The Centre de Tecnologies i Aplicacions del Llenguatge i la Parla (TALP, http://www.talp.cat) is an interdepartmental research centre at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) specialising in the automatic processing of both written and spoken natural language. As part of its commitment to expanding its areas of activities, TALP is initiating a call for proposals to fund feasibility projects and activities.

1 Purpose of the Call
TALP is planning to support small research and development projects by its current members which are of direct interest to TALP researchers and prospective funding organisations. We particularly wish to encourage proposals which lead to new areas of investigation.
All proposals will be screened by a review committee that consists of the TALP Director, a senior member of the Speech Processing Group and a senior member of the Natural Language Processing Group.

2 Submission information

2.1 Eligibility requirements
In order to qualify for funding, the principal investigator must be a member of TALP.

2.2 Selection criteria

• Proposals having significant likelihood of leading to further funding from a clearly identifiable source.

• Proposals bringing together the different research groups of TALP.

• Proposals being technically and scientifically sound and innovative.

• Proposals having a coherent and efficient plan of research activities.

• Proposals with a budget adequate for the proposed research objectives and plan of activities.

3 Budget
TALP anticipates funding up to 4 proposals for feasibility studies or pre-proposal planning activities.
Budgets requests for individual proposals have a maximum of 5,000€ and the total annual budget for such proposals will not exceed 20,000€.

4 Submission procedure
Researchers should submit proposals to the Director of TALP by e-mail in the form of a
PDF file. Proposals should be composed of the following elements:

1. Proposal summary (one page maximum).
   a. Complete contact information of principal investigator.
   b. Brief description of the project or activity.
   c. General budget plan including the use of the support requested from TALP.
   d. Experience of the principal investigator.
2. Detailed proposal description (4 pages maximum)
   a. A clear and detailed description of the proposed project or activity.
   b. A statement justifying why TALP should support the project or activity
   (along with the future sources of funding expected).
   c. A description of the related experience and skills of the participants.
3. Budget and project planning overview (1 page maximum)
   a. A breakdown of the costs estimated for the project or activity.
   b. An indication of clear milestones and deliverables.

5 Dates

• Submission is open. There is no deadline for submission.

• Acceptance notification and negotiations will start within 1 month of receipt of submission.

• The funding programme itself will be reviewed annually by TALP PIs and, if approved, refunded in January.

6 Additional provisions

• Only complete proposals will be reviewed.

• All information submitted with proposals will be regarded as confidential and will only be used in the context of the evaluation process.

• TALP should be acknowledged in any materials related to any funded project or activity.