Please scroll down for an interview with Dr Pantana Tor-ngern (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand) who is participating in a research collaboration funded under the 1st JFS Call.
The Southeast Asia-Europe Joint Funding Scheme for Research and Innovation (JFS) is an instrument for the funding of bi-regional research and innovation projects. The funding for the projects is provided by funding agencies or ministries at national, regional or local level from Southeast Asia and Europe. Each country funds "their own researchers" according to their own rules and in principle there is "no money crossing borders". Joint Calls for Proposals are being launched in changing thematic areas which are of interest to the participating funders. In 2017 a first joint call in the thematic areas Health (Emerging Infectious Diseases/AMR) and Environment/Climate Change (Adaptation/Resilience of food production systems, Impacts of Climate Change on Ecosystems/Biodiversity) was successfully implemented.
The 2nd Joint Call for Proposals in the thematic areas Bioeconomy and Infectious Diseases under the Southeast Asia-Europe Joint Funding Scheme for Research and Innovation has now been launched. The deadline for the submission of Proposals is 18 September 2018.
Type of funded projects:
Southeast Asia-Europe Joint Call Projects must comprise of at least 3 partners (either 2 different Southeast Asian partners and 1 European partner or 2 different European partners and 1 Southeast Asian partner) applying for funding from funding agencies participating in the call. Funding agencies from the following countries are currently contributing to the Call: Bulgaria, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, The Philippines, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey.
The proposals must cover the thematic areas of Bioeconomy or Infectious Diseases to enhance bi-regional co-operation and develop new partnerships as well as strengthen existing ones.
Deadline: 18 September 2018 12:00 (noon) CET/ 17:00 Jakarta time
Thematic Areas
1) Bioeconomy:
The bioeconomy comprises those parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea – such as crops, forests, fish, animals and micro-organisms – to produce food, materials and energy.
Bioeconomy is a top-priority on the research agendas of the EU and its MS/AC and the ASEAN countries (e.g. see Europe's Bioeconomy Strategy and cross-cutting topic in APASTI in Sub-Committee on Biotechnology (SCB), Sub-Committee on Food Science and Technology (SCFST) and Sub-Committee on Marine Science and Technology (SCMSAT), Sub-Committee on Materials Science and Technology (SCMST) or also Sub-Committee on Sustainable Energy Research (SCSER).
2) Infectious Diseases
Research on Infectious Diseases has a long history in Southeast Asia-Europe cooperation as the pose a threat to both regions and there are strong research capacities on both sides. The topic was also part of the 1st Joint Call for Proposals under this funding scheme. A focus is on emerging infectious diseases and proposals could address subjects such as new drug and vaccine candidates (preclinical), diagnostics, epidemiology, public health preparedness. This thematic area covers infectious diseases which pose a threat to human health.
Scope of the projects:
Funding will be provided for the duration of a maximum of three years (36 months). They should start earliest in April 2019.
Within the framework of the Joint Call, funding can in general be applied for:
- Personnel costs
- Equipment and consumables (project-related miscellaneous expenses and project-related larger equipment)
- Mobility costs (exchange research visits between Europe and Southeast Asia. Travel costs, living expenses and visa costs are eligible for funding.
- Other costs (Costs which cannot be classified under the previous cost items but are required for the project implementation, such as costs related to dissemination, intellectual property, demonstration, market search, management, organisational and subcontracting costs).
The eligibility of cost items and their calculation is according to respective national regulations. You can download the respective national regulations for your country in the attachments section of the JFS website.
The upper funding limit can also be found in the respective national regulations.
Who can apply?
Proposals may be submitted by public legal RTD (Research and Technology Development) entities, higher education institutions, non-university research establishments, companies (all depending on national regulations). The participation of SMEs, industries and clusters in consortia is recommended. Eligibly criteria can be found in the respective national funding regulations.
Applicants should discuss their intentions and confirm eligibility with their respective National Contact Point before submitting a proposal. De
Application Process
Project proposals are to be submitted electronically using the PT-Outline web tool
Link: https://secure.pt-dlr.de/ptoutline/app/seaeuropejfs2018
Need help?
Website: Please visit the official website of the JFS for details.
Call secretariat: Indonesian Science Fund, Mrs. Marsia Gustiananda (Marsia.Gustiananda@dipi.id) / Mr. Adam Bakthiar (adam.bakhtiar@dipi.id)
JFS Management: Mr. Hans Westphal. Service Delivery Manager of the SEA-EU JFS (sea_eu_jfs@servicefacility.eu)
JFS Success Story: Interview with Dr Pantana of CWSSEA
The collaborative project 'Climatic Water Stress – Southeast Asia' (CWSSEA) was selected for funding under the 1st JFS Call. Project participant Dr Pantana of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand shares with us the details of the collaboration.
Dr Pantana Tor-ngern is a researcher with the Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University. She holds a B.S.E, M.S. and PhD from Duke University, North Carolina in the U.S. She can be contacted at Pantana.t[at]chula.ac.th
|
Dr Pantana, can you tell us something about the context for your project?
Climatic water stress, such as droughts and warmer temperatures, may accelerate forest mortality. Moreover, the frequency and intensity of drought events are predicted to increase in tropical monsoon forests of Southeast Asia; ecosystems which are known to be biodiversity hotspots and a persistent carbon sink in the global carbon cycle. Such increases could drive rapid and large-scale shifts in forest structure and species composition as well as cause dramatic decreases in the amount of carbon stored by these tropical forests.
