Free Competition Humanities

Transcription

1 Social Sciences and Humanities Call for proposals Free Competition Humanities 2017 The Hague, April 2017 Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research

2 Contents 1 Introduction Background Available budget Validity call for proposals 1 2 Aim 2 3 Guidelines for applicants Who can apply What can be applied for When can applications be submitted Drawing up an application Funding conditions Submitting an application 9 4 Assessment procedure Procedure Criteria 12 5 Contact and other information Contact 15

3 1 Chapter 1: Introduction/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen 1 Introduction 1.1 Background This brochure describes the aim, conditions, criteria and guidelines for the funding instrument Free Competition Humanities. 1.2 Available budget For the funding round 2017: 8 million euros. 1.3 Validity call for proposals This call for proposals is valid until the closing date for full proposals: 9 January 2018, at 14:00 hours CE(S)T.

4 2 Chapter 2: Aim/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen 2 Aim This funding instrument is aimed at research programmes with a research question and definition of a problem that clearly relates to the humanities. It must therefore be possible to designate the programme as primarily humanities research. The programme should consist of at least two subprojects funded by NWO with a clear correlation between the two. This correlation should be expressed in a synthesising final product with which demonstrable added value is achieved compared to the separate realisation of the subprojects. A central problem is posed in the programme which is further elaborated in the different subprojects.

5 3 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen 3 Guidelines for applicants 3.1 Who can apply Applications can be submitted by senior researchers, in other words experienced researchers who hold a PhD and are appointed at a Dutch research institution. This can be a tenured or a temporary appointment. In both cases, the appointment should have a duration that covers the application process as well as the entire duration of the project. For each funding round applicants may only submit one proposal irrespective of whether they are the principal applicant or the coapplicant. In accordance with the NWO Regulation on Granting Article 1.1 researchers from the following knowledge institutions can submit proposals: Dutch universities; NWO and KNAW institutes; the Netherlands Cancer Institute; the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen; researchers from the DUBBLE Beamline at the ESRF in Grenoble; NCB Naturalis; Advanced Research Centre for NanoLithography (ARCNL). For applications with an investment component, a co-applicant may not come from the same institution as the principal applicant. Only applicants who have submitted a pre-proposal may subsequently submit a full proposal. 3.2 What can be applied for Within the Free Competition Humanities the budget that can be applied for in proposals lies between 500,000 and 750,000. Any additional costs above the maximum NWO funding should be funded by the applicant's institution. For applications that include an investment component, co-funding is required for the budget requested for this component. The personnel and material costs for research programmes that may be applied for are described in Section These costs may not be related to or overlap with the possible investment component included. The funding that can be requested for the investment component is described in Section Personnel component Personnel component of Free Competition Humanities proposals - At least two researchers funded by NWO must be appointed, in other words PhDs or postdocs (or a combination thereof). - Such researchers must be appointed for a minimum of 0.5 fte over a period of at least one year. - See the funding page on the NWO website for the most recent salary payments for PhDs and postdocs: /

6 4 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen o o For PhDs the maximum funding period is 4 years on the basis of 1.0 fte. This may be extended to a maximum of 5 years in the case of a PhD with a part-time appointment. For postdocs the maximum funding period is 3 years on the basis of 1.0 fte. This may be extended to a maximum of 4 years in the case of a part-time appointment. - A replacement for the main and/or co-applicants to relieve them of educational, administrative and management tasks. The research leave grant may only be used for work on the synthesising publications or other synthesising final products in the context of the programme. A fixed standard payment applies for the research leave grant that is intended to relieve the applicant(s) of educational and supervisory tasks. This allows the employer to cover the costs of the replacement who takes on the non-research part of the tasks of applicant(s) (such as educational, administrative and managerial tasks). o The maximum standard payment that can be applied for is 50,000 in the case of a secondment of 0.5 fte for a period of 24 months. The maximum size of the secondment is 0.5 fte. Secondments of a smaller size are calculated on a proportional basis. For example: for a secondment of 0.1 fte for a period of 24 months a maximum amount of 10,000 can be applied for. For a secondment of 0.5 fte for a period of 12 months the maximum standard amount is 25, For temporary non-scientific personnel (for example a student assistant or programmer to support the project) a maximum amount of 30,000 applies. - Remunerations for PhD students/phd scholarship students at a Dutch university are not eligible for funding from NWO Material component Material costs are related to the material expenditure budgeted within the context of the project. Only direct material costs may be entered in the budget. At the start of the research a bench fee of 5000 per PhD or postdoc appointed will be made available to the applicant for the benefit of these researchers. The bench fee is intended to cover, for example, the stimulation of the scientific career, costs of the PhD graduation and congress visits. Infrastructure costs (accommodation, office ICT, et cetera) and overheads will not be remunerated as equally commuting costs and unforeseen costs. The applicants must clearly argue why any material costs entered in the budget are necessary. The items concerned should be clearly specified in the application. The maximum amount that can be applied for in proposals for material costs is 150,000, divided across the items below. o Internationalisation activities: maximum 50,000. o Fieldwork experiments and/or other material costs necessary for the research: maximum 50,000. o Knowledge utilisation: maximum 50,000.

