NADIR

Proposal requirements

Through this call, Nadir will provide access to researchers proposing experiments to be conducted in the different network facilities

Projects can involve research on any of the livestock species (cattle, pigs, chickens, goat, sheep and fish) and may use live animals including laboratory species (e.g. mice) or cell lines. Applicants should note that a collection of cell lines is available through the NADIR project, which are available to the research community (see www.nadir-project.eu). Priority will be given to projects focused on a disease or pathogen requiring L3 containment but protocols requiring specialized infrastructure at a lower level of confinement are also acceptable.

Proposals may be submitted by any European (or associated state***) research laboratory or consortium of laboratories (public or private). In the case of individual laboratories the proposal must be for access to a NADIR facility in a different country from the applicant laboratory; for consortia, their lead member must be in a different country from the NADIR facility. (See Eligibility and selection of user groups – Annex III Grant Agreement)

As a rule, the support of any project requires an engagement from participants to communicate results from any protocol to Nadir, the EC and the scientific community through classical means, i.e. project reports, congress communications and scientific publications.

Proposal review

An independent steering group of experts in the fields of disease research animal and animal experimentation will review the proposals. They will take into account the scientific quality,  novely, the feasibility and the ethical soundness of the proposal. Other selection criteria will include the expertise of the applicants, the cost and the duration of the work. All selected projects must be achived by 01-02-2013 to fall within the funding period of the NADIR project by the EU Commission).

Resources

First projects are expected to start in early 2010 and the costs of individual projects will not exceed the limit of the facility unit (several units can be requested) although competitive costing is one of the criteria for selection of the winning proposals and the overall permissible cost will depend on the importance of the project topic to EU needs.
(see individual facilities description for the number of available access)

As an indication each facility may require up to a total of about 200.000 Euros through Nadir, for 5-10 projects or higher according to the nature, duration and complexity of each experiment.

Access users will benefit from access free of charge. The Nadir will cover both facility costs and the research group(s) travelling expenses to the selected facility according to the submitted protocol. An average of two persons from each project are expected to participate to the initiation and termination of each experiment in a foreign country (see each facility description for more details about costs reimbursement).

***Associated states: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, Israel, Turkey, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia, Albania and Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina