NATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION

SCIENCE OF LEARNING INITIATIVE

PLANNING GRANT GUIDELINES
FOR
APPLICANTS

1.

Objectives

1.1.

The NRF Science of Learning Initiative aims to grow and strengthen

Singapores research capability and grow a pool of manpower in relevant
research areas. It seeks to develop a science-based understanding of the
effectiveness of Singapores education methods as well as develop new
methods to realise better learning outcomes.

1.2.

The Science of Learning Planning Grants will support activities to develop Full
Proposals for multi-disciplinary research projects. Collaborations with
international experts are encouraged and meetings with such scientists will be
supported by the Planning Grants.

1.3.

The call aims at funding proposals that are based on, but need not be limited
to, research in the following priority areas:
a. Developing neuroscience-informed interventions for translation This
refers to the development of interventions built on existing related
neuroscience knowledge.
b. Validation of cognitive theories or interventions with neuroscientific
evidence This refers to the corroboration of existing
interventions/theories with the development of new neuroscience
knowledge.
c. Development of platform technologies as tools to support scaling of
interventions This focuses on methods to scale up application of
established intervention methods.

2. Application and Call Processes

2.1.

To apply, applicants (Lead PIs) will need to submit proposals directly to NRF.
(Eugene_SEE@nrf.gov.sg and Clarice_CHEN@nrf.gov.sg).

Application Form
2.2.

The Application Form can be obtained from the respective Offices of

Research of the host institution. Please complete all sections of the
Application Form, and no fields are to be left blank. Please indicate Not
Applicable (N.A.) if necessary. Supporting documents must be submitted as
separate attachments.

2.3.

Applications must include overseas collaborators if applicable. All

collaborators are expected to be involved in the research activities of the
project.

2.4.

Multi-PI applications must identify a Lead PI, who is expected to be actively

involved in the overall management of the project and who will be accountable
for the project and its deliverables. All Co-PIs and collaborators listed as
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members of the research team are expected to be actively involved in the

research activities of the project, even though this may be in varying degrees.
2.5.

Section II comprises the Planning Grant Proposal and White Paper. Contents
in this section should not exceed 5 pages, Arial font size 10. All fields must
be completed. Diagrams, references and CVs should be attached as
appendices, which are excluded from the page limit.

2.6.

Section II Planning Grant Proposal: The Planning grant will support activities
toward the development of a Full Proposal. Activities could include research
support (manpower, consumables, etc) to obtain preliminary data, or meetings
with international experts for example. The following questions should be
addressed:
a.

2.7.

What is the immediate problem to be addressed? What activities are

required to facilitate the development of a Full Proposal? What are the
expected outcomes of this Planning Grant?

Section II White Paper: To encourage forward thinking, the Planning Grant

application will require concise details on what will be further elaborated in the
Full Proposal, and contains the following questions:
a.

Research Objectives: What are you trying to do? What problem are
you trying to address? Clearly state the problem to be addressed with
neither jargon nor acronyms and explain why it is significant.

b.

Approach: (1) How is it done today, who the leading researchers

studying the problem are, and what is your understanding of the
limitations of their current approaches? (2) What is your approach and
how does it differ from what others are working on? Why do you think
your proposal will be successful?

c.

Project Plan: How are financial and human resources organised to

accomplish the objective? What are the technical risks and how would
these be mitigated? Outline the schedule for all phases of the
proposed programme a Gantt chart can be attached as an annex.

d.

Role of team members: What are the roles and contributions of coPIs, collaborators and visiting experts (if any)? Why are you and your
team members particularly qualified to do this? How do the
collaboration(s) between disciplines, institutions or with industry add
value to the project? Briefly describe the plans for interaction among
the team member(s) and with collaborators in achieving the research
objectives.

e.

Outcomes & Deliverables: What are the scientific milestones /

metrics that can be used to measure success at completion of the
project? If successful, how would this generate value for Singapore?
What are the potential advances and benefits for society?

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f.

Potential Application/Exploitation of the Project: Please state how

the project will be actionable and scalable.

g.

Other relevant information as determined by the Lead PI.

Proposed budget
2.8.

PIs should submit the budget for the research program using the Application
Form. The amount indicated should be the grant amount requested from NRF
for direct costs only. PIs should provide accurate and reasonable budgets
in their submissions.

2.9.

