Innovative Approaches to Science and Engineering Research on Brain Function
Supports collaborative research and data sharing that will advance the understanding of nervous system structure and function, mechanisms underlying nervous system disorders, and computational strategies used by the nervous system.
Synopsis
Computational neuroscience provides a theoretical foundation and a rich set of technical approaches for understanding complex neurobiological systems, building on the theory, methods, and findings of computer science, neuroscience, and numerous other disciplines.
Through the CRCNS program, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Department of Energy (DOE); the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF); the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR); the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF); Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT); and Spain’s State Research Agency (Agencia Estatal de Investigación, AEI) and National Institute of Health Carlos III (Instituto de Salud Carlos III, ISCIII) support collaborative activities that will advance the understanding of nervous system structure and function, mechanisms underlying nervous system disorders, and computational strategies used by the nervous system.
Two classes of proposals will be considered in response to this solicitation:
Research Proposals describing collaborative research projects, and
Data Sharing Proposals to enable sharing of data and other resources.
Domestic and international projects will be considered. As detailed in the solicitation, international components of collaborative projects may be funded in parallel by the participating agencies. Specific CRCNS opportunities for parallel funding are available for bilateral US-German Research Proposals, US-German Data Sharing Proposals, US-French Research Proposals, US-French Data Sharing Proposals, US-Israeli Research Proposals, US-Israeli Data Sharing Proposals, US-Japanese Research Proposals, US-Japanese Data Sharing Proposals, US-Spanish Research Proposals, US-Spanish Data Sharing Proposals, and multilateral proposals involving the United States and two or more CRCNS partner countries (see Section VIII of the solicitation for country-specific limitations). Collaborating PIs from outside of the United States are referred to Section VIII of the solicitation for further instructions about applying to the appropriate partner funding agency.
Appropriate scientific areas of investigations may be related to the interests of any of the participating funding organizations. Questions concerning a particular project's focus, direction, and relevance to a participating funding organization should be addressed to the appropriate person in the list of agency contacts found in Section VIII of the solicitation.
NSF will coordinate and manage the review of proposals jointly with participating domestic and foreign funding organizations, through a joint panel review process used by all participating funders. Additional information is available in Section VI of the solicitation.
Community-driven efforts such as workshops or synthesis papers are also encouraged, to map out new frontiers at the interface of neuroscience and other disciplines that could reshape brain research and its applications.
Program contacts
Questions concerning a particular project’s focus, direction and relevance to a participating funding organization should be addressed to:
AEI
The Spanish Research Agency (AEI) will consider US-Spanish Research Proposals and US-Spanish Data Sharing Proposals submitted to NSF in response to this solicitation. All the information required for Spanish applicants to successfully submit a proposal can be found in the annex to this solicitation available on the AEI-MICIU webpage at https://www.aei.gob.es/va/noticies/anuncio-convocatoria-proyectos-bilaterales-estados-unidos-participacion-aei-marco. AEI strongly encourages Spanish applicants contact the national point of contact before the proposal is submitted.
In response to this solicitation, an investigator may participate as PI or co-PI in no more than one proposal involving Spain (AEI/ISCIII) per review cycle. AEI recommends the signature of a consortium agreement covering financial and intellectual property issues as well as the management and delivery of project activities to all partners involved in bilateral or multilateral projects. Resulting scientific data not subject to intellectual property rights must comply with FAIR principles (http://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18).
It is not necessary to submit a parallel proposal directly to AEI; nonetheless, a notification of submission should be sent, within one week following the NSF proposal deadline, to the national point of contact:
Esther Chacón, telephone: +34 91 603 71 05, email: esther.chacon@aei.gob.es or neuron@aei.gob.es
ANR
The French National Research Agency (ANR) will consider US-French Research Proposals and US-French Data Sharing Proposals, Multilateral Research Proposals, and Multilateral Data Sharing Proposals involving the United States and the partnering countries Israel and/or Japan, submitted to NSF in response to this solicitation. ANR will finance projects of maximum four years. The modalities of participation of the French applicants are presented in the annex to this solicitation available on the ANR website at https://anr.fr/crcns-2023/. ANR strongly encourages the signature of a consortium agreement covering financial and intellectual property issues as well as the management and delivery of project activities. It is not necessary to submit a parallel full proposal to ANR; nonetheless, an annex for French Participants including a publishable lay summary of the project as well as a financial plan for the French partners should be submitted to NSF as supplementary material included in the proposal and in parallel sent to NEUC_calls@anr.fr within one week following the NSF proposal deadline.
