Terms of Reference Mobility Grants Facilitation of Researchers Mobility Supported by INCONET-GCC2 June 2015 CONTENT 1. Background Information 2 2. Researchers Mobility Call Content 2 3. Eligibility of Proposals 5 4. Evaluation of Proposals 6 5. Funding Agreement and Rules 6 6. Submission of Applications 7
1. Background Information INCONET-GCC2 is a three year (2014-2017) project funded by European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation with a view to establish a Science, Technology and Innovation International Cooperation Network between European Union and the Arab Gulf Countries aiming at the bi-regional coordination towards HORIZON2020. Among other activities, the project implements a researcher mobility scheme with a focus on the two thematic priorities/societal challenges of mutual interest for the two regions, namely, Smart Cities and Health/Diabetes. More specifically, the mobility scheme aims to: 1. Promote EU->GCC and GCC->EU knowledge flows to ensure a diverse and highly skilled workforce in both the EU and the GCC countries that has the capacity to respond to opportunities and challenges in EU-GCC research. 2. Strengthen the cooperation and the development of joint research activities between academia and industry both on an EU-GCC basis and also within the GCC countries themselves. 3. Promote co-advising and exchanges of PhD students and young researchers between the EU and the GCC countries. 4. Facilitate new partnerships through the transfer of knowledge from academia to industry and vice-versa, both on an EU-GCC basis and also within the GCC countries themselves. 5. Stimulate professionals and scholars to create networks that exceed national frameworks through the enhancing of cooperation between stakeholders from the EU and the GCC. 6. Raise scientific excellence in both the EU and the GCC countries through the stimulation of inter-regional research networks of excellence with a specific focus on innovation. Project Consortium The INCONET-GCC2 consortium comprises of 20 renowned institutions from EU Member States and Associated Countries (MS/AC) as well as from all countries of the GCC. The project is coordinated by FORTH/Praxi Network, Greece. For more information on all partners, take a look at: http://www.inconet-gcc.eu/partners/. 2. Researchers Mobility Call Content 2.1 Call Objectives The main goal of the mobility scheme is to support the development of EU-GCC joint research proposals through the facilitation of researchers mobility - in particular mobility of young researchers and/or PhD students from the GCC. The ultimate goal of the researchers mobility call and the associated grants is to strengthen cooperation and collaboration on research and innovation between the EU and the GCC countries. Successful applicants from the GCC countries will receive mobility grants to allow them to participate in the upcoming INCONET-GCC2 innovation summer school entitled: Collective Awareness Platforms for Smart Cities Development where they will be able to meet experts from the EU. One of the objectives of the summer school is to bring together GCC researchers interested in cooperative EU-GCC projects with experts from the EU. The goal is to create a synergistic environment where proposed cooperative projects can be discussed and refined. The summer school will also provide an ideal environment for EU-GCC networking. This call will embrace proposals for joint research on societal challenges in the area of Smart Cities, including research addressing the following issues: Interaction of the energy, transport, ICT and environment sectors within Smart Cities; synergy and consolidation issues among these sectors 2
Innovation through integration of Smart Cities technologies / business models New business models and the use of common metrics to capture the economic, social and environmental benefits of Smart Cities (methodologies and indicators) Interoperability of service infrastructures, open data, etc. 2.2 Grants and Call Modalities The mobility grants will be supported with up to 3.500 EUR per successful application. The grant can cover the following expenses: a. Travel expenses (flight and local transportation in economy/2 nd class to and from the summer school) b. Daily allowance / accommodation / visa (if necessary) for the duration of the summer school. The grants will not cover salaries and/or other costs. Remarks: a. Travel expenses: the grant holder is requested to present copies of all receipts as well as the original boarding passes b. Daily allowances are paid as a lump sum according to the flat rates defined by the European Commission on 23 March 2009 (C(2009)1942) Co-financing from the host institution of the researcher/phd student is