7 5 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen Investments component As part of an application within the Free Competition it is also possible to include an investment component. This is solely intended for requesting funds to purchase of equipment and for setting up, linking and enriching data collections that contribute to strengthening the national knowledge infrastructure. Proposals can only be submitted by at least two applicants each of whom should come from a different university. In the proposal, the applicants should explicitly state why the proposed infrastructural facility is necessary for answering the research questions included in the research programme. Infrastructural facilities are understood to be: databases, digital corpora, tools, soft and hard infrastructural resources such as software, hardware and equipment. In the proposals meticulous attention should be paid to the technical aspects of the infrastructural facilities applied for. The technical criteria for the investment component applied for should satisfy the conditions of the DANS quality mark (such as compatibility of data, accessibility, use of standards, etc.) (see Data collections built up should be made nationally available for further scientific research following the funding period. If a proposal is awarded funding then to ensure the disclosure, storage, sustainability and maintenance of the data collections, a data contract should subsequently be drawn up, preferably with DANS, which describes how and when the data will be transferred to DANS or another trusted digital repository. For more specific information please consult the PDF document 'Archiving data and making it available'. See also under Section Subsidisable costs are: o Costs for scientific investments for which it must be demonstrated that the facility concerned cannot be purchased. o Personnel costs for the development and construction of instruments and/or setting up databases and the initial digitisation of the bibliographic apparatus if this cannot be purchased or hired in elsewhere. If personnel costs are entered in the budget then the applicants must argue why these costs are necessary. In the full proposal a detailed description of the separate task and costs should be included in the budget by making use of the budget template. In the pre-proposal a concise budget can be included and the budget template does not have to be used for this. - Non-subsidisable costs are: o Costs for infrastructural facilities, such as cost of buildings or changes to buildings and facilities that can be attributed to the standard infrastructure for the discipline concerned; replacement or expansion of equipment in the area of ICT/digitisation which can be attributed to the standard facilities of the institutions. o Data collections and possible associated software and bibliographies that are already available in a different manner. o Other personnel costs including personnel costs for the exploitation and realisation of research using the facility. o Maintenance and use of equipment (exploitation costs). - Co-funding contribution institution(s)

8 6 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen o o For the acquisition of 'hard' equipment, funding may only be requested for advanced equipment that cannot be attributed to the standard equipment of an institution. For this component the contribution from the institutions of both applicants must jointly be at least 50% of the budget requested from NWO for this hard equipment. For example: for an investment of 150,000 a total of 100,000 will be funded by NWO and 50,000 by the institutions. For the other investments, the contribution from the institutions must be at least 25% of the budget requested from NWO for the costs of the investment. Personnel costs directly related to the development and construction of the infrastructural facility can be entered as an own contribution if these are convincingly demonstrated. 3.3 When can applications be submitted The deadline for the submission of pre-proposals is 5 September 2017, at 14:00 hours CE(S)T. The deadline for the submission of full proposals is 9 January 2018, at 14:00 hours CE(S)T. When you submit your application to ISAAC you will also need to enter additional details online. You should therefore start submitting your application at least one day before the deadline of this call for proposals. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be taken into consideration. 3.4 Drawing up an application Download the application form from the electronic application system ISAAC or from NWO s website (on the grant page for this programme). Complete the application form. Save the application form as a PDF file and upload it in ISAAC. NB. The application form for the drawing up of a full proposal will appear on the website of the funding instrument after the Social Sciences and Humanities Domain Board has issued an advice about the pre-proposals. 3.5 Funding conditions Pre-proposals/full proposals for the Free Competition Humanities must satisfy several conditions (admissibility criteria) to be taken into consideration. NWO will not take into consideration any pre-proposals/full proposals to which one or more of the following situations applies: 1. The application was not submitted via ISAAC. 2. The application was submitted after the deadline. 3. The application was not drawn up in accordance with the template for drawing up a pre-proposal or full proposal.

