I have an EOS Project

The contract is drawn up in accordance with the FWO regulations for EOS research projects. Upon award of the contract, the supervisor-coordinator and the representatives of the TYPE I-FL and TYPE II-FL host institutions involved receive from us an email 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 EOS programme 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 EOS project was awarded. The approved funding can be used throughout the approved project period (typically 4 years). The FWO (and the F.R.S-FNRS) 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.

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

Interim report

For ongoing EOS projects, the supervisor-coordinator must, during the third project year of the agreement, submit to the FWO/F.R.S-FNRS a scientific interim report including the progress report on the research and the research activities still to be carried out. This report also includes a list of scientific publications, if any, and other realisations resulting from the relevant EOS project. This reporting is conducted via the specific online EOS reporting platform. The spokesperson-coordinator will timely receive an invitation via e-mail with the link to this reporting platform.

Final report

For completely finished projects, the spokesperson-coordinator must, within 6 months after expiry of the agreement, submit to the FWO/F.R.S.-FNRS a final report on the scientific activities, to which the list of publications and other realisations related to the project must be attached. For this final report, too, the spokesperson-coordinator will timely receive an invitation via e-mail with access to the specific online EOS reporting platform.

Financial reporting

In each project year, before March 15th of the following grant year, you must provide to the FWO a financial report on the expenditure of the grant year in question.

The financial report includes a breakdown by expenditure category, posting number, posting date or invoice date and an overall total for the year.

The overall financial report includes the totals per year, per project and per category.

This financial report is signed by the head of the Finance department and a second manager (e.g. head of the research administration) to confirm that the necessary audits have been carried out. They certify the financial report to be "true and accurate".

Completed projects for which no more expenses can be justified are definitively settled on the basis of the submitted financial reports and, if applicable, the project audit by the auditor of the Research Foundation - Flanders.

You are required to prepare a data management plan (DMP) within 6 months after the official start of your EOS project. The DMP should cover the complete EOS project, not only the Flemish part. If the spokesperson-coordinator is affiliated with a TYPE I-FL institution, he/she is responsible for submitting the DMP to the research coordination department of the main host institution. You do not need to submit it to the FWO. If the spokesperson-coordinator is affiliated with a TYPE I-FR institution, the Flemish researchers involved are required to jointly submit a DMP to the relevant research coordination department of the main host institution within 6 months after the official start.

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 EOS 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 and F.R.S.-FNRS..

The spokesperson-coordinator shall submit the certificates of the ethics committee to the research coordination department of the main appointment, where they are stored and can be retrieved by the FWO if necessary. For details see our research ethics webpage.

Each project involving a partnership with a TYPE IV research institution shall also comply with the legal obligations regarding ethical approvals of the foreign partner involved.

Acknowledgement of funding source

FWO and F.R.S.-FNRS must be acknowledged as grant giver in publications or other relevant communication about your project (results). “This project (EOS number + FWO file number) has received funding from the FWO and F.R.S.-FNRS under the Excellence of Science (EOS) programme". Presentations must contain the EOS logo. 

Open access

Holders of an FWO EOS 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 undertake to ensure the scientific integrity of the research practice and outcomes. Research Foundation - Flanders - Scientific integrity (fwo.be)

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/.