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Regulation governing Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - Seal of Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowships

Approved by decision of the Board of Trustees of 26 September 2018

Chapter 1. Preliminary provisions and scope of application

Art. 1.

Pursuant to Article 18 of the Decree of 30 April 2009 on the organisation and financing of science and innovation policy and the decision of the Flemish Government of 10 November 2011 on subsidisation by the Research Foundation - Flanders, the Flemish Government grants the Research Foundation - Flanders a subsidy for the purpose of supporting individual researchers.

Art. 2.

§1. This regulation governs the eligibility of applications, the appointment, suspension and termination, the calculation and payment of the salary, the rights and obligations, the procedure for work-related accidents, child benefit and the annual leave of holders of an FWO Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - Seal of Excellence postdoctoral fellowship, hereinafter called ‘FWO MSCA SoE’.

§2. With respect to the regulatory provisions, the FWO MSCA SoE postdoctoral fellowship is not considered equivalent to the FWO junior and senior postdoctoral fellowship, unless expressly provided otherwise.

§3. These regulations are without prejudice to the general regulations of the Research Foundation - Flanders.

§4. Detailed information, full regulations, and forms are available online.

Chapter 2. Eligibility of applications

Art. 3.

Each year, the FWO grants up to eight FWO MSCA SoE postdoctoral fellowships to candidates affiliated to a principal host institution referred to in Art. 4, §1, who rank highest in the reserve list of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral European Fellowships (MSCA PF EF).

The FWO issues annual calls for applications for this fellowship.

Art. 4. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 26.06.2019)

§1. FWO MSCA SoE postdoctoral fellows must have submitted their initial application for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral European Fellowship (MSCA PF EF) as mentioned in article 3, with as affiliation one of the following main host institutions and must be affiliated for the course of the MSCA SoE FWO fellowship to at least one of them:

  • a university in the Flemish Community or the Evangelical Protestant Faculty in Leuven or the Faculty for Protestant Theology in Brussels, for research related to religious studies or theology;
  • the Maritime Academy for research related to nautical sciences;
  • the Vlerick Management School or the Antwerp Management School for research related to management sciences;
  • the Institute of Tropical Medicine for research into tropical medicine, veterinary medicine or healthcare in developing countries;

possibly in collaboration with a Flemish or Federal scientific institution or a Flemish higher education institution where the fellow conducts his/her research.

§2. Contrary to paragraph 1 of this article also candidates are eligible who have submitted an application for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions IPostdoctoral European Fellowship (MSCA PF EF) as mentioned in article 3, with the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) as affiliation. The MSCA SoE FWO must also in that case be affiliated to one of the main host institutions as mentioned in paragraph 1 of this article.

§3. Fellows in the principal host institution report to a head of department or equivalent.

Art. 5.

Holders of an FWO MSCA SoE fellowship are offered an employment contract for the period requested from the European Commission, with a maximum of two years.

Art. 6.

Holders of an FWO MSCA SoE fellowship are allocated a bench fee of €4,000 per fellowship year in accordance with the provisions of the regulation for the bench fee of FWO fellows.

This amount is allocated together with the fellowship without the applicant having to submit a separate application.

Art. 7.

The questionnaire regarding ethical aspects of the proposed research, which is part of the FWO application forms, must also be completed and submitted to the FWO by holders of an FWO MSCA SoE fellowship prior to the start of their fellowship. If their application file of the European Commission includes a parallel list, the FWO may accept it as equivalent, without prejudice to the obligation to submit an ethical advice in accordance with the FWO list and the associated explanatory note.

Art. 8.

Furthermore, holders of an FWO MSCA SoE fellowship are also subject to Article 10 and the articles under chapters 4 through to 11 of the FWO regulations governing postdoctoral fellowships.