Swiss Joint Research Center RFP

Collaborative Research Proposal Requirements
The deadline for proposal submissions is September 27, 2021. The results will be announced on November 1, 2021.

Microsoft shall have no obligation to maintain the confidentiality of any submitted proposals. Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is confidential, proprietary, restricted, or sensitive. Proposals will be evaluated by the Swiss JRC Steering Committee and subject-matter experts chosen from Microsoft.

Submission
Once the proposal document is ready for submission and before the submission deadline, the main Microsoft collaborator must submit the proposal (in Word or PDF format) via an online form. There the Microsoft collaborator has the opportunity to submit a supporting statement for this application

Length
The proposal should not be more than six pages in length of 11-point font. Any documentation beyond that length will not be included as part of the proposal review.

The six-page limit includes the cover page but the proposal can start on the cover page if additional space is needed. Scholarly references/bibliography can be submitted in addition to the six pages and will not count toward the six-page limit.

Cover page
The proposal should have a cover page that provides the following information:

• Biographical information and contact information of ETH Zurich or EPFL faculty and their MS research collaborators.
• Project proposal abstract – should contain the following:
  • A nontechnical description of the project that states the problem to be studied and explains the project’s broader significance and importance.
  • A technical description of the project that states the goals and scope of the research, and the methods and approaches to be used.

Proposal body
The proposal body should include the following information:

• Project description: Include what set of questions based on the identified research areas of interest above, will be addressed and how they will be addressed. Describe how answering these questions will help advance the state-of-the-art in the field.
• Approach: Describe the methodological and theoretical approach that the researchers will use.
• Resources: Proposals should specify if and how Microsoft technologies will be used, namely (1) APIs, (2) Data sets, etc. if applicable.
• Expected results: Briefly describe what new knowledge is likely to be generated as a result of this research, why these results would be significant, and how this could benefit information workers of tomorrow.
• Related research: Briefly summarize related research, including references where appropriate.
• Researcher roles: List the researchers involved in the project, both academic and Microsoft, and describe their roles, explaining how their skills and knowledge enable them to address the proposed research.
• Use of funds: We have an agreed budget level with both institutions that covers PhD salaries including overheads for one PhD student for the two years and therefore form part of a PhD. There is no need to spell out any budget details in the proposal unless it deviates from the standard arrangement.
• Microsoft Azure resources: In addition to the agreed budget level, Microsoft will consider requests for Azure resources (i.e. Azure credits) necessary to conduct research. Value of Azure credits will not be considered a part of the budget request. Azure requests should be included in the budget table. Applicants are encouraged to work with their Microsoft collaborator on estimating required Azure resources by consulting https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/.
• Time schedule and milestones: Proposals should include a time schedule and milestones (24 months) that begin in January 2022 and ends in December 2023. Hiring delays will be considered.
• Other support: Include other in-kind contributions to this project (cash, goods, and services) by your university or other sources, if any, but do not include the use of university/organization facilities that are otherwise provided on an ongoing basis. Describe other grants or funded research that may be leveraged to add value to this research effort. Applicants are expected to make clear whether there are resources in place to undertake the planned research.