The French applicants are strongly encouraged to contact ANR prior to submission:
Fanny Lachat, Scientific Officer, Information and Communication Sciences and Technologies Department, telephone: +33 1 7354 8159, email: Fanny.LACHAT@agencerecherche.fr
Sheyla Mejia, Scientific Coordinator, Biology and Health Department, telephone: +33 1 7809 8014, email: Sheyla.MEJIA@agencerecherche.fr
BMBF
Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research will consider US-German Research Proposals and US-German Data Sharing Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation. The durations of these projects are expected to be no greater than three years. Investigators contemplating projects that would require longer durations are advised to discuss their project requirements with the appropriate agency contact(s) before submitting. Collaborating investigators in projects selected for funding that involve Germany will provide assurance to BMBF that a cooperation agreement, covering issues including intellectual property, has been established. A proposal with the same project description as the proposal to NSF must be submitted by the German PI to BMBF. German applicants are referred to the BMBF Richtlinien (http://www.gesundheitsforschung-bmbf.de/de/15147.php) for further instructions, and are urged to contact the project management organization for advice on applications:
Sophia Schach, DLR Projektträger für das BMBF, telephone: +49 228 3821 1743, email: sophia.schach@dlr.de, web: http://www.dlr.de/pt
BSF
The U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation will consider US-Israeli Research Proposals, US-Israeli Data Sharing Proposals, Multilateral Research Proposals, and Multilateral Data Sharing Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation. No more than five years of support may be requested. A proposal with the same project description as the proposal to NSF must be submitted by the Israeli PI to the BSF. The budget for the Israeli component of the project should be expressed in US Dollars. Submittal instructions are available at: https://www.bsf.org.il/funding-opportunities/nsf-bsf-joint-research-grants/the-programs/
Questions should be directed to:
Yael Dressler, telephone: +972-2-5828239, email: yael@bsf.org.il
Rachel Haring, telephone: +972-2-5828239, email: heni@bsf.org.il
DOE
DOE budgets may not exceed $400,000 per year in total costs (including direct and indirect costs) requested on the NSF application. The durations of these projects are expected to be no greater than three years.
Further questions may be directed to:
Robinson Pino, Program Manager, Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research, telephone: (301) 903-1263, email: Robinson.Pino@science.doe.gov
ISCIII
The National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII) will consider US-Spanish Research Proposals and US-Spanish Data Sharing Proposals submitted to NSF in response to this solicitation. ISCIII will finance projects of maximum durations of three years.
In response to this solicitation, an investigator may participate as PI or co-PI in no more than one proposal involving Spain (AEI/ISCIII) per review cycle. The modalities of participation of the Spanish applicants are presented in the annex to this solicitation available on the ISCIII website here. ISCIII strongly encourages the signature of a consortium agreement covering financial and intellectual property issues as well as the management and delivery of scientific project activities. Resulting scientific data not subject to intellectual property rights must comply with FAIR principles (http://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18) as stated in the current AES annual call.
A proposal with the same project description as the proposal to NSF must be submitted by the Spanish PI to ISCIII. A notification of submission should be sent to the ISCIII program contacts below within seven calendar days after the deadline for proposal submission to NSF. For further instructions, applicants are urged to contact ISCIII (Mondays-Thursdays 10:00-16:00 CET and Fridays 10:00-14:00 CET). For advice on applications, questions should be directed to:
Maria Cristina Nieto, email: mnieto@isciii.es
Postal Location: Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029 Madrid (SPAIN)
NICT
Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) will consider US-Japanese Research Proposals, US-Japanese Data Sharing Proposals, and Multilateral Research and Data Sharing Proposals involving the United States and the partnering countries France and/or Israel, submitted in response to this solicitation. The durations of these projects are expected to be no greater than three years. In a supplementary document, investigators should provide assurance that an agreement covering issues such as intellectual property has been or will be established within a reasonable time after the notifications of awarded projects.
