Proposals may only be submitted by the following:
- Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) - Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of subawards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.
- Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research labs, professional societies and similar organizations in the U.S. associated with educational or research activities.
An individual may appear as PI or Co-PI in no more than one proposal submitted in response to this solicitation, whether Design or Implementation.
NSF recognizes that some research networks will need time and resources to formulate networks of networks, while others are ready to implement networks of networks.
Design Track: This track will support design efforts for durations of up to 2 years, and for up to a total of $250,000, to enable networks to develop operational links among networks and to design collaborative approaches that would address knowledge gaps.
These awards are for networks linked by a common research theme that have preliminary ideas on how to develop the network of network characteristics described herein, but are at an early stage of project design (e.g., identifying research and professional development needs, priorities, and goals, developing partnerships and collaboration strategies).
It is not expected that projects be funded first in the Design track prior to being considered in the Implementation track.
Implementation Track: This track will support more established networks of networks for durations of 3 to 5 years, and for up to a total of $2 million, to implement coordination across networks on a research roadmap to advance theory, methods, tools, and/or integration across fields. These awards are to enable networks to coordinate research priorities and resources to address knowledge gaps and overcome research roadblocks.
These awards are for networks with an operational core of communication on a common research theme in the U.S. and abroad that already have (a) established an understanding of knowledge gaps across the networks, (b) compelling vision for how synergies across the networks would lead to new research directions and innovation in solution of complex problems, (c) developed scalable team science strategies and logistics, and (d) designed an organizational structure that supports collaborative involvement in leadership and broad participation in activities by network members.