The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Research Cooperation. The MOU provides an overarching framework to encourage collaboration between U.S. and Israeli research communities and sets out the principles by which jointly supported activities might be developed. The MOU provides for an international collaboration arrangement whereby U.S. researchers may receive funding from the NSF and Israeli researchers may receive funding from the BSF.
The goal of this US-Israel collaborative research opportunity is to help reduce some of the current barriers to working internationally. Through a lead agency model, NSF and BSF will address these issues by allowing U.S. and Israeli researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal that will undergo a single review process at NSF, which will be the lead agency.
The collaborative opportunity described in this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) remains in effect until archived. This is not a single-year program.
Collaborative research proposals will be accepted to the NSF programs listed on the https://www.nsf.gov/od/oise/NSF-BSF/participating_programs.jsp webpage. Note that deadlines and application windows vary by program.
Israeli researchers are invited to read the BSF solicitations. The BSF website indicates the funding limits for the Israeli partners in an NSF-BSF collaborative proposal, as well as which Israeli institutions are eligible for support. BSF support for the Israelis will be for the duration approved by the NSF for the U.S. grantee, and Israeli researchers may be part of only one NSF submission at any given time, or two if one of them is to a program without a deadline. An Israeli researcher may hold only one grant at any given time, or two if one of them is in a program without a deadline. Any limits for U.S. researchers on the number of proposals are described in the relevant NSF-BSF Participating Programs solicitation or program description (see also guideline 6 below for participating NSF programs).
Proposals are expected to adhere to the areas of science, funding limits, and grant durations for the NSF-participating programs (see website link above) and BSF program from which funding is sought. Proposals must represent an integrated collaborative effort. This document provides guidelines for the preparation, submission, review, and award of NSF-BSF collaborative research proposals.
Proposers are advised that all documents submitted to NSF or BSF may be shared with the other agency in order to implement the two-way agency activities.
For programs with deadlines, proposals are due at NSF by the submission dates indicated in the program solicitation or program description provided on the NSF-BSF Participating Programs webpage.
For programs without target dates or deadlines for submission, proposals may be submitted at any time. Proposals submitted late in a given U.S. fiscal year may be held over for consideration in the following fiscal year. In general, proposal review is completed within six months of submission. Proposers may wish to consult a program director in the relevant program about timing of submission.
For programs without target dates or deadlines for submission, proposals may be submitted at any time. Proposals submitted late in a given U.S. fiscal year may be held over for consideration in the following fiscal year. In general, proposal review is completed within six months of submission. Proposers may wish to consult a program director in the relevant program about timing of submission.
In all cases, the same proposal must be provided to BSF within one week of the NSF submission.
