I have a project fundamental research

The contract is drawn up in accordance with the FWO regulations for research projects. Upon award of the contract, the supervisor-spokesperson and the representatives of the host institutions involved receive an email from us 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 fundamental research project and the FWO general regulations form an integral part of the contract.

The awarded grant will be available as from 1 January following the year in which the project was awarded. The approved funding can be used throughout the approved project period (typically 4 years). The FWO provides for an additional phase-out period of 2 years. The grant is guaranteed provided that the FWO regulations are complied with at all times.

The regulations stipulate that for each project involving cooperation with a non-Flemish partner, you must provide the FWO with a cooperation agreement signed by all parties involved within a period of 9 months from the project start date (i.e. before October 1st of the calendar year following the award). The receipt of this cooperation agreement by the FWO is a prerequisite for the further payment of the grant. The concrete administrative steps to be followed are those specified in the internal procedure of the main host institution of the supervisor-spokesperson. Contact your Research Coordination department.

The cooperation agreement template used by universities and the majority of research organisations is available on the website. For further questions contact your Research Coordination department.

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

Interim report

For ongoing fundamental research projects, the supervisor-spokesperson must submit to the FWO a scientific report discussing the state of progress of the research and the research activities still to be carried out, two and a half years after the start of the agreement (i.e. before 1 July). This report also includes a list of scientific publications, if any, and other realisations resulting from the relevant project.

Ex post report

For completely finished projects, the supervisor-spokesperson must, a year and a half after the expiry of the agreement (i.e. before 1 July), submit to the FWO an ex post report on the scientific activities, to which the list of publications and other realisations related to the project must be attached. The template for this report will contain the information already submitted in the interim report and will become available after evaluation of the interim report.

Registration of research results in FRIS

All information about research results that stem from the research project need to be delivered to the Flanders Research Information Space (FRIS). Every Flemish beneficiary involved in the project needs to ensure that the correct and complete metadata of their research results is deposited in the information system(s) of their respective host institution(s) in time; the metadata is conveyed to FRIS from these information systems (see our webpage about research results). Peer-reviewed journal publications (i.e. A1 publications) will be automatically listed in the scientific report; this listing will be  based ONLY on the information present in FRIS.

You are required to prepare a data management plan (DMP) within 6 months after the official start of your project. The supervisor-spokesperson 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 project the final version of the DMP must be attached to the final project report via the e-portal of the supervisor-spokesperson. 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 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-spokesperson shall submit the certificates of the ethics committee to the research coordination department of the main host institution, where they are stored and can be retrieved by the FWO if necessary. For details see our research ethics webpage.

Acknowledgement of funding source

FWO must be acknowledged as research funder in publications or other relevant communication about your project (results).

Open access

Holders of an FWO fundamental research project are required to deposit their publications, realised in whole or in part with FWO resources, in a public “Open Access” database no later than one year after publication. Further information can be found on the website.

Transparent clinical trials

If your project involves a clinical trial, the trial must be registered in a public clinical trial registry (e.g. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov)) prior to the start of the trial (see Article 4 §2 of FWO’s General Regulations). For these purposes, a clinical trial is any research study in which human participants or groups of human participants are prospectively assigned to receive one or more health-related interventions in order to assess the effects on health outcomes.. Clinical trials include interventions such as, but not limited to drugs, cells and other biological products, surgical procedures, radiological procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, changes in care processes, preventive care, etc. This definition includes phase I to phase IV trials.

When the first patient is enrolled, the FWO must be informed (via tbm@fwo.be) of the start date of the trial (first patient in) and the registration number of the clinical trial. The data in the registry must be kept up to date for the duration of the trial and, within one year of the end of the clinical trial (six months for paediatric trials), a full descriptive clinical study protocol and a summary of the trial results must be added to the same registry, regardless of whether the trial results were negative, inconclusive or positive. For more background information, see Research Foundation - Flanders - Research Ethics (fwo.be)/Attention points/1. Transparent clinical trials.

Scientific integrity

Beneficiaries of FWO funds commit to the scientific integrity of the research practice and outcomes. More information.

Vacancies

Vacancies linked to research projects can be posted via the FWO website. You can forward the vacancy notice to the FWO via communicatie@fwo.be. Additionally, it may be useful to publish such notices via the Euraxess website of the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/.