Support programmes
With our financial resources we support individual researchers and research teams with personal fellowships and project funding.
All about support programmes
The General Regulations apply.
The Research Foundation - Flanders may proceed with the creation of Scientific Research Networks. These are collaborative relationships among research groups that are aimed at promoting the coordination among and the international cooperation of Flemish research groups in the area of scientific research with inter-/multi-/and transdisciplinarity constituting a positive element in the evaluation of the proposals.
A Scientific Research Network consists at least of:
If desired, research groups from organisations other than research institutes can also be added to the SRN insofar as (strategic) basic research can be carried out and provided that their participation adds value to the SRN.
§1 One of the Flemish research groups acts as the core group. This department must have received international recognition for its outstanding, high-quality scientific research.
§2 A research group is only allowed to act as core group for a single ongoing SRN. This means that a research group can only apply once as core group in each application round, and also that any application for an SRN whose scheduled start date falls within the term of an ongoing SRN having the same research group as core group, will be considered ineligible.
A Scientific Research Network is headed by a steering group comprising the heads of the participating research groups from the Flemish Community. The head of the core group acts as president of the steering group and as spokesperson for the Foundation.
A Scientific Research Network is, upon advice of the competent scientific committee, recognised by the Board of Trustees, for a period of five years, which may be extended, and receives an annual bench fee of maximum €12,000. The bench fee remains available to the research network for the duration of the collaboration plus the following two years. Any unused funds shall be returned to the FWO.
The Board of Trustees determines the number of Scientific Research Networks to be created.
Scientific Research Networks can be created, provided it is clearly demonstrated that the allowance is necessary to enable and/or maintain the collaborative relationship and contributes to the scientific coordination in Flanders and to the internationalisation of scientific research at Flemish institutions
An existing Scientific Research Network may exceptionally be extended with (an) additional research group(s). To this end, the spokesperson of the initially approved Scientific Research Network must submit a new application to the FWO.
This application must clearly demonstrate why the extension is necessary for the further creation and/or maintenance of the initial collaborative relationship as set out in the initial application for a Scientific Research Network. The application must also demonstrate the quality of the research group(s) to be included in the initial Scientific Research Network. The written approval from all initial research partners for the addition of the new research group(s) must also be attached to the application.
The extension of the initial Scientific Research Network with (an) additional research group(s) is, upon advice of the competent scientific committee, recognised by the Board of Trustees, for the remaining period of the current initial Scientific Research Network, which may be extended. No additional bench fees are provided for this extension.
A first report must be submitted before 1 September of the 3rd year (period from 1 January of first year to 30 June of third year = 2 ½ operating years).
The second report is a summary report on the five operating years. This report must be submitted by 1 September of the fifth year, together with the file for the extension, where appropriate.
If the extension is postponed or if no extension is applied for, the report must be submitted on 31 December of the final fifth year.
The reports are submitted for evaluation by the competent scientific committee, which subsequently reports to the Board of Trustees. If the first report is negative, the Board of Trustees may decide to discontinue the SRN.
The funding is used exclusively for:
Payments, reports and audits shall be undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the regulations for Research projects.
Applications must be submitted before 1 September of the year preceding the start year, using the appropriate forms. The forms are available on the FWO website.
Research groups from Flemish or federal scientific institutions are eligible for inclusion in Scientific Research Networks. With regard to the federal scientific institutions, staff belonging to the French- or German-speaking community are considered being part of research groups from outside the Flemish Community.