Calls for scientific projects

The Polar Institute’s call for scientific projects is open to all members of the French public research organizations. Proposals from thesis students, post-doctoral researchers, emeritus researchers and emeritus teacher-researchers are not eligible.

New projects

New projects must submit a pre-proposal, which will be pre-evaluated for scientific content by the Scientific Projects Evaluation Committee, and for operational feasibility by the Polar Institute’s Scientific Expeditions and Technical Departments. There are two pre-proposal evaluation sessions: one in spring and one in autumn. Project leaders are then invited to submit a full project, or are notified that their pre-proposal has been rejected.

The deadline for submitting letters of intent for the Spring 2025 session is March 3, 2025.
New applicants should contact Ms. Valérie Hadoux for more information on the process, and to obtain a sample letter of intent.

Successful pre-proposals and projects up for renewal

Projects are evaluated by the Commission for the Evaluation of Scientific Projects (CEPS), which is made up of international experts from outside the Polar Institute, whose expertise covers all the disciplines and themes that can be supported by the Institute.
The Polar Institute relies on the assessments made by the CEPS to make the final decisions (allocation of resources to projects), taking into account operational constraints (number of places in field stations, on boats, etc.) and financial constraints (number of summer campaigns, VSC, direct allocations to projects, etc.).
No project may be implemented by the Institute unless it has been appraised by CEPS. The Institute can support basic and/or applied research projects lasting 12, 24, 36 or 48 months.

Observatory or Research Infrastructure projects

For observation systems belonging to the CNRS ‘Earth and Universe’ and ‘Ecology and Environment’ Institutes, or to Research Infrastructures (RI), projects aiming to implement observatories or labeled systems (national observation service, instrumented site, SEE-LIFE observatories), only one project belonging to a labeled observatory or system can be submitted to the Polar Institute’s call for projects. This project will cover all the support requested from the Polar Institute for the implementation of the observation service.
Systems accredited by CNRS for ‘Earth and Universe’ and ‘Ecology and Environment’ in the polar and sub-polar zones are subject to joint evaluation by the relevant CNRS and Polar Institute specialized thematic commissions (CSOA, CSST, SCSIC, CSAA for CNRS ‘Earth and Universe’, CoPIL SEE-LIFE for CNRS ‘Ecology and Environment’). These systems will not be re-evaluated by the CEPS of the Polar Institute.

For any question concerning scientific projects: valerie.hadoux@ipev.fr / 02.98.05.65.57

Reminder: an update file must be submitted annually for ongoing projects.

Access reserved to CPST members