Chapter 2: Aim / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 2 Aim This call for proposals aims at research and development of disruptive solutions associated with big data handling, big data analytics and related computational methods in order to be able to address the novel cross-sectoral scientific challenges described in the COMMIT2DATA White Paper (annex 6.4). Since this is a joint escience Center and NWO call for proposals directed towards COMMIT2DATA challenges, the horizontal intersecting themes of COMMIT2DATA are aligned with the core technological competences of the escience Center. The core technological competences of the escience Center are illustrated in figure 1, and a schematic representation of the COMMIT2DATA program is shown in figure 2. Figure 3 represents the focus of this call, with the escience Center core technological competences aligned with the COMMIT2DATA horizontal themes. Research proposals in this call should address a application domain challenge from at least one of the COMMIT2DATA vertical sub-programs (fig 3.), using novel digital technologies and data science methods that are studied and developed within the project. Furthermore, the resulting software and algorithms should have an application perspective in at least one other topsector or COMMIT2DATA vertical sub-program. The used technologies and data science methods should be aligned to at least one of the escience Center core technological competences as shown in figure 1 and 3, to ensure the alignment of the research with the core technological competences of the escience Center (see annex 6.4) in order to contribute to their further development. Please note that the COMMIT2DATA vertical program Public Safety is not part of the aim for this call (figure 3), due to insufficient overlap with the escience Center core technological competences. NLeSC Core technological competences Optimized data handling: Real time data analysis, database optimization, data-interoperability, combining structured and unstructured data, Big data analytics: Data exploration, analysis, data mining, machine learning, tekst analysis, naltural language processing, statistics and visualisation Efficient computing: High performance and distributed computing, heterogeneous computing, efficient algorithms, accelerator hardware, green computing Figure 1: escience Center Core technological competences

6 4 Chapter 2: Aim / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors Figure 2: Schematic representation of the COMMIT2DATA programme, including the connection between the horizontal themes and the vertical subprogrammes.

7 5 Chapter 2: Aim / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors HTSM/ Smart Industry Energy transition Logistics Life sciences & Health Domain challenges Domain challenges Domain challenges Domain challenges C2D vertical sub-programmes Big data & smart industry Specific big data challenges Big data & system integration Specific big data challenges Big data & Logistics Specific big data challenges Big data & health Specific big data challenges Big data & Agro-food Specific big data challenges Data handling: platforms, access; distributed solutions; privacy; secuity Data analytics: machine learning; statistics; mining; efficient algorithms Efficient computing; upscaling; efficient algorithms; heterogeneous and distributed computing; NLeSC core technological competences (aligned with the C2D horizontal themes) Figure 3: The COMMIT2DATA program with the horizontal themes aligned with the Core technological competences of the escience Center. Please note that the vertical COMMIT2DATA program on public safety has been removed, due to insufficient synergy with the escience Center core technological competences.

8 6 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 3 Guidelines for applicants 3.1 Who can apply The conditions below apply to both main and co-applicants unless otherwise stated. Applications can be submitted by full, assistant and associate professors and other researchers with a comparable appointment if they: hold an appointment at a Dutch university or a research institute recognised by NWO 1, and possess at least a Master s degree or a comparable qualification, and have a contract (period of appointment) for at least the duration of the application process and the research for which the grant is being applied for. An exception to the required period of appointment can be made for: main applicants with a tenure-track appointment that covers at least half of the duration required. Applicants should then demonstrate by means of a letter that adequate supervision is guaranteed for the duration of the research for all of the researchers for whom the grant is being applied for; Co-applicants if they can demonstrate that adequate supervision can be guaranteed for the entire duration of the research for all of the researchers for whom the grant is being applied for. These further conditions apply: escience Center employees cannot be applicants. each main applicant may submit only one proposal in that capacity in this call; the main applicant may not also submit a proposal in that capacity in the escience Center Accelerating Scientific Discovery (ASDI) 2017 call; the simultaneous submission of identical/very similar proposals is not permitted; 3.2 What can be applied for Each proposal must consist of two complementary and mutually strengthening parts: a data science part and an escience part, on disruptive technologies related to scientific challenges in the top sectors mentioned in Chapter 2. In each proposal funding can be requested for one research position for a minimum duration of 24 months and a maximum duration of 48 months. The funding can be used for a PhD (for 48 months) or two or three-year (based on a full-time position) postdoctoral position. An individual bench fee (k 5) will be allocated to each PhD or postdoc to partly cover things such as travel costs and the costs of printing a thesis (the bench fee is not part of the additional funding). 1 See NWO Regulation on Granting

