Simons Collaborations in Ecology and Evolution – Request for Applications 2027: FAQs

Yes, the vision statements will be submitted as a Letter of Intent (LOI) in the Simons Award Manager (SAM).

Vision statements should clearly outline the big idea and hypotheses that the proposed collaboration will address, including high-level overviews of the methods and approaches that will be used. Which disciplines and subdisciplines will be brought together, and how will the research efforts extrapolate across scales to address your research challenge? Why is this work uniquely suited for Simons Collaboration funding and why would its initiation be timely? Why would it be difficult to obtain funding to investigate these questions from other funding agencies and foundations? Vision statements should address why and how the support of a collaborative research project from the Simons Foundation will transform our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of organisms, communities and/or ecosystems in the natural world.

All of the details of a proposed collaboration do not need to be worked out at the vision statement stage. We are interested in the big idea and the scientific vision. A subset of the vision statements will be invited to submit a full application, which will include a detailed proposal.

The vision statement/LOI narrative must use the provided template, which can be downloaded from the application in SAM. In that template, there are specific instructions for multiple sections with individual length limits. The scientific vision statement narrative must not exceed two (2) pages of single-spaced size 11 text, 0.5 margins. One (1) additional page may be used for figures, if needed. Specific questions that the scientific vision statement should address are included in the full instructions in the template.

For this call, we are interested in bold and cutting-edge, idea-generating research that focuses on a fundamental understanding of the genetic, ecological and evolutionary factors that shape the dynamics of organisms and/or the communities in which they are embedded. Applied research that does not seek fundamental insights is not appropriate.

We have no restrictions on the biological systems used for research in Simons Collaborations on Ecology and Evolution. We are open to vision statements that include research across biological systems, including plants, microbes, invertebrates and vertebrates, as well as purely theoretical or computational research.

Projects that incorporate disease-related research to understand basic principles of eco-evolutionary dynamics are within the call’s purview. However, projects whose aim is to develop treatment strategies for specific diseases are not within scope.

We anticipate that we may host another call for ecology and evolution collaborations in three to five years.

Yes.

The list of PIs requested for this vision statement call is intended to give us an idea of the investigators you may approach about being a part of a collaboration if you are invited to submit a full proposal. This list is proposed and may change between the LOI and full proposal stages of this process. Specifically, we anticipate that vision statements will be submitted by a small group of PIs but may expand to a larger number of investigators if the vision statement is selected for full proposal submission.

No. The number of PIs involved in a proposed collaboration should be driven by the needed expertise for the scientific question that will be investigated. We will consider smaller or larger proposed collaborations. PIs may be grouped into smaller teams to facilitate deeper collaboration. Teams should be organized in a manner that facilitates communication and sharing of data, methods and information across the collaboration. Details of the administrative and organizational structure of the collaboration is not necessary at this time; guidelines will be provided when a subset of vision statements are invited to submit a full proposal.

We expect that the scope of the proposed collaboration will involve PIs from multiple institutions. We encourage all investigators to assemble the strongest scientific team to address the goals of the proposed collaboration, without restriction based on geographical location or institutional affiliation. This call is not intended for single-institution support.

The composition of PIs involved in a Simons Collaboration will be dictated by the scientific questions investigated. This may mean a fixed or evolving group of PIs over time, depending on the scope and goals of the program. However, while new PIs may be recruited to bring on new areas of expertise, the overall budget envelope will remain largely fixed over the span of the collaboration.

We seek applications from independent investigators who can devote a substantial portion of time to this project. While we do not require a minimum PI effort, we expect the PI to commit to a level of effort that reflects a leading role and significant engagement in the project.

An individual may be listed as a non-spokesperson PI on multiple submissions but may be the spokesperson PI on only one submission.

Simons Foundation employees who receive a W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) from the Simons Foundation, including employees of the Flatiron Institute, may not apply as a principal investigator (PI) to any Simons Foundation or Simons Foundation International Requests for Applications (RFAs) released by the Simons Foundation. PIs and any project personnel listed on the application who will receive funding for salary, travel, support for students, postdocs or research staff, lab equipment, computing time or other individual expenses may not be employees of the Simons Foundation, which includes the Flatiron Institute.

Yes, foreign institutions may apply. Please refer to the Simons Foundation policies regarding international awards.

No, institutional sign-off is not required for the vision statement stage. If the vision statement is approved and the collaboration is invited to submit a full proposal, institutional sign-off will be required in order to submit the full proposal.

A biosketch is only required from the spokesperson (primary) PI at this stage.

No, a full budget is not required at this stage. Only an estimate of the anticipated annual cost of the collaboration is required. If you are invited to submit a full proposal, all PIs participating in the collaboration will be asked to submit a detailed budget with their full proposal.

No extensions will be given. If you have any difficulties, please email [email protected].

Before you can make changes to your submitted LOI, you must first contact the Simons Foundation for assistance. Please email [email protected]. LOIs can only be changed prior to the deadline.

You should receive a notification within 24 hours of the application status notification date. Please check your spam filter settings if you have not received a notification by then.

Yes.

Yes.

Please note that in the event of budgetary or other considerations, The Simons Foundation, Inc. (“the Foundation” or “SF”) reserves the right to refer an application to The Simons Foundation International, Ltd. (“SFI”) for consideration and funding. SFI and SF have entered into an agreement pursuant to which SF provides program operations and grant administration services, including payment processing, to SFI. SFI grant recipients are subject to SF Policies and Procedures.