The Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program is once again accepting proposals from developing country researchers interested in collaborating with counterparts who are funded by selected U.S. Government-supported agencies. Beginning with this cycle of the program, the previous PEER Science and PEER Health programs have been combined under one consolidated PEER program, and several new U.S. Government-supported agencies have been added as participants, greatly expanding the number of potential partners for applicants. Other important changes include the addition of several new topical focus areas, as well as a pre-proposal phase that is now part of our application and review process. Please circulate this information about PEER to colleagues who may wish to apply so they can prepare and submit their applications to meet the pre-proposal submission deadline of January 9, 2015 11:59 P.M. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
PEER is an international grants program intended to bring researchers funded by U.S. federal science agencies together with scientists and engineers in 88 developing countries to address global development challenges. Through catalyzing collaborative research and strategic partnerships and leveraging existing U.S. investments in research, PEER is designed to elevate the use of science and technology in addressing local and global development challenges in USAID-presence countries. Not only does PEER support research relevant to USAID’s development objectives, it also establishes long-lasting research relationships that build capacity, strengthen the research ecosystem, and enable collaborators to become better partners in development. Since its launch in 2011, PEER has supported more than 150 projects in more than 40 countries with an investment of about $28 million.
Applications are accepted from scientists working in partnership with colleagues currently funded by one of the following U.S. federal science agencies: the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Smithsonian Institution.
In this cycle of the program, PEER is continuing its usual open call for applications in any field of research that will have development impact. Pre-proposals for application-oriented projects that will lead to development-related policy or programmatic change may be submitted by applicants based in any of the listed PEER eligible countries. General technical areas for the open call include, but are not limited to, climate change, biodiversity, agriculture, energy, and disaster mitigation.
In addition, PEER invites pre-proposals from applicants in the following specific/additional countries or regions or working on the following topical areas, for which USAID missions and offices have allocated special funds to foster science and development goals:
- Global: water resource management
- Global: climate change adaptation in the Maldive Islands
- Central and South Central Asia: transboundary water research
- SERVIR priority countries: environmental management and climate change resilience
- Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) priority countries: urban sanitation
- Brazil: biodiversity in the Brazilian Amazon
- India: forestry and climate change
- Indonesia: multiple sectors
- Kenya: wildlife conservation and combating poaching and trafficking
Regardless of the country or topic, all applicants must have a partner with active funding from one of the U.S. Government-supported agencies listed above. The full PEER pre-proposal solicitation, instructions, eligible country lists and additional details on the special focus topics above, a set of frequently asked questions, and a link to the online application website are available at http://www.nationalacademies.org/peer. Potential applicants are encouraged to review the materials carefully. PEER is implemented by the National Academy of Sciences on behalf of USAID, and potential applicants or partners with questions are invited to contact the program’s staff at peer@nas.edu.