9 7 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors Each proposal should include 2.5 FTE 2 in contributions from escience research engineers employed by the escience Center (see below for a description). Furthermore, up to a maximum of k 35 in additional funding can be requested. This funding can be used for: o equipment/software for the project as long as costs are above k 5. The equipment/software must be specifically intended for the project described in the proposal. The relationship with the project and the need for the equipment should be clearly justified. Equipment/software costing less than K 5 is considered to belong to the infrastructure of the research institution and so it cannot be applied for; o travel costs for the purpose of the requested research positions in so far as these are not covered by the bench fee. The need to travel for the project, in particular for the research positions requested, should be clearly justified; o Costs associated with open access publications associated to the proposed project. The requested cost for open access publications should be clearly justified; o other activities in the framework of the project, such as travel and accommodation costs for guest researchers and costs for symposia. These should also be clearly justified. An additional 0.5 FTE escience research engineer is assigned to each funded project for sustainability and generalization of software results and where possible inclusion in estep (see Annex 6.2) on top of the abovementioned escience research engineers. This 0.5 FTE need not be included in the requested project budget. Funding may not be requested for tenured staff, student assistants, overheads, general laboratory equipment (this also includes general software and hardware such as computers and laptops for which it may be expected that these belong to the standard equipment for a scientific position), maintenance and insurance costs and publication costs (with the exception of costs associated with open access publications). Personnel costs are fundable in accordance with the most recent version of Agreement for Funding Scientific Research, which has been signed by NWO, VSNU, NFU, ZonMw, KNAW and VFI. The agreement and the maximum payments for personnel costs can be found at and escience Research Engineers are scientists employed at the escience Center who work at the interface of various scientific disciplines and advanced ICT. They will become an integral part of the projected research team focusing on the development and implementation of escience technologies and software. Primarily, they will ensure that the research team will be able to make easy and effective use of the envisioned technological solutions. They will also help to interpret the results of the research and to make the delivered escience tools useable for a broad range of users. The escience Research Engineers perform their project activities both at the 2 The term FTE stands for the amount of FTE over the course of the project. Of the total requested FTE, 15% comprises internal overhead. The remaining 85% covers all activities performed on behalf of the project by one or more escience Research Engineers in particular, and - to a maximum of 5% - by the assigned the escience Center Coordinator and communication personnel.

10 8 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors escience Center in Amsterdam and at the project locations (typically at the institute of the main applicant). In this way, they contribute directly to the project team whilst also providing a direct link to the expertise available throughout the escience Center and its wider networks. The escience Center assigns a coordinator to each project. The escience Center Coordinator is an experienced project manager who will be part of the project team. The coordinator is responsible for the daily supervision of the Engineer(s) assigned to the project, and together with the main applicant in charge of monitoring progress and the delivery of project results. Remunerations for PhD students/phd scholarship students at a Dutch university are not eligible for funding from NWO. 3.3 When can applications be submitted The deadline for the submission of preproposals is May 18, 2017, 14:00 hours CE(S)T. The deadline for the submission of proposals is August 31, 2017, 14:00 hours CE(S)T. When you submit your application to ISAAC you will also need to enter additional details online. You should therefore start submitting your application at least one day before the deadline of this call for proposals. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be taken into consideration. 3.4 Preparing an application Download the application form from the electronic application system ISAAC or from NWO s website (on the grant page for this programme). Complete the application form. Save the application form as a pdf file and upload it in ISAAC. 3.5 Conditions on granting The specific conditions that are valid for granted proposals are: Awarded projects must commence within six months of the award date. If the project has not started within that period, the grant may be withdrawn. The maximum duration of a project is 48 months. If this period is exceeded NWO and the escience Center have the right to undertake fitting measures. if the project includes one or more private partners that contribute a cash or in-kind contribution to the research, the project partners (the knowledge institute and the participating private partners) should sign a project agreement before the start of the project. the escience Center will provide a model agreement on the website of the program. Applicants are expected to contribute to additional reporting, meetings and periodic evaluations within the framework of Commit2Data. Applicants are expected to: o FAIR. Researchers use the FAIR principles with respect to the sharing of data;

