BREAD Workshop for Prospective PIs

1
BREAD Workshop for Prospective PIsBasic
Research to Enable Agricultural Development

• The workshop will begin at 900 am EDT
• Welcome to our local participants
• Welcome to those participating via Webcast

2
Workshop Agenda

• Welcome and Introductions
• What is BREAD?
• What are the key goals of BREAD? What kinds of
  research will BREAD support? Who may apply?
• Information on Proposal Submission
• Policy and Management Issues
• QA Session

3
Welcome Introductions

• Deborah Delmer, BREAD Program Director and
  Workshop Moderator
• Members of the BREAD Working Group
• Jane Silverthorne, National Science Foundation
• Katherine Kahn, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

4
Some Advice

• This powerpoint presentation and QA transcripts
  will be posted on the BREAD website
• We anticipate posting the Program Solicitation
  and addtional FAQs in late May or early June
• There may be some changes to the details outlined
  today, so please pay careful attention to the
  Program Solicitation

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What is BREAD?

• BREAD is a new NSF Program supported through a
  partnership with the Bill Melinda Gates
  Foundation (BMGF)
• Addresses the BMGF focus on improving the lives
  of smallholder farmers in the developing world
• Takes advantage of the NSF peer review process
• Allows support for research of international
  partners at their home institutions
• 48 million total over 5 years

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Key Criteria for BREAD Projects

• Scientific excellence with focus on research at
  the proof-of-concept  stage rather than
  application or redevelopment
• Clear evidence of innovative approaches
• Clear relevance to the constraints faced by
  small-holder farmers in the developing world
• Partnerships must be meaningful and synergistic

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International Collaborators

• No specific countries or regions will be targeted
  by BREAD
• BREAD encourages proposals that address problems
  of broad importance to large areas and/or
  populations where solutions could have broad
  impact
• Proposals that address problems unique to one
  small location or population may be less desirable

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What BREAD will not support

• Purely basic research of the sort funded by other
  NSF programs and without developing country focus
• Purely applied research that aims to deliver
  already proven approaches or technologies
• Research in the fields of social science or
  economics

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What BREAD will support

• Some emphasis will be placed on crop improvement
  but
• BREAD aims to cast a fairly wide net and will
  also consider strong proposals involving work on
  relevant microbes, insects, or animals including
  fish soil and water issues
• BREAD will also consider innovative proposals
  beyond biology that involve other scientific and
  engineering disciplines

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Some Examples of Potential Scope

• Projects that seek to exploit new discoveries in
  the biological sciences
• To create durable resistance to major diseases
  and pests that affect plants, animals or insects
  of agricultural importance
• To enhance water-, nitrogen- or phosphate-use
  efficiency in crops
• To enhance the ability of plant and animal
  products to delay ripening and/or withstand
  storage under less-than-ideal conditions
  prevalent in many parts of the developing world.
• To exploit knowledge on genetic diversity to
  enhance the ability of small-scale farmers to
  adapt to emerging threats of global climate
  change, emerging diseases, and the rising costs
  of energy

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Some Examples of Potential Scope

• Projects that seek to exploit new discoveries
  beyond the biological sciences
• Application of new advances in fields such as
  nanotechnology to the development of novel and
  more efficient ways to deliver fertilizers and
  this address poor soil fertility without
  negatively affecting the environment
• Creation of low-cost, high throughput tools for
  use in breeding or disease diagnostics,
  especially suited to developing world agriculture
• Development of new technologies or devices for
  local or remote monitoring of crops
• Development of low-cost, efficient devices for
  energy production and storage appropriate to
  small-scale agriculture in remote settings

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Who may apply?

• All proposals must be submitted by an eligible US
  institution, and the PI must be from the
  submitting institution
• A PI or co-PI may only be involved in one
  submitted project no limit on number of
  proposals from submitting institutions
• No proposals may be directly submitted by foreign
  institutions
• Co-PIs and collaborators (US and international)
  may be funded via sub-awards

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International Collaborations

• Sub-awards may be requested for any eligible
  educational or research institution in any
  country of the world except those embargoed by
  the US government

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International Collaborations

• Collaborators are not required, but are
  encouraged it when it shows clear benefit to the
  project
• Collaborators in developing countries are not
  required, but you are strongly encouraged to
  explore whether such a partnership might enhance
  the relevance and feasibility of your research
• BREAD encourages training that will enhance
  capacity of developing country partners

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Relationship with the Plant Genome Research
Program

• BREAD grew out of discussions between BMGF and
  PGRP, and BREAD is a program at NSF managed from
  within the PGRP
• You do not need to have a PGRP award nor must you
  have a genomics approach to apply to BREAD
• Developing Country Collaborations in Plant Genome
  Research (DCC-PGR) will continue BREAD is not a
  replacement for this activity

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Project Size and Duration

• Support will likely be for up to 3 years
• As many as 10-20 grants could be supported in the
  first year with tentative budgets in the range
  of
• Up to 150,000 per year per lab
• With 3 or fewer sub-awards per project

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Submission Guidelines

• All Letters of Intent and Proposals will be
  submitted through FastLane
• Anticipated due dates
• Letters of Intent early August 2009
• Proposal deadline early September 2009
• Program Solicitation will contain details on
  proposal preparation visit www.nsf.gov and sign
  up for NSF Updates by E-mail

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Policy and Management Issues

• The budget will be in US dollars
• The awardee institution will manage all
  sub-awards and
• It will be responsible for ensuring accurate and
  timely submission of all technical and financial
  reports
• It will be expected to ensure ethical conduct of
  all research according to relevant country
  regulations
• A workshop will be held in late June with more
  information and guidance for sponsored research
  officials at submitting institutions

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Relevant NSF Websites
Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP) http//www.ns
f.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id5338 BREAD
Program http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pi
ms_id503403
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Questions Answers

• Submit questions via e-mail
• Keep questions short, clear and to the point
• webcast_at_nsf.gov