HANOI, October 2, 2014 -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF), has launched the fourth round of their Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program to support and build scientific and technical capacity.

Vietnam earned three awards for projects on water governance and biodiversity research in the third round of the program when the successful projects were announced in August. Altogether, Vietnamese researchers have won eight PEER awards since the launch of the program in 2011.

“I am so pleased that Vietnamese scientists have been successful in getting involved in and winning research awards from the PEER program, which promotes scientific cooperation between developing countries like Vietnam and the United States to address shared global challenges,” said USAID Mission Director Joakim Parker. “We recognize that through these partnerships, we hope to solve problems more quickly and build long-term partnerships between U.S. and Vietnamese universities that will extend beyond the length of the grant.  This year’s PEER focus on biodiversity is particularly timely given Vietnam’s Tier 1 designation for biodiversity in USAID’s recent global Biodiversity Policy.”

PEER program is a competitive grants program that invites scientists in select countries, including Vietnam, to apply for funds to support research and capacity-building activities in partnership with their NSF-funded collaborators to address a wide range of critical development challenges.

Vietnamese researchers interested in getting funds for their research projects are encouraged to refer to http://www.nationalacademies.org/peerscience for detailed information about the PEER program. The deadline for pre-proposal submission under this new round is January 9, 2015 (full proposals will be due on March 30, 2015).

Questions regarding the program requirementsshould be sent to peer@nas.edu.  Vietnamese researchers who want to find a U.S. partner can see NSF's award search database at http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch.  Information about the USAID/Vietnam portfolio can be found at http://vietnam.usaid.gov and questions about USAID’s portfolio in Vietnam can be directed to vietnam.partnerships@usaid.gov.