9 7 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen 4. The application was not completed in accordance with the conditions stated in this call, or was not completed in full or on time, and the applicant has not or has not on time satisfied the request to submit a corrected application. 5. The application was not submitted by a senior researcher who is appointed for the duration of application procedure of the project at an institution as stated in Section 3.1. This applies to both the applicants and co-applicants. 6. Several identical or very similar proposals were submitted at the same time. 7. A researcher is the principal applicant or co-applicant for more than one application within the same funding round. 8. The project cannot start within six months of funding being awarded. Applications for the Free Competition Humanities must also satisfy the following requirements: 1. For each funding round applicants may only submit one application irrespective of whether they act as the principal applicant or the co-applicant. 2. The same pre-proposal/ full proposal may be submitted no more than twice (in other words it may be resubmitted once). Once the admissibility has been established then the application has been formally submitted even if it is withdrawn during the assessment process. 3. A full proposal should be submitted in the same funding round as the preproposal. 4. An application must have a research question and a problem posed that clearly relate to the humanities and can therefore be designated primarily as humanities research. This should be apparent from the subprojects and the synthesis. 5. The size and specification of personnel costs should be in accordance with the standards that have been established for these in the Agreement for Funding Scientific Research 2008 from NWO and VSNU. The associated salary tables can be consulted on the website: w.nwo.nl/salaristabellen 6. The maximum funding period for the entire programme is six years. 7. The applicant(s) should make a clear contribution to the research. 8. The principal applicant and co-applicants may not realise one of the subprojects as well. However, the applicants can request a replacement grant to work on the synthesis. 9. A synthesis is a compulsory part of the final products. It is for the selection committee to review whether the application sufficiently meets the conditions for the required synthesis. Such a contribution could take the form of one of these examples: a) a monograph (preferably not in Dutch), or b) a volume not in Dutch with a synthesising introduction about an mid-term of final scientific meeting for all subprojects, or c) a series of articles (preferably not in Dutch), or d) a congress, or e) an exhibition.

10 8 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen 10. The person(s) who produce the synthesis should be stated in the application as equally the possible supervisors of the PhD students. This does not apply to the people who realise the subprojects. 11. All of the (intended) researchers, collaborative partners, advisers et cetera stated in the application should be informed that they have been included in the proposal. For applications with an investment component the following also apply: A co-applicant must be from a different institution than the principal applicant. Other conditions The NWO Regulation on Granting and the Agreement for Funding Scientific Research of NWO and VSNU apply to all applications. See the website for more information about this: ring/hoe-werkt-dat Open Access All scientific publications resulting from research that is funded by grants derived from this call for proposals are to be immediately (at the time of publication) freely accessible worldwide (Open Access). There are several ways for researchers to publish Open Access. A detailed explanation regarding Open Access can be found on Data management Responsible data management is part of good research. NWO wants research data that emerge from publicly funded research to become freely and sustainably available, as much as possible, for reuse by other researchers. Furthermore NWO wants to raise awareness among researchers about the importance of responsible data management. Proposals should therefore satisfy the data management protocol of NWO. This protocol consists of two steps: 1. Data management section The data management section is part of the research proposal. Researchers should answer four questions about data management within their intended research project. Therefore before the research starts the researcher will be asked to think about how the data collected must be ordered and categorised so that it can be made freely available. Measures will often need to be taken during the production and analysis of the data to make their later storage and dissemination possible. Researchers can state which research data they consider to be relevant for storage and reuse. 2. Data management plan After a proposal has been awarded funding the researcher should elaborate the data management section into a data management plan. The data management plan is a concrete elaboration of the data management section. In the plan the researcher describes whether use will be made of existing data or a new data collection and how the data collection will be made FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. The plan should be submitted to NWO via ISAAC within a maximum of 4 months after the proposal has been awarded funding. NWO will approve the plan as quickly as possible. Approval of the data management plan by NWO is a condition for disbursement of the funding. The plan can be adjusted during the research.

11 9 Chapter 3: Guidelines for applicants/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen Further information about the data management protocol of NWO can be found at Nagoya Protocol The Nagoya Protocol became effective on 12 October 2014 and ensures an honest and reasonable distribution of benefits emerging from the use of genetic resources (Access and Benefit Sharing; ABS) Researchers who make use of genetic sources from the Netherlands or abroad for their research should familiarise themselves with the Nagoya Protocol ( NWO assumes that researchers will take all necessary actions with respect to the Nagoya Protocol. 3.6 Submitting an application An application can only be submitted to NWO via the online application system ISAAC. Applications not submitted via ISAAC will not be taken into consideration. A principal applicant must submit his/her application via his/her own ISAAC account. If the principal applicant does not have an ISAAC account yet, then this should be created at least one day before the application is submitted to ensure that any registration problems can be resolved on time. If the principal applicant already has an NWO-account, then he/she does not need to create a new account to submit an application. When you submit your application to ISAAC you will also need to enter additional details online. You should therefore start submitting your application at least one day before the deadline of this call for proposals. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be taken into consideration. For technical questions please contact the ISAAC helpdesk, see Section

