Guidelines For Applications NIFA-BARD-IIA Food and Nutrition Program

USDA, NIFA-BARD Application Submission

The application is a two-step process. Only investigators who are approved after the first stage will be able to submit proposals to the second step.

First Step

Israeli scientists need to contact any of the eligible USDA,NIFA scientists (list of potential projects ) to determine research objectives which will both enhance the NIFA projects and be of interest to advance agriculture in Israel. BARD will consider additional projects funded by USDA, NIFA which are relevant to the program’s research priorities. Any such programs which do not appear on the aforementioned list, must be approved by BARD prior to the proposal submission.

We have an example of a request to a USDA,NIFA PI on our website

The Israeli PI must submit a pre-proposal which includes the following (3 pages):
Title Page
NIFA-PI and project Title.
List of Israeli collaborators and their institutions.
Company information and Contact.
Research Priority. (see list )
Brief description of the proposal, overview of the proposed methods and the research objectives.
Contribution of the Israeli research to the ongoing NIFA project
Potential benefit to Israeli agriculture/Food Industry/Consumer if successful.
How the research contributes to the NIFA-BARD-IIA F&N priority area(s).
The benefits of the collaboration to achieving the objectives
Collaborative arrangements with NIFA partner.

Agreement of the NIFA Project Director to participate in this collaboration. (see sample lette r )

For NOFAR Proposals: Letter of intent from the Israeli Company that they are willing to consider contributing 10% to the project. (A binding commitment will be required with the full proposal). (see sample letter ).

To enhance collaboration, we recommend that the institutional budget of the Israeli institution include travel for the US PI to come to the Israeli lab.

A sample template for the pre-proposal can be downloaded from her e . Send the completed form to [email protected].
The preproposals will be reviewed by BARD, NIFA and the NIFA PI to ensure that the proposals are relevant to Israeli agriculture and enhance the goals of the NIFA approved project.
The deadline for preproposal submission is May 8th, 2025.
Decisions regarding the preproposals will be announced on June 1st, 2025.

Second Step

Upon approval of the 1rst stage the Israeli PI will prepare a full proposal to the IIA according to the IIA guidelines.
BARD much approve any changes to the research topic and/ or principal investigators dedicated to the project before submission of the full proposal.
The deadline for Full proposal submission is August 3rd, 2025.

Nature of the U.S- Israel collaboration in NIFA-BARD-IIA funded projects

BARD encourages meaningful collaborations between research teams from the U.S. and Israel across all its programs and tracks. While binational collaboration is at the heart of all programs, there exist different structures and funding modalities, with some projects pooling the U.S. and Israeli allocations for joint research, whereas in others each side funds their researchers separately for conducting independent research. However, it is important to note that also in projects based on separately-funded research, such as NIFA-BARD-IIA projects, meaningful binational collaboration remains not only a core tenet and principle but also an explicit judgement and evaluation criterion.

Such collaborations can encompass a wide range of activities, including, but not limited to:

Knowledge and Information Exchange: Facilitating mutual fertilization of ideas and approaches, expanding networks, and fostering brainstorming.
Exchange of Material and Technology: Testing of materials derived from biological or technological innovations in a partner’s lab (such as biological materials, chemical compounds, etc.( for their applicability when deployed under different conditions, environment, or use cases.
Shared Resource Utilization: Jointly utilizing experimental systems, laboratories, equipment, or field sites, leading to cost savings, access to unique resources, and accelerated R&D.
Data Sharing: Collaborating on relevant databases such as gene banks, genetic libraries, or experimental data, expanding datasets and enabling new insights.
Software Sharing: Sharing computational software, models, or analytical tools, saving time and resources, and providing access to advanced technologies.
Joint Data Analysis: Comparing and jointly analyzing research results to enhance the robustness of findings and identify broader trends throughout the project duration. The robustness is improved both by applying different methods of analysis as well as increasing the datasets to be analyzed.
Mutual Evaluation of Methods: Assessing the research methodologies employed by each team, leading to improved methods, new applications, and methodological advancements.

Additional Information

BARD can assist in making initial contact with potential NIFA funded scientists, or can assist NIFA funded scientists to identify potential Israeli partners. Please contact Dr. Vered Weinman Fisher.

BARD can assist in identifying potential Israeli companies who are willing to participate in the research. Please contact Dr. Shlomo Wald.

The research budget of the institutions, (not including funds contributed by the Israeli company) cannot exceed the lesser of the following constraints: