Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India and National Science Foundation (NSF) of U.S have signed an Implementation Agreement (IA) on research Cooperation. This DST – NSF collaborative research opportunity focuses specifically upon discoveries and innovations in areas of mutual interest that develop new knowledge in all aspects of computing, communications, and information science and engineering, advanced cyber infrastructure, secure and trustworthy computing, and cyber physical systems. NSF intends to make awards to the U.S. investigators participating in the recommended collaborative proposals, and DST intends to make awards to the Indian investigators participating in the recommended collaborative proposals.

Potential Areas of Research

DST and NSF invite active Indian and US scientists / researchers to submit proposals for Joint Research Project in the following broad areas:

        I.            Computer and Information Science and Engineering

o   Algorithmic Foundations; Communications and Information Foundations; Foundations of Emerging Technologies; Software and Hardware Foundations

o   Computer Systems Research; Networking Technology and Systems

o   Human-Centered Computing; Information Integration and Informatics; Robust Intelligence

o   Advanced Cyberinfrastructure

      II.            Cyber-Physical Systems

o   Engineered systems with a seamless integration of cyber and physical components, such as computation, control, networking, learning, autonomy, security, privacy and verification, for a range of application domains.

   III.            Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace

o   Cybersecurity and privacy, drawing on expertise in one or more of these areas: computing, communication and information sciences; engineering; economics; education; mathematics; statistics; and social and behavioral sciences.

Proposals submitted in other research areas will not be considered.

Eligibility for Indian Applicants

o   The Principal Investigator (PI) and other investigators in India should be scientists/ faculty members working in regular capacity in Universities/ Deemed Universities/ Academic Institutes and National Research & Development Laboratories/ Institutes as well as working in private non-profit institutions that carry R&D activities. The Indian Principal Investigator (PI) should not be retiring or leaving the parent institute during the proposed duration of the project.

o   Number of proposal submission for Indian investigators as PI is limited to one per call while they can involve as Co-PIs in maximum of two proposals.

o   The Indian scientists who are in any way involved in the implementation of two or more projects that were previously supported by the DST (International Group) and that are not expected to be completed by 31 December 2023 are also not eligible to be a member of the research team.

Guidelines

(i)                 DST and NSF will allow investigators from both countries to collaborate to write a single proposal that will undergo a single review process at NSF, the Coordinating Agency.

(ii)               Proposals must represent an integrated collaborative effort between the India and US investigators. Proposals are expected to adhere to the research areas, funding limits, and grant durations for the participating NSF programs and for the DST programs from which funding is sought. Investigators are advised that all documents submitted to DST or NSF may be shared with the other agency in order to implement the two-way agency activities.

(iii)             The proposal should describe the full proposed research program, including the total Indian and U.S. resources that will be part of the project.  NSF investigators should indicate only the NSF expenses in the NSF budget.  DST investigators should indicate only the DST research expenses on the DST budget form.  The DST budget and budget justification must be included in the NSF proposal as a Supplementary Document.  The Budget section of the DST proposal should clearly indicate the DST budget with full justification. Proposals that request duplicative funding may be returned without review.

(iv)             Indian and US Investigators should submit identical Summary, Description and References in their proposals, using the respective forms prescribed by DST and NSF. Applications submitted by one side only; not on prescribed format and received after due date will not be accepted. Indian/US Investigators should, therefore, ensure that their counterpart submits an application with identical components as described above, on prescribed format as per guidelines of nodal agencies by due date.

(v)               Title of the project submitted on both systems should be identical.

(vi)             All proposals should be supported with brief bio-data of entire project team members indicating their affiliation, date of birth, highlights of academic and research activities / awards. For US investigators, date of birth is not required and their bio-sketches may be as per NSF guidelines.

(vii)           Through this partnership, India researchers may receive funding from DST and U.S. researchers may receive funding from NSF respectively.

(viii)         Selected Projects of Indian PIs will be supported up-to 20 million Indian rupees by DST and up-to $600,000 to US PIs by NSF for duration up-to three years.

(ix)             The support to Indian PIs are primarily for exchange visits, consumables, contingency and minor equipment/accessories (not costing more than 20% of project cost). It may be noted that both sides may not get equal grant (USD to INR). Budget requirement would be assessed as per current norms of human resources or international visit rate. Travel entitlement will be by economy class.

(x)               The proposals will be reviewed by experts contacted by NSF, the Coordinating Agency, in competition with other proposals received for the same funding round of the program to which the proposal is submitted, using NSF's merit review process. DST will check that the Indian investigator has an active and appropriate role and confirm their eligibility at the onset of the process.

(xi)             The Data Management Plan must include mechanisms for sharing and archiving data including, experimental data, results, and software developed and their associated privacy and security aspects.

(xii)           For projects involving human subjects/participants or vertebrate animals, investigators should follow both DST and NSF policies, submitting documentation to each as appropriate.