PIs should fill in the detailed budget breakdown for direct costs (broken down
into the following broad categories, mainly: (a) expenditure on manpower
(EOM); (b) other operating expenditure (OOE); and travel, with sub-categories
for materials and consumables (if any).

2.10. Funding support of 20% of the total qualifying approved direct costs will be
provided as indirect costs. 10% of total qualifying approved direct costs will
not be provided for IP protection and commercialization activities. Host
institutions will be responsible for administering and managing the support
provided by NRF for the indirect costs of research, i.e. indirect costs funded
by NRF need not be used solely for the funded research project.
2.11. Please refer to Annex A for a detailed guide on non-fundable direct cost items.
NRFs decision on the funding support to be awarded for each project is final.
Declaration of Other Funding Support
2.12. Details of all grants currently held or being applied for by the local PI, Co-PIs
or collaborators who are expected to receive funding from NRF under the
proposed project, must be declared in this section. There should be no
double-dipping.
Curriculum Vitae
2.13. Only CVs (2 page per PI, Co-PI or collaborator in the format specified at
Annex B.) may be attached as annexes that will not be subject to the 5 page
limit.
References
2.14. References may be attached as annexes and will not be subject to the 5 page
limit.
Submission
2.15. All hardcopy Application Forms and supporting documents as requested
above must be submitted to NRF (Eugene_SEE@nrf.gov.sg and
Clarice_CHEN@nrf.gov.sg) through the Host Institutions Office of Research.
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For endorsement of the proposal, please obtain physical signatures for all
team members (Lead PI, co-PIs and Collaborators) and attach this section
only in .pdf. Electronic signatures of overseas collaborators can be accepted.
2.16. All attachments submitted to NRF as part of the call process must be clearly
labelled to facilitate easy identification of the attachments contents.
2.17. Application Forms and supporting documents are only considered to be
submitted to NRF if submitted by the specified call deadline of 31 July 2015,
5pm. NRF will not entertain any submissions after the specified call
deadline or any requests to extend the deadline.
2.18. Submissions which are incomplete (e.g., blank fields, CVs not included), not
endorsed by the corresponding host institution will be disqualified.
2.19. Applicants can expect to be notified by email on the outcome of the grant call
by Nov 2015.

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ANNEX A: NON-FUNDABLE DIRECT COSTS

1. EOM Related Expenses
Description
Type of Expenses
General Policy

No new hires shall be supported 6 months from the

original project end date.
Not allowable for Research Personnel not provided for
in the approved budget with prior approval from NRF.

Overtime

Not allowable.

PIs, Co-PIs & CoInvestigators EOM cost

Not allowable.

Staff Insurance

Not allowable unless they are incurred under an

established and consistently applied policy of the host
institution. Host institution may be requested to certify
that such payments are in accordance with its
established policy or on the same terms as the other
staff.

Staff Recruitment and

related cost

Not allowable. Examples of such costs are

advertisement, recruitment agency cost, staff
relocation, housing allowances, etc. unless specifically
approved by NRF.

Student Assistants /
Interns

Not allowable unless specifically provided for in the

grant and approved by NRF and is only allowable for
students already residing in Singapore, and who are
not receiving any stipends or awards.

2. Equipment Related Expenses

Description
Type of Expenses
General Policy

Not allowable.

Annex A - Page - 1

3. OOE Related Expenses

Description
Type of Expenses
General Policy

Not allowable for expenses that are not directly

related to the Research.

Audit Fees

Not allowable. This includes both internal and external

audit fees.

Conference and Seminar

Organisation

Not allowable unless specifically provided for in the

grant and approved by NRF.

Entertainment &
Refreshment

Not allowable.

Equipment Usage
Charges

Not allowable for internal (intra-institution) equipment

usage charges unless the equipment/service is part of
the host institutions central/shared facilities, such as
animal holding units and central laboratory, and
specifically provided for in the grant and approved
by NRF.
However, external (inter-institution) equipment usage
charges are allowable.

Fines and Penalties

Not allowable.

Insurance Premiums

Not allowable. This includes insurance premiums for

equipment, workmen compensation and professional
indemnity of researchers funded from NRF grants.
The host institution is responsible for the insurance of
the equipment, relevant workmen compensation and
professional indemnity insurance which are in line with
the host institutions risk policies.
However, personal travel insurance for approved
overseas trips is claimable.

IT Peripherals

Not allowable unless specifically provided for in the

grant and approved by NRF (e.g. thumbdrives, optical
media, data storage devices)

Legal Fees

Not allowable.

