GRAND and INRIA, the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support collaboration in research areas such as computer graphics, modeling, interaction, animation, user interface design, HCI, and perception.
The MOU is based on the success of the SHARE associate team involving the IMAGER lab of UBC and several INRIA teams. It will continue and broaden the collaboration between Canadian and INRIA research teams in Computer Graphics, Modeling and Interaction. Each organization will fund its own component of joint research initiatives. The GRAND NCE will provide additional support for these collaborations by funding travel expenses between France and Canada for researchers and students.
There will be two calls per year over three years. This is the first call. The maximum total amount of funding available from GRAND is $20,000CAD per year. Each award is expected to be in the range of $2000 to $4000. Longer-term collaborations may apply multiple times.
The proposals must satisfy the eligibility conditions given below. An international selection committee will review the proposals. Selection will be based on the amount of matching funding from the Canadian partners and on the amount of travel funding already received from GRAND, so that projects that are new or have had less travel support from GRAND will have priority over those that have already benefited from this type of travel funding.
This is intended to be a lightweight process. Proposals are expected to fit on less than one page. A response can be expected approximately two weeks after the submission deadline.
Eligible expenses include airfare, ground transportation, meals, and accommodation for visits to INRIA by GRAND researchers or to GRAND laboratories by INRIA researchers in support of existing or new linkages. Visitors from INRIA are encouraged to include multiple GRAND laboratories in their itineraries, when appropriate. It is expected that one or more research presentations will be given by a visitor at the host institution(s) as part of the collaboration.
In aggregate, costs for travel under this program will be split equally between INRIA and GRAND, with GRAND funding determined through a matching formula that provides funds from GRAND Central equal to the amount provided by GRAND researchers from their research budgets. Thus GRAND researchers are expected to provide 25% of the funds, GRAND Central will match this with another 25%, and INRIA funding will provide the remaining 50% of the total funding for the program.
| Source of funds | % of costs |
| GRAND travel funding award | 25% |
| GRAND researchers from NI funds or other sources | 25% |
| INRIA | 50% |
For 2011-2012, the INRIA contribution is not required (i.e., GRAND will pay half of the total travel costs and GRAND researchers will pay the other half). This takes into account previous contributions made by INRIA through the SHARE associate team that have already provided an equivalent amount of funding for this program.
Send an email to [email protected] to request an INRIA/GRAND Travel Fund template or additional information about the process. Those considering applications are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this mechanism to ask for clarification and advice during the planning process.
Completed applications should be sent as email attachments to [email protected] no later than December 10, 2011, for consideration in the first round of funding.