welcomed. The mobility grants will be paid through the local (GCC) consortium partners of INCONET-GCC2 listed in the following table: Nr. Country Consortium Partner Name Short Name Contact Name 1 Bahrain Bahrain egovernment Authority egov Nezar Maroof Omar 2 GCC GRC Foundation GRCF Oskar Ziemelis 3 UAE Higher Colleges of Technology HCT Sultan Karmostaji 4 Kuwait Dasman Diabetes Institute DDI Dalia Badawi 5 UAE Masdar Institute of Science & Technology MASDAR Mohammad Atif Omar 6 Yemen Political Development Forum PDF Ali Saif 7 Oman The Public Establishment of Industrial Estates PEIE Mohammed Sherif 8 Qatar Qatar University QU Abdalla Adlan 9 GCC STAM SRL STAM Guilia Barbagelata 10 Oman The Research Council TRC Talal Al Bulashi 3
2.3 Eligible Applicants Eligible applicants can be: Researchers, PhD students, young researchers who have received their PhD, supervisors of PhD students, or more established researchers. The call will be open to researchers from universities, research institutes and industry research organizations as well as development organizations located in one of the GCC countries or Yemen. Under the current call, the INCONET-GCC2 project will support applications that: propose a joint research project (in the form of a short joint research proposal and/or abstract) involving at least one researcher from an EU Member State or Associated Country and another from one of the GCC states (affiliated with institutions) on a topic under the Smart Cities thematic priority of the INCONET-GCC2 project. The proposal/abstract should envisage long-term cooperation, discussion of project ideas, sharing of skills and best practices and should definitely include a mobility component. The successful applicants will participate in the summer school below. Following the summer school, joint research proposals will be tracked and supported through researcher mobility-specific advice and guidance relating to associated activities including, for example, PhD student exchanges and international research fellowships. We kindly request potential GCC-based applicants who have a good joint research project idea but no EU partner to contact the GRC Foundation using the following email: oskar@grc.net and we will try to identify a relevant EU partner. 2.4 INCONET-GCC2 Smart Cities Innovation Summer School Overview Date: 7-10 September 2015 Duration: Location: Overview: 4 days University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece This is the first summer school organized by the INCONET-GCC2 project and titled Collective Awareness Platforms for Smart Cities Development. The overall goal of INCONET-GCC2 is to support the institutional EU-GCC policy dialogue in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), to strengthen EU-GCC cooperation among research and innovation actors, especially in the context of the upcoming Horizon 2020 programme, and finally to monitor progress in EU-GCC STI cooperation. The Smart Cities Innovation Summer School is seen as a multi-disciplinary opportunity to diffuse institutional research projects as well as other relevant initiatives (such as: public, entrepreneurial, innovative, cultural, industrial) that could be relevant for the discussion of societal challenges / research priorities related to Smart Cities. The Smart Cities Innovation Summer School will help interested students and academics as well as individuals working in the private sector or government, to better understand the specific thematic priorities and access comprehensive knowledge on various aspects of Smart Cities. During the summer school, participants will attend daily lectures, seminars and tutorials, aimed at developing thinking on a range of issues related to Smart Cities. This will be followed by discussions and explorations of how to adopt common methodological grounds. The summer school objectives can be described as follows: 4
To highlight the challenges linked to urban design and development and the significance of adopting and promoting a coherent plan for tackling those challenges; To promote the Smart Cities model and the related technologies and solutions, with a particular focus on energy and environment as well as urban design and development; To promote dialogue among researchers, key international institutions and experts focusing on Smart Cities and to identify common areas for cooperation and promote action plans; The summer school will target organizations, entities and professionals from both GCC and EU countries, namely: Researchers, academics and industrial stakeholders already active or willing to become active in Smart Cities models and applications; Engaged citizens, individuals and experts; Urban, regional and national authorities; Development and planning