Annex A - Page - 2

Description
Type of Expenses
License Fees

Not allowable. (e.g. radiation license from HSA) unless

the license is required for the handling of machines
funded under the grant.

Local & International

Students fees or other
stipends or awards to
students

Not allowable.

Local Training

Not allowable unless the training is directly required for

the research and is specifically provided for in the grant
and approved by NRF.

Overhead Expenses

Not allowable unless specifically provided for in the

grant and approved by NRF based on the nature of the
research.
This includes rental, utilities, facilities management,
telephone charges, internet charges, etc.

Patent Application

Not allowable.
This includes patent application filing, maintenance and
other related cost.

Payments to Volunteers
and Research Patients

Not allowable unless necessary for the R&D work. This

should be specifically provided for in the grant and
approved by NRF.

Professional Membership
Fees

Not allowable. This applies to PI and Co-Investigators

as well as all research staff funded from the grant.

Publications

Not allowable for costs of reprints and publishing in

media such as books, monographs and pamphlets
unless it is specifically provided for in the grant and for
publication in professional journals.

Repairs and Maintenance

of Equipment

Not allowable unless specifically provided for in the

grant and approved by NRF. The period of
maintenance funded from the research grant, if
approved, should be only for the duration of the project
and for new equipment purchased or modified for the
project.

Annex A - Page - 3

Description
Type of Expenses
Software

Not allowable for generic software unless specifically

provided for in the grant and approved by NRF.
Software licenses, if approved, should only be for the
duration of the project.

Staff Benefits

Not allowable unless costs are incurred under formally

established and consistently applied policies of the
host institution.

Stationery and Printer

Consumables

Not allowable unless specifically provided for in the

grant and approved by NRF. This includes printing and
photocopying charges.

Transportation, Postage
& Courier services

Not allowable for general transport, postage & courier

charges.
Only allowable for postage, courier and freight charges
for bringing in equipment, specialised research
consumables, and the submission of manuscripts and
posters.
Not allowable for rental of vehicles (land/sea/air) unless
specifically provided for in the grant and approved by
NRF.

Vaccinations

Not allowable for routine health vaccinations. Only

allowed when working with micro-organisms carrying
infectious diseases.

Annex A - Page - 4

4. Overseas Travel Related Expenses

Description
Type of Expenses
General Policy

Not allowable unless specifically provided for in the

grant and approved by NRF. Travel must be by
economy class airfare; for all other travel-related
claims, the host institutions policy must be consistently
adhered to.

Meeting Overseas
Collaborator

Not allowable for students.

Inbound Collaborator to
travel to Singapore
Outbound (Singapore
team to travel to
collaborator)
Overseas Conferences

The conference should be directly relevant to the

research area or necessary to accomplish the project
objectives for PI, Co-Investigators, researchers and lab
technicians funded under the project grant.
Not allowable for students unless they are PhD
students who are presenting papers.

Overseas Training

Not allowable unless specifically provided for in the

grant and approved by NRF.

5. Indirect Costs
a. Funding support of 20% of the total qualifying approved direct costs will be
provided as indirect costs. 10% of total qualifying approved direct costs will
not be provided for IP protection and commercialization activities.
b. Funds approved under indirect cost shall not be used for patent costs,
commercialisation expenses, fines and penalties, and other activities not
related to research.
c. Host institutions will be responsible for administering and managing the
support provided by NRF for the indirect costs of research.

Annex A - Page - 5

ANNEX B: FORMAT FOR CURRICULUM VITAE

All CVs submitted for applications must not exceed 2 pages and should use the
following format (in terms of sections required and the order of the sections), to
highlight key information relevant for the evaluation of proposal:1. Personal Details
a. Name
b. Title
c. NRIC/Passport No.
d. Office Mailing Address
e. Email
f. Contact No.
2. Current Position
(Please provide full details, e.g. primary appointment; joint appointments; other
academic appointments including those outside of Singapore. Please include the
percentage of time spent in Singapore every year, if applicable.)
3. Employment History
4. Academic Qualifications
(Please indicate institutions name and year the degree was awarded)
5. Research interests
6. Publications
(Please include the 5 most important publications in the last 5 years that pertains
to the proposed project.)
7. Patents filed
(These may be related or unrelated to the study.)
8. Professional Awards
9. Research Outcomes
(Please include a half-page summary of the most relevant research outcomes from
all previous grants.)