FAQ: CSIRO-NSF AI Research Collaboration Program
To get in touch with a specific Mission Lead, write to missions@csiro.au. You may also contact Olivier Salvado in the AI for Missions program at oliver.salvado@csiro.au
Yes. All Missions, included those under the "Developing Missions" heading, are eligible. Please see Partner with us to tackle Australia’s greatest challenges.
The collaboration between the US and Australian investigators need not originate with the US and Australian leads, though a collaboration thus established may appear stronger to the reviewers.
Minor edits to the Project Summary, Project Description, or budgets can be made between the two submissions. But the list of PI, co-PI and Senior Personnel must not change. The substantive content of the Project Summary and Project Description must not change to ensure project that CSIRO affirms is aligned with their missions is the same project submitted to NSF.
- September 1, 2022: Deadline for submission to CSIRO for Mission alignment review.
- October 17, 2022: Deadline for submission of proposals to NSF.
Note: By Sept 21, applicants will receive a letter from CSIRO confirming whether their proposal is Mission aligned or not. TA letter affirming CSIRO Mission alignment must be uploaded with the proposal to NSF as a Supplementary Document. Proposals submitted to NSF without this letter will be returned without review.
There are no templates. For the full instructions, please refer to the full solicitation on the US National Science Foundation web site at NSF Dear Colleague letter (DCL) 22-086.
That is correct. CSIRO funding rules for this application do not allow funds being used for hiring students.
No, either can be be lead PI. However, only the US organization can submit the application to NSF in Research.gov.
- The submitting PI must be the US partner.
- That PI will create your team’s application in Research.gov by Sept
- When your team is ready to submit to CSIRO, the PI should download the draft and send it to CSIRO by the Sept 1 deadline.
- The PI should not submit it to NSF, however, until receiving the approval from CSIRO to do so.
- If CSIRO declines to approve an application, the PI simply withdraws the proposal.
- If CSIRO approves the application, the PI would finalize and then submit to NSF.
Australian investigators should not be listed as co-Pis on the NSF Cover Sheet. Instead, they should be listed as Senior Personnel. "Senior personnel" could include PIs, co-PIs, or faculty members — an individual other than the PI, who holds an appointment as a faculty member, and who will participate in the project being supported.
CSIRO researchers can participate on grant proposals.
Please use your discretion about the appropriate budget for the program. As in all NSF proposal reviews, the scope of the project and quality of collaboration team will be discussed, and reviewers often remark positively on established collaborations, but it is not a requirement to win funding.