Eligibility

This call funds partnership working between UK and Vietnamese based researchers. For support under this call, applicants must be eligible to apply for funding from their respective country’s funding agency:

For the UK participants, standard RCUK/MRC eligibility criteria as described in the applicant’s handbook (PDF, 775KB) and RCUK website will apply. MRC Units and Institutes are also eligible to apply to this call.

Vietnamese applicants should refer to MOST’s circular no.12/2014/TT-BKHCN on the management of the agreement-based science and technology tasks dated on 30 May 2014 for the eligibility rules for this call.

Funding available

A total of £2.6million is available for this call. The MRC will make up to £2m available for UK collaborators applying to this scheme. The Vietnamese MOST will make up to £600,000 available for Vietnamese collaborators applying to this scheme. It is expected that this funding will support up to 5 joint projects at a level of up to £520,000 per project.

Due to the fixed time/spend restrictions of the Newton Fund, grants must commence by April 2016. Funding decisions will be made in February 2016. All projects must be complete by 31 December 2018.

The Newton Fund

The UK contribution will be channelled from the Newton Fund. The Newton Fund is an initiative intended to strengthen research and innovation partnerships between the UK and emerging knowledge economies to promote economic development and social welfare of partner countries. It will deliver £375 million of funding over the course of five years.

The Newton Fund requires that the funding be awarded to research projects that are of specific relevance to the Vietnamese population. All applications under this call must be compliant with the RCUK Newton guidelinesopens in new window. Further information on the Newton Fund can be found here:www.mrc.ac.uk/research/international/the-newton-fund/

Assessment Criteria and decision making process

To be invited to the full stage, proposals to the MRC must be demonstrate the proposed research will be internationally competitive and at a standard equivalent to that normally expected to be supported by MRC.

Key assessment criteria for the submissions will be:

Significance and Impact of the research

Scientific Rationale: novelty, importance and timeliness of the research;

Partnership: including strength and clarity of collaborations and opportunities provided, quality of the project management structure proposed;

Quality and suitability of the research environment and of the facilities;

Value for money for Vietnamese and UK science;

Design and Feasibility of the Project Plan

Ethical considerations and governance arrangements.

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How to apply: Outline application process

UK-Vietnamese Research partners planning to submit to this MRC-MOST scheme are asked to submit an outline application, by 4pm, Wednesday 15 July 2015.

Researchers will be responsible for developing their own collaborations. Once a research proposal is developed, UK and Vietnamese applicants must apply separately for funding via the MRC and MOST application processes. Details of how this process will work are outlined further below. The objective of the outline phase is to highlight:

to introduce researchers involved in the UK-Vietnam collaboration who will carry out the work

outline the research question proposed

key objectives of the science

Outline applications must be submitted (including the jointly prepared application form) to the MRC by UK PI and MOST by Vietnamese PI, by 15 July 2015.

Instructions for UK PI’s for applications to MRC at outline stage

Outline applications must be submitted by email to international@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk and melanie.bundhoo@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk by the UK Principal Investigator. Please email the following documents as PDFs:

Jointly prepared outline application form (in English). Please see document downloads for template

Case for Support

CV’s and publications

Instructions for Vietnamese PI’s for applications to MOST

Outline applications must be submitted by the Vietnamese research team to MOST.

The application must include the following documents and submitted in both hard and soft copy:

Outline proposal for the agreement-based science and technology task. The Vietnamese PI should have access to their version of the outline form and complete this, ensuring objectives are the same as the UK PI outline.

Letter of support from Vietnamese Applicant's line Ministry

Eligibility review and proposal evaluation at the outline stage:

Upon receipt of the applications, MRC and MOST will independently, and in parallel, conduct initial eligibility checks to screen out any proposals that do not comply with the agencies respective funding rules. These checks will include:

Are the UK and Vietnamese applicants’ institutions eligible to apply?

Does the application paperwork comply with the administrative rules; e.g. have correct documents been submitted in correct format, within the page limits etc?

Is the application within the scientific scope of the call?

Those invited to submit to the full stage of the call (around 10 applicants) will be advised on how to submit full stage applications. The deadline for the call will be around October/November 2015.

UK applications will be submitted to and processed by MRC. Please see guidance (PDF, 252KB)for further information.

Vietnamese applications will be submitted to and processed by MOST.

Download MRC_-_MOST_outline_application_guidancev2

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Contacts

For further information, UK applicants should contact:

Mel Bundhoo (Mrs)

MRC Newton Fund Officer

Tel: +44 (0)1793 416418

Email: international@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk

For further information, Vietnamese applicants should contact:

Do Xuan Anh (Mr.)