11 9 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors o o o o C2D-broad synergy. Researchers actively contribute to the dissemination of the results within the C2D community, especially application domains which are not directly addressed within their own projects, for example through participating in C2D-wide events;. Subprogram-synergy. Researchers actively contribute to the subprogram that evolves from the present call, for example through participating in events organised within this sub-programme; Big-data hubs. If possible, cooperation will be sought with relevant C2D big data hubs and filed labs (either existing or development) in order to shape the valorisation- and disseminationactivities towards private partners.; Progress reports. Researchers will cooperate once a year in a progress meeting at the escience Center. As a result of the progress meeting, a progress report will be drafted, and shared with COMMIT2DATA. Open Access All scientific publications resulting from research that is funded by grants derived from this call for proposals are to be immediately (at the time of publication) freely accessible worldwide (Open Access). There are several ways for researchers to publish Open Access. A detailed explanation regarding Open Access can be found on Data management Responsible data management is part of good research. NWO wants research data that emerge from publicly funded research to become freely and sustainably available, as much as possible, for reuse by other researchers. Furthermore NWO wants to raise awareness among researchers about the importance of responsible data management. Proposals should therefore satisfy the data management protocol of NWO. This protocol consists of two steps: 1. Data management section The data management section is part of the research proposal. Researchers should answer four questions about data management within their intended research project. Therefore before the research starts the researcher will be asked to think about how the data collected must be ordered and categorised so that it can be made freely available. Measures will often need to be taken during the production and analysis of the data to make their later storage and dissemination possible. Researchers can state which research data they consider to be relevant for storage and reuse. 2. Data management plan After a proposal has been awarded funding the researcher should elaborate the data management section into a data management plan. The plan should be submitted to NWO via ISAAC within a maximum of 4 months after the proposal has been awarded funding. NWO will approve the plan as quickly as possible. Approval of the data management plan by NWO is a condition for disbursement of the funding. The plan can be adjusted during the research. Further information about the data management protocol of NWO can be found at Software sustainability High-quality software is part of good research. the escience Center wants research software that emerges from publicly funded research to become freely and sustainably available, as much as possible, for reuse by other researchers. Furthermore, the escience Center wants to raise awareness among researchers

12 10 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors about the importance of software sustainability, because it is essential for correctness and reproducibility of scientific results. Proposals should therefore satisfy the software sustainability protocol of the escience Center. This protocol consists of two steps: 1. Software sustainability section The software sustainability section is part of the research proposal. Researchers should answer several questions about software sustainability within their intended research project. Therefore, before the research starts the researcher will be asked to think about how the research software created will be licensed and published so that it will be freely available. Measures will often need to be taken during the production of software to make long-term reuse possible, also after the project is finished. Researchers can state which research software they consider to be relevant for publication and reuse. 2. Software sustainability plan After a proposal has been awarded funding the researcher should elaborate the software sustainability section into a software sustainability plan. The escience Center research engineers can assist with the writing of this plan. The plan should be submitted to NWO via ISAAC within a maximum of 4 months after the proposal has been awarded funding. NWO will approve the plan as quickly as possible. Approval of the software sustainability plan by NWO is a condition for disbursement of the funding in this program. The plan can be adjusted during the research project. The NWO Regulation on Granting applies insofar as this does not deviate from the specific conditions and this call for proposals. 3.6 Submitting an application Applications can only be submitted to NWO via the electronic application system ISAAC. Applications not submitted via ISAAC will not be admitted to the selection procedure. An applicant is obliged to submit his/her application via his/her own ISAAC account. If the applicant does not yet have an ISAAC account, this should be created at least one day before the submission. Then any possible registration problems can still be solved on time. If the applicant already has an ISAAC account then he/she does not need to create a new account to submit a new application. Pre-proposal: A pre-proposal has three parts: a fact sheet, the application form and a list of suggested referees / non-referees. The fact sheet can be completed directly in ISAAC, the electronic application system of NWO ( While completing the fact sheet, you can only make use of ASCII symbols ( plain text ). Therefore, use of (structural) formulas, illustrations, italics etcetera in the fact sheet is not possible. A link to the ISAAC submission system is available on the escience Center webpage for this call. The correct application form must be used for preparing the pre-proposal. The form can be obtained from the escience Center webpage for this call (via The completed form must be attached to the ISAAC fact sheet as a PDF file. A list of possible referees/non-referees should be added to the ISAAC fact sheet in a separate PDF-file. Possible letters of intent from (for example) private partners can be added to the ISAAC fact sheet in a separate PDF-file.