12 10 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen 4 Assessment procedure 4.1 Procedure The first step in the assessment procedure is to determine the admissibility of the application. This is done using the conditions stated in Chapter 3 of this call for proposals. The NWO Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest applies to all persons and NWO staff involved in the assessment and/or decision-making process. See: The data management section in the application is not evaluated and hence not included in the decision about whether or not to award funding. However both the referees and the committee can issue advice with respect to the data management section. After a proposal has been awarded funding the applicant should elaborate the data management section into a data management plan. Applicants can make use of the advice from the referees and committee when they write the data management plan. The project can start as soon as the data management plan has been approved by NWO. Pre-proposal The selection committee Free Competition Humanities assesses the pre-proposals according to the criteria, establishes the expected quality of the full proposals that would emerge from these, and ranks the pre-proposals according to their chances being awarded funding. External advisors are not used for this. In November 2017, the committee will submit the advice about the likelihood of the pre-proposals being awarded funding to the Social Sciences and Humanities Domain Board. The number of proposals that will be admitted to the assessment phase with referees will be at least three times the number of proposals that can eventually be awarded funding. At the end of November 2017, candidates with proposals that have the highest chance of being awarded funding will be invited to submit a full proposal. Other candidates will be informed that they have not been invited to submit a full proposal. As this concerns an advice is not possible to submit a formal objection against this. 1 Full proposal0f Further steps in the assessment procedure are as follows: - External experts (in principle three) advise about each application. - The applicants may respond to these anonymised reports - The selection committee o can invite applicants for interview; o o prioritizes the applications; advises the Social Sciences and Humanities Domain Board. 1 If the number of applications submitted is greater than four times the maximum number of applications that can be awarded funding then in accordance with Article of the NWO Regulation on Granting the decision can be taken to make a preselection of all submitted full proposals.

13 11 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen Decision taking - The Social Sciences and Humanities Domain Board o will briefly assess the procedure and subsequently based on the selection committee's recommendation, it will make a final decision about the proposals; o can deviate from the ranking proposal submitted by the select committee for policy-related reasons; o will take a decision about the awarding in April Each applicant will be informed about the outcome by letter and with this will receive a report that gives the average score of the committee members per main assessment criterion, the final score and, if necessary, a brief textual explanation. Applicants can submit an objection to the NWO executive board within six weeks of the date on which the decision was sent. Global timetable 5 September :00 hours CE(S)T Deadline submission pre-proposal End November 2017 Applicants will hear whether they have been invited to elaborate their preproposal 9 January 2018, 14:00 hours CE(S)T Deadline for submitting full proposals January February 2018 Referees consulted. Applicants receive the referees' reports with the request to submit a rebuttal March 2018 Assessment full proposals; the selection committee will hold interviews and draw up an advice about the awarding of funding April 2018 Based on the selection committee s advice, the Social Sciences and Humanities Domain Board will take a decision about the awarding of funding. The applicants will be informed about the outcome NWO gives all full proposals a qualification. The applicant is informed of this qualification when the decision about whether or not to award funding is announced. Only proposals that receive at least the qualification excellent/very good/good will be eligible for funding. For further information about the qualifications see o+qualification+system.

14 12 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen 4.2 Criteria Applications submitted in the context of the Free Competition (humanities) will be assessed according to the criteria: (I) Scientific quality; (II) Programme criteria; (III) Relevance/Knowledge utilisation. For applications with an investment component, additional points for the selection have been included for each of these criteria. Criteria I and II each have a weighting of 40% in the overall assessment and criterion III a weighting of 20% in the overall assessment. For the assessment by the referees and the selection committee the following assessment criteria apply, which have been explicitly operationalised for a number of subsidiary aspects. The selection committee will assess the preproposals according to these criteria and establish the expected quality of the full proposals that would emerge from these. I. Scientific quality 1. Aim - Scientific importance of the proposal. - Originality/innovative character of the objectives. - Clarity of the problem posed; operationalisability in subsidiary questions. - Urgency and current relevance of the theme. 2. Methodology - Suitability of the approach/methodology for the intended objectives. - Originality/innovative character of the proposed approach/methodology. - Degree of multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. - Feasibility/realisability. - Thoroughness and phasing of the work plan. For applications with an investment component the following also apply: - Technical feasibility of the investment applied for and the technological innovative character of the investment applied for. - Soundness of the risk analysis made, including the proposal for possible solutions. 3. Research team - Previous results of the researcher, supervisory/research group. - Previous results in relation to the research proposal. - Composition supervisory/research group. - Collaboration with others. - Feasibility in terms of experience, supervision and logistics facilities. For applications with an investment component the following also apply: 4. Relationship research and infrastructure - Need for the infrastructural component for answering the research questions in the proposal. - Return on the investment (size of the investment in relation to the number of users, for example the expected occupancy rate of the investment).