agencies; Citizen s associations, etc. The topic of this summer school has been chosen to investigate an interdisciplinary approach to the designing of Smart Cities, including the following: Collective awareness platforms for Smart Cities development applications, crowd sourcing, citizen science Smart Cities in Europe and the GCC countries - discussion on current achievements and the path forward Smart Cities infrastructure and the environment - leveraging transportation, smart grids, and ICT for sustainability City planning and resource management - smart solutions from generation to consumption (urban planning, building efficiency, local energy and food nexus). Urban interaction design and smart citizens. Website for more information: www.inconet-gcc.eu 3. Eligibility of Proposals Proposals are expected to: Be in the scope and in the thematic focus of the call and summer school as described in Sections 2.1 and 2.4 Comply with the funding conditions as specified in Section 2.2 Include a brief overview of the scientific basis for the joint research project (e.g. proposed specific research topic(s); research methodology, research goal(s); gaps to be filled in current knowledge; relevance of proposed research activities), as well as the expected impact of the joint research and the potential for new EU-GCC projects in the Smart Cities field of societal challenges (see 2.1 and 2.4). Include information on a call within HORIZON 2020 (if known), for which a later (follow-up) proposal is intended. Meet the submission deadline, which is 10 July 2015. Comply with the terms of the submission procedure as specified in Section 6. Be complete according to the rules described in these Terms of Reference. Be submitted in English. 5
4. Evaluation of Proposals The applications will be evaluated on the basis of the following Evaluation Criteria: 1. Relevance to the aims of the researcher mobility scheme specified in the call (Section 1) and inclusion of specific researcher mobility components. 2. Relevance to the Smart Cities thematic priority (Sections 2.1 and 2.4). 3. Quality of the research topic, methodology and goals. 4. Clear contribution to the promotion and intensification of EU-GCC cooperation in research, innovation and education/knowledge transfer. 5. Clear and specified intent to prepare a new proposal (at a later date) for HORIZON 2020. 6. Clear intent to carry out follow-up activities and to initiate new partnerships. Scoring Matrix Evaluation Criteria -> 1 2 3 4 5 6 Weight Factors 1 1 2 2.5 2 1.5 Candidates Total Scores Candidate 1 Candidate 2 Candidate Candidate n Each candidate will be scored on a scale of 1 to 5 for each specified evaluation criterion, where 1 represents the weakest match between the proposal and the criterion and 5 represents the strongest match. Each score will be multiplied by the weight factor for that criterion which indicates its relative importance as compared to the other criteria. Scores will then be summed over the six criteria to obtain a total score. The maximum attainable score will be 50. The recipients of the researcher mobility grants will be selected based on their total scores. 5. Funding Agreement and Rules If a proposal has been successful, the applicant will sign an agreement as a confirmation of his obligations with one of the INCONET-GCC2 partners listed in 2.2 above. The local INCONET- GCC2 partners will provide the funding to the successful candidates. 6
6. Submission of Applications Applications should be submitted in English using the attached Application Form. Please submit the application forms to the GRC Foundation using the email: oskar@grc.net and also email a copy to your country representative (see table below). Applications will be accepted from all of the GCC countries and Yemen. The Application Form will also be available from the INCONET-GCC2 website at: www.inconet-gcc.eu. Nr. Country Consortium Partner Name Contact Name Contact Email 1 Bahrain Bahrain egovernment Authority (egov) Nezar Maroof Omar nmaroof@ega.gov.bh 2 GCC GRC Foundation (GRCF) Oskar Ziemelis oskar@grc.net 3 UAE Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) Sultan Karmostaji skarmostaji@hct.ac.ae 4 Kuwait Dasman Diabetes Institute (DDI) Dalia Badawi dalia.badawi@dasmaninstitute.org 5 UAE Masdar Institute of Science & Technology (MASDAR) Mohammad Atif Omar momar@masdar.ac.ae 6 Yemen Political Development Forum (PDF) Ali Saif ali2saif@gmail.com 7 Oman The Public Establishment of Industrial Estates (PEIE) Mohammed Sherif Mohammed.Sherif@peie.om 8 Qatar Qatar University (QU) Abdalla Adlan aadlan@qu.edu.qa 9 GCC STAM SRL (STAM) Guilia Barbagelata g.barbagelata@stamtech.com 10 Oman The Research Council (TRC) Talal Al Bulashi talal.albalushi@trc.gov.om 7