International research infrastructure - Roadmap

• 27 February 2025: call open
• 19 and 20 March 2025: intake interviews
• 19 May 2025 at 5pm: call closed (= final deadline)
• August 2025: rebuttal phase
• September 2025: evaluation by Science commission (interviews)
• October 2025: evaluation by Strategy commission
• November/December 2025: announcement of results

• Applying organisation: a research group or research groups of a Flemish scientific institution, a Flemish university, a strategic research centre, an institution for post-initial education, the Flanders Marine Institute, the RZSA-CRC, the Botanic Garden Meise, or a Flemish museum with a research mission, a partnership between the above-mentioned bodies, or a partnership between at least one of the above-mentioned bodies and one or more third parties.
• An application in a roadmap call is admissible only if the following conditions are met:
  • the international research infrastructure for which an application for participation is submitted has not been the subject of an unsuccessful application in a roadmap call twice before;
  • the international research infrastructure for which an application for participation is submitted has already passed through the design phase;
  • no two applications for participation in the same international research infrastructure are submitted and the application does not concern a participation in international research infrastructure in which a Flemish consortium is already participating.
• An application in a funding call is admissible only if the following conditions are met:
  • the application was already the subject of a successful application in a roadmap call or has already been granted funding in previous calls for international research infrastructure, unless an phase-out scenario has been imposed;
  • no two different applications for funding participation in the same international research infrastructure are submitted;
  • no application for funding of participation in an international research infrastructure in which a Flemish consortium is already participating is submitted.

• Period: 4 years, renewable with maximum two years.
• Eligible costs: The subsidy is used for the financing of equipment, personnel, institutional, operational and logistic costs. This includes the following cost categories, not all of which need to be present simultaneously in each application for funding to participate in an international research infrastructure:
  • equipment: costs for research investments, notably costs for the acquisition or building and connection of (components) of the international research infrastructure, and for substantial upgrades, including the non-recoverable portion of VAT;
  • personnel costs for the development, construction or building of the participation in the international research infrastructure. This also includes personnel costs for upgrading the international research infrastructure and costs for operating or maintenance personnel once the infrastructure is up and running, as well as personnel costs for commitments made within international cooperation agreements;
  • operational costs such as maintenance costs throughout the depreciation period, notably costs arising out of maintenance contracts or upgrades of the international research infrastructure and equipment repair costs, operating costs arising from commitments made within international cooperation agreements, and the logistics and training costs necessary to conduct research at and access the international research facility;
• Funding percentage:
  • 80% of the eligible costs.
  • 90% if the investment initiative originates from one or more research groups with more than one applicant, and if the application file proves that all applicants share the remaining 10% of the eligible costs proportionally according to substantive contribution and commitment so as to demonstrate the effective contribution and commitment.
  • 100% if the applying consortium is able to prove in the operational plan that, due to the nature of the infrastructure, no co-funding is possible, provided the participation, support and commitment of the relevant bodies is demonstrated.
  • co-funding indicates the commitment of the consortium partners in participating in the international research infrastructure. This means that part of the funding will have to be found from other sources, either external or other funding available from the applicants team internally.

• As supervisor of the infrastructure, you prepare the proposal via the FWO e-portal and transfer the proposal in preparation to your institution (= the main applicant of the proposal). Please contact the research coordination office of your research institution for internal deadlines and practicalities.
• Your institution submits the final proposal to the FWO by May 19, 2025 at 5 PM.
• Your application is submitted to a number of external experts that are not active in Belgium.
• The supervisor receives the anonymous reports from these external reviewers and has the possibility to provide feedback. This is scheduled for the period August – September 2025.
• The members of the Science Commission are given access to the referee reports and the applicants' responses. On this basis, the Science Commission assesses in September 2025 all applications and organizes  hearings. Based on the evaluation criteria laid down in the regulations for internal and external peer review, the Science Commission classifies the applications into one of the following three categories:
  • category A: applications that are evaluated as excellent from a scientific point of view;
  • category B: applications that are evaluated as very good from a scientific point of view, including applications that are not yet fully mature;
  • category C:
    • for the roadmap call: applications that are not excellent or very good from a scientific point of view and are not eligible for support and funding through the funding call.
    • for the funding call: previously funded applications that, from a scientific point of view, no longer belong to category A or B and for which an phase-out scenario is being worked out, taking into account international commitments, or applications that, from a scientific point of view, are not yet excellent or very good and are not eligible for funding.

The Science Commission does not prioritise the applications but classifies them into one of the above mentioned categories.

• The Strategy Commission analyses the applications classified by the Science Commission in categories A and B, as mentioned in paragraph 2(1), and A, B and C, as mentioned in paragraph 3(1). For the applications placed in categories A and B, the Strategy Commission checks whether the proposals are realistic, feasible and of strategic importance for the Flemish Region or the Flemish Community, and formulates a proposal of ranking for the applications submitted for the roadmap call and of ranking and funding for the applications submitted for the funding call. For applications placed in category C, after the decision, it draws up a phase-out scenario where appropriate, taking into account international obligations.
• The FWO Board of Trustees makes a final decision during its meeting of November or December 2025:
  • which international research infrastructures Flemish researchers will participate in;
  • whether membership fees are to be paid by Flanders, if not borne by the Federal Government, and, if so, the amount of fees;
  • for which projects the phase-out scenario will be developed, which must subsequently also be submitted for decision by the Board of Trustees.

The following principles will be taken into account:

• The Board of Trustees will make its final decision taking into account the advice of the Strategy Commission. The nomination of the applications can only be endorsed or rejected. In case of rejection, the Science and Strategy Commissions are questioned again, where appropriate explicitly stating the elements which, according to the Board of Trustees, should be investigated further.
• If the Strategy Commission has formulated an additional condition regarding an application file, the FWO Board of Trustees shall act as follows:
  • either the additional condition is rejected, and the file is approved;
  • or the additional condition is accepted in whole or in part, and the file is approved, it being understood that the financing or cooperation conditions imposed by the Board of Trustees will serve as conditions for the funding;
  • or the additional condition is accepted in whole or in part, and the file is approved only if the necessary remedial action is presented to the Board of Trustees within a period set by the Board of Trustees, which may not be less than ten calendar days and may not exceed sixty calendar days. 

Interested parties planning to apply in the roadmap call are required to participate in an intake interview prior to the submission deadline. These interviews will take place on 19 and 20 March 2025. Timeslots can be fixed via an e-mail request to infrastructuur@fwo.be.   

All questions related to the roadmap call for international research infrastructure can be addressed to infrastructuur@fwo.be.

Questions regarding the functionality of the e-portal should be addressed to fwohelpdesk@fwo.be.