APRIL 2017 APRIL 2018 — MARCH 2019 ANNUAL REPORT FY 2018 HUMAN FRONTIER SCIENCE PROGRAM ORGANIZATION The Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) is unique, supporting international collaboration to undertake innovative, risky, basic research at the frontier of the life sciences. Special emphasis is given to the support and training of independent young investigators, beginning at the postdoctoral level. The Program is implemented by an international organisation, supported financially by Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland, the United States of America, and the European Commission. Since 1990, over 7000 researchers from more than 70 countries have been supported. Of these, 28 HFSP awardees have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize. 2 The following documents are available on the HFSP website www.hfsp.org: Joint Communiqués (Tokyo 1992, Washington 1997, Berlin 2002, Bern 2004, Ottawa 2007, Canberra 2010, Brussels 2013, London 2016): https://www.hfsp.org/about/governance/membership Statutes of the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization: https://www.hfsp.org/about/governance/hfspo-statutes Guidelines for the participation of new members in HFSPO: https://www.hfsp.org/about/governance/membership General reviews of the HFSP (1996, 2001, 2006-2007, 2010, 2018): https://www.hfsp.org/about/strategy/reviews Updated and previous lists of awards, including titles and abstracts: http://www.hfsp.org/awardees/awards 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Board of Trustees 8 President’s Message 10 Introducing HFSPO 13 Report of the Secretary General 15 CHAPTER 1 - FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM The aims of the fellowship program 20 Selection of HFSP Fellowships awarded in March 2019 21 Fellowship Review Committee 24 Awardees Lists: 26 List of Long-Term and Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships awarded in March 2019 (initiated in FY2019) 26 Frontier Fellowship Awards initiated in FY 2018 36 CHAPTER 2 - CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARD Aims of the CDA 40 Selection of Career Development Awards awarded in March 2019 41 The CDA Review Committee 43 Awardees lists: 44 List of Career Development Awards awarded in March 2019 (initiated in FY2019) 44 Example of Frontier Career Development Awards initiated in FY 2018 46 4 — TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAM Selection of HFSP Research Grants awarded in March 2019 50 The 2019 HFSP Grant Review Committee 52 Awardees Lists: 54 Research Grants awarded in March 2019 (initiated in FY 2019) 54 Example of Frontier Research Grants initiated in FY 2018 66 CHAPTER 4 - THE SCIENCE OF HFSP Highlights 72 HFSP Meetings, Seminars and Talks 73 The 2019 HFSP Nakasone Award 77 The 2018 Review of HFSP Programs 78 New Awards in Frontier Science 79 Great minds at work: honours and prizes 83 CHAPTER 5 - FINANCE HFSPO Members’ funding 92 FY 2018-2019 Financial summary 93 Statement of financial position 101 APPENDIX A1 Joint Communiqué of the Intergovernmental Conference 106 on the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization, London, 10 June 2016 A2 Summary of decisions of the Board of Trustees in FY 2018 114 A3 Council of Scientists 116 A4 Secretariat 117 TABLE OF CONTENTS — 5 Introduction Introduction Board of Trustees 8 President’s Message 10 Introducing HFSPO 13 Report of the Secretary General 15 Board of Trustees PRESIDENT Shigekazu NAGATA, University of Osaka, Japan VICE-PRESIDENTS Pierre CHAREST, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada (until January 2019) Theresa GOOD, National Science Foundation, USA Rein AASLAND, University of Oslo, Norway TREASURER Mark PALMER, Medical Research Council, UK AUSTRALIA Anne KELSO, National Health and Medical Research Council CANADA Pierre CHAREST, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (until January 2019) Danika GOOSNEY, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (from February 2019) Anne MARTIN-MATTHEWS, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (until November 2018) Adrian MOTA, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (from January 2019) EUROPEAN COMMISSION Philippe CUPERS, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation Line MATTHIESSEN, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (until July 2018) FRANCE Jacques DEMOTES-MAINARD, Ministry of Higher Education and Research GERMANY Eva NOURNEY, Federal Ministry of Education and Research Ingrid OHLERT, German Research Council INDIA Satyajit RATH, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (until July 2018) Apurva SARIN, National Centre for Biological Sciences (from August 2018) 8 — INTRODUCTION ITALY Piergiorgio STRATA, University of Turin Glauco TOCCHINI-VALENTINI, National Research