The University of Sydney (USyd) and Fudan University (Fudan) have formed a strategic partnership to foster deep collaborations in research and education. The Brain and Intelligence Science Alliance (BISA) has been established as a platform to raise the research impact of both universities through inter-disciplinary translational research in fields related to data science, neuroscience and intelligence. The ultimate goal of BISA is to train research leaders, advance technological innovation and scientific research, and secure practical applications for science and technology research. The Universities have set up an alliance fund to support collaborative activities including, but not limited to, flagship research programs, partnership collaborations awards, academics and student mobility programs, ethics projects and workshops and forums.

Jointly funded by the alliance fund, the USyd-Fudan Brain and Intelligence Science Alliance Flagship Research Program (BISAFRP) aims to facilitate and support joint initiatives that will strengthen the two universities’ strategic priorities as well as develop multidisciplinary cutting-edge research to create academic and societal impact under the themes identified by BISA.

The BISAFRP grants will be awarded to teams of researchers from USyd and Fudan who are expected to collaborate on high-impact projects that have strong potential for tangible research outcomes and societal impact. These projects should strengthen existing collaborations to enable research excellence, leadership and pre-eminence globally, leverage national and international funding and foster new academic and industry partnerships. Projects which are multidisciplinary in nature, extend beyond one-to-one collaboration, have the capacity to leverage further funding and produce innovative impactful research, and those which support development of postgraduate students and Early- and Mid-Career Researchers (EMCR), are particularly encouraged.

In this round, up to two proposals may be funded for through the Flagship Research Program (each with one Lead Chief Investigator from USyd and one Lead Chief Investigator from Fudan). Each successful proposal may receive up to the equivalent of AUD 140,000 (approximatively RMB 676,200 subject to exchange rate) from each university, providing the project a maximum total budget of AUD 280,000 (approximatively RMB 1,352,400 subject to exchange rate). This seed funding should be used to leverage external funds.

At the end of the first year of funding, if key performance indicators are met, applicants may choose to apply for a second year of funding. This application will be considered together with new Flagship Research Program applications.