The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in partnership with the National Research Foundation (NRF) approved the establishment of the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS). The establishment of the NITheCS will follow a two-step process with Step 1 being the solicitation for Expressions of Interest (EoIs) from self-organised consortia of Higher Education Institutions and qualified partners (in a hub or lead/administrative node and spoke configuration) to make submissions for the establishment of NITheCS in accordance with the criteria and guidelines as outlined in the NITheCS EoI Call Document which is available on the NRF website at https://www.nrf.ac.za/. Step 2 will be a call for Full Proposals based on the outcomes of the EoIs.
- The Expression of Interest (EoI) Call will be open from 20 May 2022 to 17 June 2022, with the 10 June 2022 being the closing date for submission to DAs and the submission date to the NRF being 17 June 2022.
- The EoI must be completed by the lead institution in consultation with all consortium members and submitted to the lead (Hub) institution’s Designated Authority (DA) and accompanied by letters of support by the DAs of all other consortium members.
- The DA must submit the validated applications as PDF via email to the NRF and specifically to Mrs Judith Mahlanya (Professional Officer: Grants Management and Systems Administration) and Mr Simon Lotz (Director: Grants Management and Systems Administration) at the following email addresses; JK.Mahlanya@risa.nrf.ac.za and SM.Lotz@risa.nrf.ac.za.
- Applications received after the closing date, as stipulated in the Call document, will be rejected.
- The NRF will not process EoIs that are (a) incomplete, (b) contain insufficient or incorrect detail, (c) that do not meet the eligibility criteria and call requirements hence such applications will be rejected – please refer to the guidelines in the Call Document in this regard.
The EoIs will be assessed by an evaluation panel convened by the NRF aligned to the criteria as captured in this call document and subsequently ranked. The NRF and the DSI will then consider the recommendations of the evaluation panel and reach consensus on which consortia-led EoIs to invite to submit Full Proposals through a closed, targeted call. Consortia that have not submitted EoIs (Step 1) will not be eligible for submission of Full Proposals (Step 2) since the Call for Proposals will be a closed call targeted only at consortia that have submitted EoIs which have been positively reviewed by the NRF convened evaluation panel.
All applicants who submit EoIs will be provided with feedback on their submissions.
Contact Persons:
For information regarding the NRF application process and requirements:
Mr Simon Lotz, Director: Grants Management and Systems Administration (phone: 012 481 4125; e-mail: SM.Lotz@risa.nrf.ac.za).
Mrs Judith Mahlanya, Professional Officer: Grants Management and Systems Administration (phone: 012 481 4063; e-mail: JK.Mahlanya@risa.nrf.ac.za).
For information regarding the reviews and evaluation of applications:
Dr Patrick Nonjola, Director: Reviews and Evaluation, (email: PTN.Nonjola@risa.nrf.ac.za).
Mr Mashudu Mbulaheni, Professional Officer: Reviews and Evaluations (email: m.mbulaheni@risa.nrf.ac.za)
For information regarding the NITheCS Funding Instrument:
Mr Nathan Sassman. Director: CoEs, NRF (Email: NE.Sassman@risa.nrf.ac.za)
Additional Documents
Annexure A -NITheCS 20201120 Roadmap2
NITheCS Call for Expression of Interest (V5 11May22)