15 13 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen II. Programme criteria 5. Programmatic design and synthesis - Coherency between the description of the programme and the subprojects contained in this and between the separate subprojects. - Added value of the programmatic design. 6. Organisation and embedding of the programme - Organisation of the programme. - Interuniversity collaboration. - Demonstrable embedding in university or other research institution i.e. research school. For applications with an investment component the following also apply: 7. Financial/technical criteria - Necessity of the personnel requested and entered as part of own contribution. - Soundness of the management and exploitation plan for the investment. - Continuity of the investment after the funding period, especially how replacement/modernisation is provided for in the future. 8. National importance - Degree to which the Netherlands takes a leading position in the area concerned and the international developments in this area. - Degree to which the investment requested contributes to strengthening the Dutch position in the area concerned. - Accessibility of the investment (also in the long term) for researchers other than the applicants directly involved, including how the access will be arranged. - Extent to which harmonisation with other groups in the area concerned will be achieved (more than solely local importance of investment) and how the harmonisation has been arranged. - Extent to which the investment fits in the long-term research strategy of the institution. III. Relevance/Knowledge utilisation - Relevance of the results and/or insights from the research for cultural, democratic, societal or economic challenges, or a combination of these, and the and the contribution the research makes to solving these. - Effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach for knowledge utilisation with respect to providing for the needs of third parties within and outside of the academic sector. - Timeframe within which possible knowledge utilisation can be expected. - How the researcher intends to personally contribute to the realisation of the possible valorisation. For applications with an investment component the following also apply: - The extent to which the realisation of the investment contributes to technological or other innovation at companies or in society. - The extent to which the results obtained with the investment will contribute to important scientific, technological or societal developments. Explanation knowledge utilisation Since 2009, NWO has pursued a concrete policy that aims to stimulate the transfer of knowledge generated with the help of funding from NWO. This transfer can take place to other scientific disciplines as well as to users outside of science (industry/society). The knowledge utilisation policy is mainly targeted at increasing researchers awareness of knowledge utilisation. NWO therefore

16 14 Chapter 4: Assessment procedure/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen requests all researchers applying for funding to provide an explanation regarding the possible knowledge utilisation of their project by means of answering several questions (for example: how will knowledge utilisation be implemented and how does the researcher intend to facilitate knowledge utilisation?). This explanation is one of the assessment criteria. During the assessment, attention is paid to: a realistic representation of the knowledge utilisation possibilities (or the lack of possibilities); the extent to which the action plan is made tangible with respect to knowledge utilisation. NWO realises that the possibilities for knowledge utilisation differ per discipline and that some research projects have few if any opportunities for (direct) knowledge utilisation. In this case, an applicant should explain why no knowledge utilisation can be expected for his or her project. The selection committee members will still be asked to assess this explanation: if they are convinced that the research project indeed has no knowledge utilisation possibilities and that the applicant has satisfactorily explained this, then this should not negatively influence the overall assessment score. Examples of knowledge utilisation can be found at

17 15 Chapter 5: Contact and other information/ Free Competition (humanities) Vrij Competitie Geesteswetenschappen 5 Contact and other information 5.1 Contact Specific questions For specific questions about the Free Competition (humanities) and this Call for Proposals please contact: Mr Rick de Jong MA telephone: +31 (0) , r.dejong@nwo.nl. BbPwpDFEsZAcXaJn7m6KpInJE6WogQSym_4TMKbHfGU.&URL=mailto%3ar.dejon g%40nwo.nl Technical questions about the electronic application system ISAAC For technical questions about the use of ISAAC please contact the ISAAC helpdesk. Please read the manual first before consulting the helpdesk. The ISAAC helpdesk can be contacted from Monday to Friday between 10:00 and 17:00 hours CE(S)T on +31 (0) However, you can also submit your question by to isaac.helpdesk@nwo.nl. You will then receive an answer within two working days.

18 Publication: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Visiting address: Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië CE The Hague April 2017