13 11 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors Pre-proposals must be completed in English. The layout of the pre-proposal should facilitate its readability. Use a font size of at least 10 points. Full proposal: A full proposal has two parts: a fact sheet, and the application form. The fact sheet can be completed directly in ISAAC, the electronic application system of NWO ( While completing the fact sheet, you can only make use of ASCII symbols ( plain text ). Therefore, use of (structural) formulas, illustrations, italics etcetera in the fact sheet is not possible. A link to the ISAAC submission system is available on the escience Center webpage for this call. The correct application form must be used for preparing the proposal. The form is obtained from the escience Center webpage for this call (via The completed form must be attached to the ISAAC fact sheet as a PDF file. Possible letters of intent from (for example) private partners can be added to the ISAAC fact sheet in a separate PDF-file. Other additional annexes may not be added to the full proposal (for example, extra results, manuscripts etc.). Applications must be completed in English. The layout of the proposal should facilitate its readability. Use a font size of at least 10 points. In accordance with the agreement between NWO and the VSNU applicants should inform the institution about the submission. The applicant should send a copy of the application to the scientific director or dean of the institution or faculty. For each proposal submitted, NWO Physical Sciences will assume that the applicant has informed the institution and that the university or the institute accepts the granting conditions of this programme.

14 12 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 4 Assessment procedure 4.1 Procedure In this procedure a compulsory preproposal will be used, i.e. a proposal that is only elaborated to a limited extent. The assessment of the preproposal will lead to an advice from the selection committee for the further develop the preproposal into a full proposal. General The NWO Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest applies to all persons and relevant NWO personnel involved in the assessment and/or decision-making processes. For further information see: The NWO Regulation on Granting includes a clause that states that all research funded by NWO must be realised in accordance with the nationally and internationally accepted standards for scientific conduct as stated in the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Scientific Practice 2012 (VSNU). Further information about the NWO policy on scientific integrity can be found on the website: Information event To allow interested applicants to get acquainted with the escience Center s strategy and approach, the role of the escience Research Engineers, the capabilities of the Dutch National e-infrastructure, the software technologies implemented and applied by the escience Center, and the aim of this call for proposals, an information event will be organized at the escience Center (Amsterdam, Science Park 140) on 4 April Registration is required via Presence of at least one applicant at the information event is highly recommended, but not mandatory. Admissibility NWO Domain Science, with the advice of the Commit2Data bureau, will assess whether the proposal fits within the application domains mentioned in chapter 2. Based on the advice of the escience Center program office, the Board of the escience Center will assess the fit of proposals with the escience Center core technological competences, as described in chapter 2 of this call for proposals. Also, the escience Center and NWO will jointly assess whether the application satisfies the formal requirements set (see Chapter 3). Only applications that meet the formal requirements and fit within this call are admissible and will be considered by the escience Center and NWO in the further assessment procedure. If an application does not satisfy the admissibility conditions then the applicant will be informed of this in writing. Pre-proposal In the procedure compulsory pre-proposals, i.e. applications in brief, are used. The assessment committee will assess the pre-proposals according to the specific assessment criteria (see Section 4.2) and will prioritise the pre-proposals according to their chances of being awarded funding, without making use of external referees. The evaluation of the escience relevance criterion outlined in Section 4.2 is evaluated by the escience Center. The evaluations of the escience Center will be provided to the assessment committee as input for their overall evaluation. The other criteria are evaluated by the assessment committee.

