GRAL has launched in 2015 its first “Open Call for proposal” with the objective of fostering new collaborations and increasing the visibility of GRAL on novel challenging research topics.
Budget : 2.4 M€
The call is open to the GRAL community. 2 types of projects are financed :
- Type I: “Large, multi-partner collaborative projects” – 500-600 k€ / project
- Type II: “Individual focused projects with a significant collaborative component” – 120 k€ / project
The main criteria for the selection are:
- GRAL objective: integrative aspects of the project (aiming at bridging molecular and cellular aspects)
- Scientific interest and impact of the project
- Inovative and competitive aspects of the project
- Feasibility, risk assessment (track record)
Financing of PhD students or Post-Doc and associated bench fees.
Methodology of the evaluation :
9 Type I projects and 19 type II projects were submitted to the pre-selection of the first call. Pre-selection was made in January 2015 by the internal Science Board and the Directory of the GRAL Labex; following the above-mentioned criteria.
6 Type I and 11 Type II projects has been retained for a complete submission of their project and the final evaluation :
- Type I projects: were sent to international experts with an evaluation form.
The final evaluation made by the intern Internal Science Board of GRAL on May 29th, 2015 following the recommendations of the external reviewers. - Type II projects were auditioned on April 10th, 2015 by the internal Science Board of GRAL. 7 projects were ranked (from 1 to 7).
Results :
The Directory of Gral decided to finance 2 Type I and 2 Type II projects :
| Head of the selected project | Name of the selected project | Grant | |
| TYPE I PROJECTS | Hugues LORTAT JACOB (IBS) | The heparan sulfatebiosynthetic machinery : deciphering the mechanism by which functional oligosaccharide sequences are assembled | 590 k€ |
| François PARCY (iRTSV) | Integrated study of Plant Pioneer Transcription Factors | 600 k€ | |
| TYPE II PROJECTS | Dimitris PETROUTSOS (iRTSV) | Gene expression control by the blue light photoreceptor phototropin in Chlamydomonas | 120 k€ |
| Jacques Philippe COLLETIER (IBS) |
Integrated study of antibiotic efflux in P. stuartii | 120 k€ |