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 agreed on a mechanism to fund collaborative activities.

Jointly funded by the two universities, the USyd-Fudan Brain and Intelligence Science Alliance Flagship Research Program (BISA-FRP) 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 for the advancement of science in this field.

The BISA-FRP 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 and leadership 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. It is expected that all flagship awardees will contribute to BISA activities, workshops and seminars and play a key role in capacity building within and beyond the flagship project for the ultimate benefit of the global community.

In this round, up to two proposals may be funded 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 $100,000 (approximatively RMB ¥455,000 subject to exchange rate) per year for two years from each university, providing the project with a maximum total budget of AUD $400,000 over two years (approximatively RMB¥1,820,000 over two years subject to exchange rate). This seed funding should be used to leverage external funds. Funding provided by each University will be expended on the project through the relevant university.

The second-year funding will be awarded only if an interim report has been completed and key performance indicators of each milestone have been met at the end of the first year.