Call for MIT-SPAIN ”la Caixa” Foundation SEED FUND

The objectives of the MIT-SPAIN ”la Caixa” Foundation SEED FUND call for proposals are the following:

- Significantly to increase the number of opportunities for collaboration between Spanish researchers and MIT.

- To increase the visibility of Spanish research among MIT faculty, researchers and students, and vice versa.

- To build a strong community of scientific leaders at MIT and in Spain with mutual links to give rise to long-term collaboration.

The projects submitted must be focused in one of the following fields:

- Health: cancer, AIDS-HIV, cardiovascular disorders, neurodegenerative illnesses and global and planetary health.

- Energy: new energy sources and renewable energies.

- The global economy: economics, science and technology as tools to combat social inequality.

Priority will be given to projects that:

- Involve a balanced exchange between MIT researchers and their Spanish colleagues.

- Demonstrate complementarity between the MIT and Spanish teams.

- Include student participation.

- Are likely to represent a major contribution to their field of study.

- Are new or are entering a new phase.

- Involve undergraduate or postgraduate students in a meaningful way.

- Are likely to be sustainable beyond the grant period.

The MIT-SPAIN ”la Caixa” Foundation SEED FUND supports projects to foster collaboration between research conducted in Spain and at MIT. All Spanish non-profit research centers and universities can enter the call for proposals, in collaboration with one or more research groups at MIT.

Proposals must be submitted jointly by Spanish and MIT researchers.

- The grants can be used to cover the cost of travel and meetings to facilitate international cooperation and projects.

- Grants cannot be used to cover salaries or materials.

- The funds cannot be assigned to finance long-term stays (more than two months) abroad or at MIT. However, the MIT-SPAIN ”la Caixa” Foundation SEED FUND can send MIT undergraduate and postgraduate students to work on projects directed by faculty abroad through our internship programme. Please contact us for further information.

- The funds are not intended to finance postgraduate students’ theses.

- The funds will be placed at the disposal of the MIT applicant and must be administered by their department.

Applicants must submit proposals using the application portal, which they have to access by creating a user account. Both MIT researchers and Spanish researchers can complete applications.

If you still don’t have faculty connections with MIT, the following links will help you find faculty connections: http://web.mit.edu/research and http://global.mit.edu/research.  

The deadline for applications for the 2019-2020 grant period is on 17th September 2019. Applicants will be informed of the results in mid-December 2019. The funds will be available from January 2020 to August 2021. When the grant period comes to an end, all unused funds must be returned to the MIT-SPAIN ”la Caixa” Foundation SEED FUND. Grantees must make a brief report on their activities at the end of the grant period.

Grantees are selected through a two-tier process:

- An evaluation committee first reviews the proposals to check their scientific accuracy. This committee is comprised of MIT faculty who review proposals in their own fields of research.

- Taking this review into consideration, a selection board for each fund selects proposals based on the overall quality of the proposal and priorities of the call for proposals. The selection boards will be made up of faculty from throughout MIT.

Over a hundred MIT faculty members participate in this review process each year. The process is overseen by the MIT Advisory Committee. 

Look up the answers to frequently-asked questions.

If you still don’t have faculty connections with MIT, the following links will help you find faculty connections: http://web.mit.edu/research and http://global.mit.edu/research

When you contact the researchers at MIT, you can use this model e-mail so that they will understand easily what type of collaboration you are proposing under the MISTI Seed Funds programme.

Dear Professor X,

Based on what I believe to be shared research interests and complementarities, I’d like to suggest submitting a joint proposal for the upcoming MIT-Spain ”la Caixa” Foundation Seed Fund call—deadline of September 17th, 2019.

As you may know the Global Seed Funds run by MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives) provide start- up funding for many collaborations between MIT faculty and their international counterparts. Through the MIT-Spain Program, ”la Caixa” Foundation has established a dedicated fund to encourage new collaborations between MIT faculty and research scientists and their counterparts at Spanish Universities and Research Institutes throughout Spain. Funding is meant to be used primarily for travel and meetings.

I am attaching a one-page draft of the research subject I propose for collaboration ("Name") and a short resume.

In case you did not find my focus to be a good match for your current research but knew other MIT colleagues working in this area, please let me know.

Looking forward to your feedback,