There are two types of US-Japanese projects: one is under NICT’s extramural Commissioned ICT Research and Development Program, and the other is under NICT’s intramural R&D funding program for NICT researchers. Projects may involve extramural or intramural Japanese investigators, but not both. A proposal with the same project description as the proposal to NSF must be submitted by the Japanese PI to NICT. Japanese applicants should refer to NICT’s solicitation (Japanese language only) for more information.
NIH
CRCNS is affiliated with the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research (http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/), and involves nine participating NIH Institutes and Centers. NIH Notices (NOT-MH-20-110, NOT-HD-22-027) have been issued in parallel with this solicitation. Proposals are selected for potential NIH funding on the basis of the common CRCNS joint review process; resubmission of proposals directly to NIH is by invitation only. No NIH awards will exceed $250,000 per year in direct costs.
The CRCNS program supports human research projects, also known as BESH (Basic Experimental Studies involving Humans), but will not support Phase I-IV clinical trials with clinical outcomes as the primary outcomes to assess efficacy. Please be aware that the definitions for NIH clinical trials have changed. These changes have potential implications for applicants proposing basic experimental studies in humans. For research projects that 1) involve human subjects and 2) have public health relevance, applicants are strongly encouraged to contact Dr. Siavash Vaziri (siavash.vaziri@nih.gov) prior to submitting an application to determine whether it could be supported by NIH through this program.
Further questions may be directed to:
Siavash Vaziri (NIH Chair), Program Director, Theoretical & Computational Neuroscience and Computational Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, telephone: (301) 443-1576, email: siavash.vaziri@nih.gov
Bettina Buhring, Program Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, telephone: (301) 827-8626, email: bettina.buhring@nih.gov
Wen Chen, Program Director, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, telephone: (301) 451-3989, email: chenw@mail.nih.gov
Marie Gill, Health Program Specialist, Systems & Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, telephone: (301) 496-9964, email: gillml@ninds.nih.gov
John A. Matochik, Program Director, Division of Neuroscience and Behavior, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, telephone: (301) 451-7319, email: jmatochi@mail.nih.gov
Vani Pariyadath, Chief, Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, telephone: (301) 443-3209, email: vani.pariyadath@nih.gov
Grace C. Y. Peng, Program Director, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, telephone: (301) 451-4778, email: grace.peng@nih.gov
Amy Poremba, Program Director, Central Pathways for Hearing and Balance, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, telephone: (301) 496-1804, email: amy.poremba@nih.gov
Cheri Wiggs, Program Director, Division of Extramural Research, National Eye Institute, telephone: (301) 451-2020, email: wiggsc@nei.nih.gov
Bradley Wise, Chief of the Neurobiology of Aging and Neurodegeneration Branch, Division of Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging, telephone: (301) 496-9350, email: wiseb@nia.nih.gov
NSF
Further questions for NSF program officers may be directed to:
Kenneth Whang, Program Director, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, telephone: (703) 292-5149, fax: (703) 292-9073, email: kwhang@nsf.gov
Zhilan Feng, Program Director, Division of Mathematical Sciences, telephone: (703) 292-7523, email: zfeng@nsf.gov
Jonathan Fritz, Program Director, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, telephone: (703) 292-8740, email: jfritz@nsf.gov
Grace Hwang, Program Director, Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems, telephone: (703) 292-4271, email: ghwang@nsf.gov
Maija Kukla, Program Director, Office of International Science and Engineering, telephone: (703) 292-4940, email: mkukla@nsf.gov
Svetlana Tatic-Lucic, Program Director, Division of Electrical, Communications, and Cyber Systems, telephone: (703) 292-8339, email: staticlu@nsf.gov
Floh Thiels, Program Director, Division of Integrative Organismal Systems, telephone: (703) 292-8167, email: ethiels@nsf.gov
Lucy Zhang, Program Director, Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation, telephone: (703) 292-5015, email: luzhang@nsf.gov
| Name | Phone | Organization | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Kenneth Whang CRCNS Program Coordinator - NSF; Program Director, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems
|
kwhang@nsf.gov | (703) 292-5149 | CISE/IIS |
|
Chantel Sanders CRCNS Administrative Coordinator - NSF; Program Analyst, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems
|
cesander@nsf.gov | (703) 292-2617 | CISE/IIS |