15 13 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors Applicants of pre-proposals with the highest chance of being awarded funding will be invited to submit a full proposal before the deadline of Tuesday 31 August Applicants whose pre-proposals received a lower priority will be informed that they will not be invited to submit a full proposal. As this concerns an advice, a formal objection may not be submitted. Mid-procedure meeting All applicants invited to submit a full proposal in the second phase are also invited for a personal meeting at the escience Center. In the meeting, applicants are given advice on how to incorporate any advice of the assessment committee, how to exploit the escience Center s competences in full, and how to best cover all review criteria. Applicants that have received a negative advise in the first phase, and are planning to submit a proposal in the second phase are requested to contact the escience Center if they would like similar input on their proposal. escience Center employees are explicitly not allowed to write any part of the proposal, or to serve as co-applicant. Referees All full proposals will be submitted to external referees for assessment. Referees are experts in the subject discipline(s) of the proposal. They will write a referee's report in which they state the strong and weak aspects of the proposal. The anonymised referees' reports will be sent to the applicant who then subsequently can write a written response (the rebuttal). The applicant is asked to make three suggestions for foreign referees who could possibly be consulted, by fully completing the list of referees (see website). To safeguard the confidentiality, the applicant is requested to submit the names as a separate annex in ISAAC. The list with suggestions for referees may not contain any names of researchers that the applicant has worked with during the past three years or is working or will work with. This concerns not only co-authors but other forms of collaboration as well. Only referees who are not involved 3 with the applying research team and the proposal may be used. The referees suggested may not be working in the Netherlands. The assessment committee can also be asked to provide suggestions. Several independent referees taken from the list of possible experts will be asked to submit a report. Besides the suggestions from the applicant other experts will also be used as referees. Non-referees On the list of referees the applicant may also state the names of three people who they do NOT want to act as a referee. This is not compulsory. Applicants who make use of this possibility should also provide clear reasons why they have stated these people as non-referees. Assessment committee The assessment committee's task is to make an independent evaluation based on the application, the referees reports and the rebuttal. Although the referees reports have a strong bearing on the final assessment, they will not be unquestioningly adopted by the assessment committee. The assessment committee will consider the 3 The Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest can be found on the website of NWO: The possible conflicts are stated in this code.

16 14 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors arguments of the referees (also between referees) and will examine whether a good response to the critical comments from the referees' reports has been formulated in the rebuttal. Furthermore, unlike the referees, the selection committee can see the quality of the other proposals submitted and the rebuttals. Advice to the decision making body The decision will be jointly made by the Board of NWO Domain Science and the Board of the escience Center. The assessment committee will advise the decision making body about the quality of the research proposals. The decision making body will decide which proposals to award funding based on this advice and the funds available. Decision making The decision making body decides on the granting and rejection of proposals based on the advice of the assessment committee. 4 April 2017 Information event 18 May 2017; hours Deadline submission pre-proposals CEST June 2017 Meeting Assessment Committee pre-proposals July 2017 July/August 2017 Advise pre-proposals Mid-procedure meeting 31 August 2017; 14:00 Deadline submission full proposals hours CEST September. / October 2017 Review by peer reviewers October 2017 Rebuttal November 2017 Meeting Assessment Committee full proposals 4.2 Criteria All admissible pre-proposals will be assessed by an independent assessment committee and the escience Center on the criteria below. All admissible proposals will first be assessed by independent international peer reviewers, and afterwards by an independent assessment committee, based on the following criteria: Scientific relevance The originality of the scientific question and the research methods; The quality and clarity of the proposal; The goals of the project are challenging and scientifically ground-breaking; The timeliness of the proposal; The quality and relevance of the applicant and the researchers involved in the project, in relation to the goals of the research; The possibility to change the modus operandi of scientific practice within the selected discipline area(s), in terms of broadness, scale, speed of resultdelivery, or otherwise. The relevance of the scientific question to at least two Dutch Topsectors or COMMIT2DATA vertical sub-programmes; Complementarity of the data science and escience part of the project. escience relevance

17 15 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors the proposal must fit with the escience Center core technological capabilities, in order to contribute to their further developments; the escience technologies (i.e. software for data analytics, data management, efficient computing) researched and developed should be state-of-the-art and appropriate, meaning that any (existing) alternative technologies would not serve better in solving the identified discipline-driven research questions, or lead to more significant scientific breakthroughs; the applicants should show awareness of the state-of-the-art of alternative (relevant) escience technologies; the proposal must indicate how maintenance and sustainability of project results will be secured and managed, preferably contributing to the escience Center s estep technology platform; Appropriateness of the requested access to e-infrastructure (if applicable). Knowledge utilisation the proposal must indicate how the proposed solutions will find use beyond the selected discipline area(s), also after finalization of the project; the proposed solutions and (software) deliverables must be open source/open access and permit use and/or interpretation by other researchers; the proposal must indicate how the project will build further collaborations, in science, industry, or both; inclusion of concrete letters of intent from such foreseen partners will be valued positively, but is not required; the proposal must indicate which efforts are made to promote the results of the project (publications, demonstrations, workshops, training, etcetera); the proposal must indicate the applicability of the resulting software and algorithms in at least two Topsectors or COMMIT2DATA vertical subprograms; In-kind or cash contributions from private partners (if applicable). The weighting of the criteria is as follows: Scientific relevance :45%, escience relevance: 45%, Knowledge utilisation: 10%. Note: Use of the National e-infrastructure (see annex 6.3) is not mandatory. However, if the applicant uses other e-infrastructure than the National e- Infrastructure, this should be convincingly motivated. Note: Cash or in-kind contributions by private partners are welcomed in this call for proposals, and will be positively assessed within the Knowledge utilisation criterion if the contribution of the private partner is sufficiently substantial and it is clear how it adds value to the project, and the applicant provides a letter of intent from the partner.