The majority of forested areas in the tropics are secondary forests, yet compared to mature forests we know relatively little about the ecophysiology of secondary forest ecosystems. Differences in species composition of mature and secondary forests can further complicate our understanding of how forested ecosystems will respond to climatic water stress and thus highlights the need for a better understanding of the vulnerability of both mature and secondary forests to drought in order to more accurately predict global carbon and water cycling in light of future climate change.
What does the CWSSEA project aim to achieve?
In this study, we will measure canopy transpiration which is frequently used to estimate canopy stomatal conductance; a central variable in modeling the uptake of carbon by forests. Measurements will be made in both mature and secondary forests, which in turn will allow us to investigate species-specific responses to water stress by assessing tree hydraulics and drought vulnerability of the dominant species in each forest type.
We will also explore the degree of soil water partitioning among species within each forest to provide a more mechanistic understanding of how individual trees are able to overcome drought stress. Taken together, this study will be the first to our knowledge that quantifies canopy transpiration, tree hydraulics and drought vulnerability as well as the mechanisms dominant tree species in both mature and secondary tropical forests use to overcome drought stress, which will provide the necessary information to more accurately predict how climate change will affect the carbon and water cycle in tropical forests.
Tell us a bit about the roles of you and your partners in the project. How was this partnership established or how did you find your partner?
This proposal builds upon the existing and new collaborations among partners. The Thai and Swedish teams have been working on long-term sap flow measurement of pine and spruce trees in a boreal forest to estimate canopy transpiration and to quantify the important role trees play in the boreal hydrologic cycle since 2016.
The Thai team includes experts in analyses of forest ecophysiology and community and ecological succession. The French team is led by an expert in tree hydraulics and physiological responses of water and carbon flows in forest. The Swedish team is led by an expert in isotope ecology, particularly the assessment of soil water partitioning and the cycling of water and carbon in forests. Together, the expertise of each partner will complement each other and create a stimulating research and learning environments among scientists and students from these countries.
The SEA-Europe JFS has a strong focus on impact. How could your research benefit the economy or society in SEA or Europe?
This study is unique in that it will fulfil the knowledge gaps in ecophysiological responses of tropical forests and improve predictions made by global vegetation and carbon models. In addition to studying the primary forest, our study will concentrate on secondary forests which are less studied in this region.
To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to investigate ecophysiological response to climatic changes in secondary tropical forests of Southeast Asia. This study will take advantage of already established and new collaborations among Thai, Swedish and French scientists who have strong and various research backgrounds in plant ecophysiology and will also strengthen the research capacity of Thai scientists and the competitiveness of European Union science.
Given that the European Union is currently a leader in finding solution for climate change, this study will provide information for guiding a global policy for European countries on this topic because contributions from ASEAN countries to overall EU scientific publications and citations are relatively small[1]. We expect that this project to build a network of stakeholders to tackle the impacts of climate change on tropical forest diversity and productivity.
Are there any specific advantages or challenges for you when working in this SEA-European project team?
There are more advantages than challenges working in this team. This is solely because of the already well-established collaboration among partners.
What has funding through the SEA-EU-JFS allowed you to do so far? What are the next steps your team plans to take?
With the provided funding, we purchased some equipment that is necessary for making measurements. We are still waiting for permission to construct weather towers in the forests which usually takes a considerable amount of time in Thailand. However, we have prepared all materials needed to conduct the study and are ready to implement them once the permission is granted.
CWSSEA was selected for funding under the 1st Call. How was your experience with the application process?
The application process was really easy. The instructions were clear and straightforward.
What advice would you give to researchers thinking about applying for the 2nd Call?
I would suggest them to start the application as soon as possible because there are many aspects to the research, besides the science, that needs to be established and elaborated. Good luck!
[1]https://unu.edu/publications/articles/analysing-asean-eu-research-collaboration.html#info
About the Project
The CWSSEA (Climatic Water Stress – Southeast Asia) project will study the functioning of tropical forests, particularly secondary forests in Thailand, and assess how they will respond to climatic water stress and the potential impacts of future climate scenarios in these ecosystems.
This information will then assist in creating model predictions on the long-term scenarios of climate change impacts on forest ecosystem services, and influence future global policies to combat climate change.
The Science
The researchers will measure canopy transpiration, which is frequently used to estimate canopy stomatal conductance; a central variable in modeling the uptake of carbon by forests. Measurements will be made in both mature and secondary forests, which in turn will allow for the investigation of species-specific responses to water stress by assessing tree hydraulics and drought vulnerability of the dominant species in each forest type.
The team will also explore the degree of soil water partitioning among species within each forest to provide a more mechanistic understanding of how individual trees are able to overcome drought stress.
Taken together, this will be one of the first studies to quantify canopy transpiration, tree hydraulics and drought vulnerability as well as the mechanisms dominant tree species in both mature and secondary tropical forests use to overcome drought stress, which will provide the necessary information to more accurately predict how climate change will affect the carbon and water cycle in tropical forests.
The Team
The CWSSEA partners are:
- Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, www.chula.ac.th
- Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand, www.ku.ac.th
- National Science and Technology Development Agency, Pathum Thani, Thailand, www.nstda.or.th
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, www.slu.se
- Bordeaux Sciences Agro, Bordeaux, France, www.agro-bordeaux.fr