Council JAPAN Nobutaka HIROKAWA, University of Tokyo (until July 2018) Shigekazu NAGATA, University of Osaka (from July 2018) Toichi SAKATA, Japan Space Forum REPUBLIC OF KOREA Bohyon JANG, Ministry of Science & ICT (until April 2018) Kyung-Hee SONG, Ministry of Science & ICT (from April 2018) Yoo-Hun SUH, Neuroscience Research Institute, Gachon University NEW ZEALAND Richard BEASLEY, Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (until March 2019) Andrew MERCER, University of Otago (from March 2019) NORWAY Rein AASLAND, University of Oslo SINGAPORE Teck-Hua HO, National University of Singapore (until August 2018) San LING, Nanyang Technical University (from August 2018) Teck-Seng LOW, National Research Foundation SWITZERLAND Isabella BERETTA, State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation Pierre MAGISTRETTI, EPFL and Lausanne University UNITED KINGDOM Mark PALMER, Medical Research Council Melanie WELHAM, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Roger GLASS, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health Theresa GOOD, National Science Foundation INTRODUCTION — 9 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE New beginnings 2018 was a year of new beginnings; for me, on my election as President, for my colleague Theresa Good as Vice President, and for four new Board members appointed to represent Canada, India, Korea and Singapore. We are deeply indebted to those who have passed us the baton, particularly Prof. Nobutaka Hirokawa, who served as President for two terms, Vice Presidents Mark Palmer, Pierre Charest and Rein Aasland. I thank the Board too for its sage custodianship of the Organization. HFSP awards are themselves new beginnings, a new community, a new network. Excellent science grows from the body of knowledge built up by the community of Shigekazu Nagata scientists, but HFSP Research Grants push researchers one step President of HFSPO beyond to a new collaboration, a new project, with new collaborators and with different expertise. In the 2019 competition, the Board approved 25 Program Grants and 9 Young Investigator Grants for exciting international, interdisciplinary, frontier– extending collaborations. We also awarded 79 Long-Term Fellowships and 10 Cross- 10 — INTRODUCTION Disciplinary Fellowships to now mirrored in many countries the Awardees Meeting, Toronto, postdoctoral researchers seeking around the world. we honoured Svante Pääbo with to broaden their expertise or While HFSP Research Grants the 2018 HFSP Nakasone Award make the bold move from another and Fellowships look forward to for his discovery of the extent discipline such as physics, paradigm shifts yet to come, the to which hybridization with chemistry or mathematics, into HFSP Nakasone Award honours Neanderthals and Denisovans has biology in preparation for a career scientists who have already been shaped the evolution of modern in frontier research. In addition, we successful in carrying out frontier- humans, and his development of awarded 15 Career Development moving research in biology, techniques for sequencing DNA Awards, in this last round of opening up new opportunities for from fossils. awards for this scheme, which is another generation of scientists. At Preparing for the future In 2016, the Board commissioned an international scientific review to be the cornerstone of future strategic thinking. The result was the report of the International Scientific Review Committee (ISRC), itself based on the findings of a commissioned qualitative and quantitative analysis (http://www.hfsp.org/hfsp-news-events/hfspo-publishes-2018-review- its-programs). Both analyses confirmed HFSPO in its mission to frontier science, stating that HFSP programs are “unique in combining impact, multidisciplinary collaboration and interdisciplinary research at the same time.” The outcome of the bibliometric studies was conclusive, remarking that “all the indicators point to the high impact level of the scientific outcomes.” In particular, “bibliometric comparisons with other national or international funders, all much larger than HFSP, are stunningly convincing that the scientific returns on investment are significantly above world average.” Science Metrix concluded that “HFSP awardees primarily contributed to advances in the field through the identification of new research questions, new concepts and novel research approaches or methods”, and that “HFSP funding helped them to achieve major scientific advances such as shifts in paradigms and creation of new research fields/subfields.” In addition to scientific review, over a number of years now, the Board has undertaken a reform of governance to ensure that the Organization is equipped for the challenges of future funding. Review of the Statutes brought greater clarity about roles and responsibilities