18 16 Chapter 5: Contact details and other information / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 5 Contact details and other information 5.1 Contact Specific questions For specific questions about this call for proposals please contact: Dr. Femke Stephan, tel. +31 (0) , e-science@nwo.nl. For specific questions about the escience Center, or the escience requirements for this call, please contact: Joep van Wijk MSc., tel + 31 (0) , ;dtec-call@esciencecenter.nl Technical questions about the electronic application system ISAAC For technical questions about the use of ISAAC please contact the ISAAC helpdesk. Please read the manual first before consulting the helpdesk. The ISAAC helpdesk can be contacted from Monday to Friday between 10:00 and 17:00 hours CE(S)T on +31 (0) However, you can also submit your question by to isaac.helpdesk@nwo.nl. You will then receive an answer within two working days Objections committee There is an appeals procedure for the submission of formal objections against decisions taken within the framework of this programme. After the submission of an appeal the candidate is invited to a hearing of the NWO Objections Committee. Further information about the appeal and objection procedure can be obtained from the secretariat of the NWO Objections Committee, Ms. C. Hansildaar, +31 (0) , c.hansildaar@nwo.nl. 5.2 Other information Open Acces Please be aware that the NWO open access policy has been updated on December 1st, For more information, please consult

19 17 Chapter 6 Annexe(s) / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 6 Annexe(s) 6.1 About the escience Center The Netherlands escience Center (NLeSC) supports and reinforces multi-disciplinary compute- and data-intensive research in The Netherlands through creative and innovative use of escience in all its manifestations. To achieve this, the escience Center fosters research collaborations aiming to accelerate scientific breakthroughs by effectively utilizing advanced e-infrastructure, and by making large-scale data analysis possible across multiple disciplines. Relation between this call for proposals and the escience Center ASDI call This Call for Proposals The call aims to fund proposals that deliver both disruptive data science and stable escience instruments in the form of compute kernels, interfaces, libraries, platforms, or scientific workflows with potential to enhance and accelerate scientific breakthroughs in a variety of application domains. Projects awarded in this Call typically will be led by PIs from ICT Science (i.e. a technical discipline such as computer science). ICT Science Application Domain THIS CALL: Joint escience and Data science Fig. 1: Projects awarded in this call primarily will constitute collaborations between ICT Science and the escience Center; Domain Science provides use cases. ASDI Call For research driven by domain-oriented research questions, and where escience technologies impact domain sciences, please consider the 2017 the escience Center Call for Proposals: Accelerating Scientific Discovery (ASDI 2017). ICT Science Domain Science 2017) NOT THIS CALL PLEASE CONSIDER: Accelerating Scientific Discovery (ASDI Fig. 2: Projects awarded in the ASDI call primarily will constitute collaborations between Domain Science and the escience Center; ICT Science may provide technology/software.

