Joint research program expands funding levels

UNC Charlotte’s Graduate School and State of São Paulo Research Foundation continue to offer faculty members opportunities to form research partnerships. The budget limit is now $20,000 from each party in the SPRINT program (São Paulo Researchers in International Collaboration).

According to the Graduate School, the program’s overarching goal is to encourage research projects that grow into larger efforts that will attract funding from State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and the U.S. federal government. FAPESP and UNC Charlotte’s Graduate School provide seed funding for their respective teams.

The University’s first SPRINT awardee was Inna Sokolova, professor and vice chair of research, Department of Biological Sciences, who will manage a $10,000 research budget. Sokolova will partner with São Paulo researcher Fernando Ribeiro Gomes, Instituto de Biociências, University of São Paulo, who will manage a separate $10,000 from FAPESP for a joint project to research the effects of extreme seasonality on metabolism and immunity of amphibians in a tropical semi-arid zone.

“I am extremely excited about the opportunity to expand my research and forge new international collaborations with a strong research team at the University of São Paulo,” said Sokolova. “The research that we propose addresses an important global issue related to the ongoing climate change that may endanger species living in extreme environments such as tropical dry deserts. We anticipate that the current project will generate important proof-of-the-concept data about the physiological mechanisms that limit amphibian survival in extreme environments and help predict their future in the changing world. We also hope that this pilot study will give our team a leg up in competing for external funding to continue and expand this important research, and will enrich the educational experiences for students at UNC Charlotte and the University of São Paulo”.

SPRINT is now accepting proposals from UNC Charlotte faculty researchers for the next round of joint funding with FAPESP. Submissions are being accepted from all fields of science, technology, education and mathematics through Jan. 26, 2015.

Daniel Janies, UNC Charlotte professor, will be host a webinar about SPRINT at 1 p.m., Dec. 2, Email Janies at djanies@uncc.edu to register to attend.

In 2012, FAPESP’s expenditures exceeded the equivalent of $530M in U.S. dollars, and São Paulo-based researchers had a better than 50 percent award rate on submissions.

“The rising level of research funding in São Paulo has allowed their scientists to focus on important problems rather than being overwhelmed with finding financial resources for their studies,” explained Janies. “By taking the lead to organize these funding programs, UNC Charlotte’s Graduate School is opening doors for much broader collaborations between our faculty and their counterparts in the State of São Paulo.”

Sokolova added, “I am very grateful to UNC Charlotte and FAPESP for their generosity in supporting this research. From my recent experience as a program director at NSF, I know that the most compelling and exciting science comes from research teams that work across the disciplinary and national boundaries, such as our new team that involves tropical ecologists, zoologists, physiologists and immunologists.”

For additional information on how to apply for this research funding, contact email Janies at djanies@uncc.edu.