In 2017 we started a new postdoctoral fellowship program for quantum-bio projects. The program attracted three excellent young researchers in nanoscale science to Delft. After this program was launched, we received a lot of input from Kavli faculty members, including at the 2020 Kavli faculty meeting. We have decided to expand the scope of this program to further promote synergy within the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft (KIND). In addition to the existing KIND postdoctoral fellowship program, we hereby announce three yearly calls for seed money. The key idea of this program is to kick-start synergistic research activities faster than is possible by applying for funding externally. 

We will support new collaborations within KIND by providing seed funding for the following two cases:

• Two or more PI’s within KIND request seed funding for a new collaboration.

• A post-doc, who is working in KIND, proposes to develop a new research line that brings together two groups in KIND.

The proposals will be judged on: (in no particular order)

• Eligibility: Is the proposal indeed a nanoscience project that fits KIND’s mission? Will it be carried out at KIND?

• Scientific track record of the applicant(s)

• Scientific quality and originality of the proposed project.

• Synergetic benefit for KIND. Collaboration between quantum and bio will be prioritized.

Every Kavli PI can be connected to at most one application per round. The total budget including the KIND post-doc fellowship will be 300k EUR per year. The maximum budget per project is 50k. Each PI can be involved in one project per round only. We anticipate spending around 150k per year on this program on average. Per round, we expect to fund zero, one or two proposals.

For seed-money, a yearly cycle would defeat the purpose. Instead we offer to evaluate projects in three rounds for the academic year 2020/2021: September 2020, January 2021 and May 2021. In addition to this, we will have a call for June 2020. The deadline for this first call will be June 1st, 2020. The activities should start within 6 months after the funding is granted. Make explicit which person(s) would be hired with the seed funding and when they could start the new synergy project. This can be an extension of a postdoc, or a short postdoc contract of a graduating PhD student, or a paid student-assistant, or similar.

We request a one-page written report on how the funds were used and whether/how the research will be continued funded by external sources. This report should be submitted within 3 months after the project ended.

A proposal template is attached.