I have an Odysseus project

The contract is drawn up in accordance with the FWO Odysseus regulations. Upon award of the contract, the supervisor (the appointed Odysseus researcher) receives an email from the FWO with a link to the contract. Via this link they can digitally sign the document, together with the FWO Secretary General. Unlike in recent years, the contract will not be submitted by the Research Coordination department of the main host institution. The FWO regulations Odysseus programme and the FWO general regulations form an integral part of the contract.

The awarded Odysseus grant will not be made available until the researcher has been correctly appointed at the relevant Flemish university. This is ZAP position for Type I Odysseus researchers and a full-time tenure track fellowship for Type II Odysseus researchers. In this respect it is important that the Odysseus researcher, in close consultation with the Flemish university and the relevant department, faculty... determines the start date of the Odysseus project and duly informs the FWO thereof. The costs of the positions to be made available by the universities cannot be paid for under the Odysseus programme. The approved funding can be used throughout the approved project period (typically 5 years). The FWO provides for an additional phase-out period of 3 years. The grant is guaranteed provided that the FWO regulations are complied with at all times.

Information concerning FWO’s reporting policy can be found on a dedicated webpage.

Scientific reporting on the supervisor and the Odysseus project

Guidelines for reporting under the Odysseus programme can be consulted here. The report template for evaluation of the Odysseus supervisor can also be found on the website, as well as the report template for evaluation of the Odysseus research project. These guidelines only apply to Odysseus researchers selected from 2021 who fall under the new Odysseus regulations. Odysseus researchers selected under the previous Odysseus regulations will be contacted by their host institution with regard to the reporting procedure.

Financial reporting

In each project year, before March 15th of the following grant year, you must provide to the FWO a financial report on the expenditure of the grant year in question.

The financial report includes a breakdown by expenditure category, posting number, posting date or invoice date and an overall total for the year.

The overall financial report includes the totals per year, per project and per category.

This financial report is signed by the head of the Finance department and a second manager (e.g. head of the research administration) to confirm that the necessary audits have been carried out. They certify the financial report to be "true and accurate".

Completed projects for which no more expenses can be justified are definitively settled on the basis of the submitted financial reports and, if applicable, the project audit by the auditor of the Research Foundation - Flanders.

You are required to prepare a data management plan (DMP) within 6 months after the official start of your Odysseus project. The supervisor (the appointed Odysseus researcher) will submit the DMP to the research coordination department of the main host institution. You do not need to submit it to the FWO.

At the end of the Odysseus project the final version of the DMP must be attached to the final project report via the e-portal of the supervisor. This DMP may of course have been updated since its first version. The DMP is an element in the final evaluation of the project by the relevant expert panel.

There is a standard template (see our DMP webpage) for preparing a DMP. It is used by all institutions and should also be used by you. The final version of the DMP can be created online in the DMP online planning tool and exported via this tool as a PDF file to be attached to the final report.

In the application form for your Odysseus project you also completed a questionnaire on the ethical aspects. If you answered affirmatively to a question with an asterisk, you are required by law to obtain ethical approval from the competent ethics committee of your main host institution before undertaking the relevant research activities. For other questions institutional obligations may apply and/or you are expected to consider any ethical aspects that could be related to the subject matter, the research approach and/or the consequences of the results, and, where necessary, take appropriate precautions.

Please consult the Guidelines on the FWO’s ethics checklist for help and background information.

The required ethical approval must be obtained before you start working on the associated work package. For project proposals aimed at performing experiments on non-human primates you had to be in possession of an approval by the relevant ethics committee already at the time of evaluation of the proposal by the FWO.

The supervisor (the appointed Odysseus researcher) shall submit the certificates of the ethics committee to the research coordination department of the main appointment, where they are stored and can be retrieved by the FWO if necessary. For details see our research ethics webpage.