European Partnership on Pandemic Preparedness

FWO participation and funding are open to both the fundamental research funding channel (FO) and the Strategic Basic Research (SBO) funding channel. This implies that projects under both FWO funding schemes are eligible for funding. It must be strongly emphasised that the choice of funding channel depends on the nature of the proposed research project (i.e. fundamental/exploratory research versus research with strong economic and/or societal valorisation potential). Non-compliance with the specific requirements of the selected funding channel may result in ineligibility.

Please note that this assessment is conducted on an individual basis: European and/or international partners within the same consortium are free to choose the nature of their research. From an FWO perspective, only the character of the Flemish sub-project for which FWO funding is requested is relevant.

For the fundamental research funding channel, the relevant FO regulations apply. For the SBO funding channel, the SBO regulations must be taken into account. The latter concerns projects with a primary economic and/or societal objective, for which valorisation is an essential and mandatory component.

Research proposals must be submitted to the BE READY call secretariat via the submission platform by consortia of European and international researchers, in accordance with the procedures and eligibility criteria outlined in the call document mentioned above. An example pre-proposal template is available on the call webpage.

When multiple Flemish institutions within the same consortium apply for FWO funding, only one joint administrative form must be submitted, including all information on the involved Flemish parties, in accordance with the procedures for regular projects. This is always done by the PI/promoter, using their personal e-portal account.

The submission deadline coincides with the call deadline for pre-proposals. Researchers are strongly advised to contact the FWO administration at least one week prior to submission in order to verify eligibility.

Within the framework of an international consortium, FWO can support at least two Flemish projects, with a maximum eligible budget of 350,000 EUR (including overhead) per project. The applicable FWO budgetary rules are further detailed in the call document (see from p. 28 onwards).

The co-funded partnerships under the Horizon Europe framework programme provide, in addition to national/regional funding, co-financing by the European Commission. Depending on the final ranking following international peer review, this may result in additional funding at the decision stage, potentially enabling the funding of additional projects, including for Flanders.

Some key points and deviations from the ‘regular’ FWO participatory framework to consider:

• Participation within European co-funded partnerships does not interfere with regular FWO project participation and is therefore not taken into account when calculating the maximum number of applied for or ongoing FWO projects. A key restriction is that applicants may participate in a maximum of two different projects/consortia per call, provided they concern different topics. In addition, ‘project coordinators may coordinate only one (1) submitted proposal and may participate as a partner in at most one (1) other proposal’.
• Different overhead regulations apply to the fundamental research and SBO funding channels, as detailed in the call document (see from p. 28 onwards).
• SBO projects aimed at the creation of a spin-off company are not eligible in this context and should therefore not be described in the FWO pre-registration.
• A user committee or advisory committee is not mandatory for SBO projects in this call.
• Projects have a maximum duration of 36 months and must be budgeted accordingly. Automatic extensions are not permitted within this participation framework. Consequently, Article 28 of the FWO Research Projects Regulations and Article 14 of the SBO Regulations are explicitly excluded.
• The PI, for each of the participating institutions from Flanders, must hold an eligible appointment that fully covers the duration of the research project. With regard to the ‘FO’ projects, and more specifically regarding the ‘emeritus’ regulation (artikel 10, §7): it does not apply in this context.
• Research teams applying for funding from the FWO may involve ‘stakeholders’ (e.g. patient organisations, interest groups, public and/or private organisations) as subcontractors in a research project, including for non-routine tasks. Contact the FWO for further information if needed.

Researchers are strongly encouraged to contact FWO prior to submission regarding eligibility criteria, in order to avoid ineligibility of individual Flemish researchers and/or the consortium as a whole.