20 18 Chapter 6: Annexe(s) / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 6.2 The escience Technology Platform (estep) The escience Technology Platform (estep) 4, developed by the escience Center, represents the core of the escience Center s escience competences. It forms a generic and overarching platform, containing software, knowledge, and escience research. Generic and overarching means that all estep components can be applied in a broader context than just a single project. The components should be of support to multiple research efforts, an entire scientific discipline, or even multiple disciplines. All projects executed in partnership with the escience Center are expected to contribute to estep. One of the key goals of estep is to scout, adopt, study, develop, integrate and make available an extensive and stable set of advanced scientific software technologies. These can take the form of algorithms, compute kernels, interfaces, libraries, tools, scientific workflows and applications. This way, estep helps to manage large collections of data, utilize advanced compute infrastructures, storage facilities, high-speed networks, high-resolution visualization equipment, and instruments. estep explicitly aims to promote the exchange and re-use of best practices and to prevent fragmentation and duplication. The estep software base is the escience Center s facility for managing and disseminating software and work-flows employed in its project portfolio, along with supporting documentation, demonstrations and training resources. All the escience Center Research Engineers contribute to estep by generalizing the technologies built in their projects. estep contains software that is developed in-house at the escience Center, but also externally developed software that we reuse and have expertise in applying to challenging scientific problems. This allows the escience Center to also provide integrated turn-key solutions for scientists, regardless of whether the software is developed in-house or externally. A key idea behind estep is to have high-level, and sometimes domain-specific, solutions on top of generic low-level libraries, thus maximizing software re-use. It must be stressed that the technological developments undertaken by and with the escience Center are not aimed at realizing benefits for the escience Center itself. All developments are in support of the scientific goals of the research project, with the additional aim to also serve other research communities as much as possible, now and in the future. 4 See also: and estep.esciencecenter.nl.

21 19 Chapter 6: Annexe(s) / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 6.3 The Dutch National e-infrastructure In this Call for Proposals, all applicants are asked to indicate the project s e- Infrastructure needs, in terms of compute hours, data storage capacity, lightpath connectivity, or otherwise. A use-or-explain policy will be applied, meaning that projects without e-infrastructure needs are asked to give a brief explanation; projects with clear e-infrastructure needs are expected to select the hardware resources and services as part of the Dutch National e- Infrastructure as first option, and to indicate the expected extent of use; projects with clear e-infrastructure needs that aim to use international (e.g. PRACE, XSEDE, etcetera) or commercial (e.g. web, cloud, etcetera) hardware and services instead are required to give a brief explanation. The Dutch National e-infrastructure In this call, the Dutch National e-infrastructure is defined as follows: all publicly-funded hardware resources (e.g. compute, data, visualization, networking, etcetera) and directly connected support services (people, software), set up and maintained with the aim to support publicly-funded research in The Netherlands, and made available to either all or a selected subset of all researchers from a.o. Dutch universities and research institutes affiliated with NWO or KNAW. The definition distinguishes between hardware resources and services available to all researchers in The Netherlands (Category I), and those made available to a selected subset (Category II). The Category I e-infrastructure, outlined below, is formed by the hardware resources and services provided and maintained by SURFsara, SURFnet, DANS, and in part also by Nikhef and RUG-CIT. The Category II e-infrastructure is formed by all other hardware resources and services that are accessible to a selected group of researchers following thematic or geographic criteria. Examples of such infrastructures include the Life Science Grid (LSG), the Distributed ASCI Supercomputer (DAS), and the many stand-alone local facilities at various universities (e.g. the Peregrine cluster (RUG-CIT), the GPFS data storage facilities (Target), the WUR HPC Cluster (Wageningen), etcetera). Overview: Category I e-infrastructure While it is impossible to provide a complete overview of all resources part of the Dutch National e-infrastructure in this call text, the following provides entrance points to the major Category I e-infrastructure resources and services. For more information, it is advised to contact the organizations and institutes responsible for these resources directly, in particular SURF: Compute Resources and Services - Cartesius: National supercomputer for maximum performance - HPC Cloud: Complete control over your own computing infrastructure - Grid: Distributed computing system for fast processing of large data sets - Hadoop cluster: Big data processing and analysis

22 20 Chapter 6: Annexe(s) / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors Data Resources and Services - BeeHub: Easily save and share large volumes of data - Data Archive: Secure long-term storage of research data on tape - DataverseNL: Store, share and register research data online - EASY: Online archiving, depositing and downloading of research data Networking Resources and Services - Lightpaths (SURFlichtpaden): Ultra-fast and high capacity connectivity Cloud and Collaborative Resources and Services - SURFconext: Online collaboration and services in a single environment - SURFdrive; Personal and secure cloud storage, synchronization, sharing Visualization Resources and Services - Remote visualization: Visualize large datasets on your desktop - Collaboratorium: Sophisticated presentation and visualization aids SURF For a complete overview of all Category I services provided by SURF, see: DANS For a complete overview of all Category I services provided by DANS, see:

23 21 Chapter 6: Annexe(s) / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors 6.4 escience Center core technological competences Today, the escience Center s core technological competences include: Optimized data Handling This expertise area includes: real-time data analysis database optimization data-interoperability combining structured and unstructured data Accessing and analyzing voluminous and rapidly generated data Scientific data are generated at increasing speed and abundance due to the miniaturization and parallelization of experiments, the deployment of (remote) sensors and the digitization of experimental practices. In the internet age, data can be shared as rapidly as they are generated, facilitating contemporary collaborative science and knowledge sharing. The development and application of methods to enable scientists to access and analyze voluminous and rapidly generated data, from radio telescopes to social media, are becoming universally important. Example: Sensor networks One specific area of optimized data handling in which we develop expert knowledge is the management and analysis of sensor network systems. Around us is an increasingly complex set of ever more sophisticated, in many cases distributed, sensor networks monitoring any number of dynamic processes. Sensor networks are used to monitor climate conditions, traffic flow, human physiology and health, emergency detection (fires etc), structural health of buildings, vehicle telemetry and machine process management. At the same time, novel scientific instruments also generate increasingly large sensor data streams. The science to manage and analyse sensor networks is dependent on disciplines such as wireless communications, protocols, signal processing, embedded systems, streameddata analysis, distributed algorithms, and data management. In projects such as Summer in the City and Beyond the Data Explosion we develop expertise and software to tackle the challenges of sensor network systems. Big Data Analysis This expertise area includes: data exploration analysis data mining machine learning text analysis natural language processing statistics and visualization Identifying patterns and relationships

24 22 Chapter 6: Annexe(s) / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors Structured and unstructured data. From data to information to knowledge to insight. Current research challenges demand robust and reliable methods to identify the patterns and relationships contained in, but also obscured by, large amounts of disparate data. escience approaches can enable researchers to recognize sources of relevant information, prepare raw data, use statistical tools, extract meaningful information, recognize potential problems and make visualizations to communicate their findings. With the application of statistics and applied mathematics at its core, the use of dataanalytics and visualisation are generic requirements for many scientists. Combining big data with theory and conceptual models will enable scientists to structure the wealth of data and provide skilful forecasts. Example: Natural Language Processing Sources of natural human language, such as s, web pages, tweets, product descriptions, newspaper stories, social media and scientific articles are a central feature of the so-called Big Data explosion. Within these various media is a wealth of information, connections, patterns and hidden knowledge of academic, social and commercial value. Add to this the volume of digitized historical records and texts, covering thousands of languages, formats and varieties and the potential to unlock new insights becomes almost limitless but also hugely complicated and challenging. The science of analyzing human language is natural language processing (NLP) and its applications are already part of our everyday lives. Spelling and grammar correction in word processors, translation tools on the web, spam detection and automatic question answering are all forms of NLP. In humanities research (our focus for NLP applications) a number of newer NLP challenges exist. These include detecting people s opinions (sentiment analysis), producing readable summaries of chosen text, identifying the discourse structure of connected text, identifying the relationships among named entities and selecting the correct meaning of words which intrinsically have multiple meanings. Efficient Computing This expertise area includes high-performance and distributed computing (e.g. GRID, Cloud) heterogeneous computing efficient algorithms accelerator hardware (e.g. GPUs) green computing Optimizing for hardware performance Whenever computer architectures and chip designs change significantly, as happens frequently, new algorithms are needed to exploit these developments for their performance benefits. As the ambition of discipline scientists grows, in addition to the growth in data they analyze, the need to ensure the efficient use of computing resources also grows. Code can be optimized for performance and run on the most appropriate machine, including accelerator hardware, with energy usage at a minimum. Example: Distributed & heterogeneous computing Despite the rapid growth in compute power, data growth and the ambition of domain scientists continues to grow faster. Compute power therefore remains at a premium requiring us to find newer and more efficient ways to utilize this component of the e- infrastructure.

25 23 Chapter 6: Annexe(s) / Joint escience and Data Science across the Topsectors When performing any large computation (for example simulations or signal processing) it should be remembered that some codes may run best on a supercomputer while others may run best on a cluster, for some models accelerators suchs as GPUs will be most efficient, and so on. We develop distributed & heterogeneous computing methods that allow individual components of large parallel applications to be deployed on the resource having the best characteristics (performance, energy, financial) for that particular problem. The application of distributed & heterogeneous computing have been crucial in projects for point cloud processing, digital forensics, astrophysics and climate simulations.

26 Published by: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Version: December 2016 Visiting address: Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië CE The Hague The Netherlands February 2017