Bilateral research cooperation Vietnam

The FWO is keen on promoting international collaboration as a driving force for excellence. That is why the FWO signs bilateral agreements with a number of countries/regions to fund joint research projects. These projects go further than the traditional mobility projects, because personnel and consumables as well as equipment can also be financed.

One of the selected countries/regions is Vietnam. The FWO has reached an agreement with the "National Foundation for Science and Technology Development" (NAFOSTED) on the funding of fundamental research in all domains.

• Carefully read the guidelines for applicants and verify if there are no restrictions in place regarding international cooperation in FWO funding instruments.

• Your joint application is submitted before the deadline both at FWO (by using the online application form in the FWO E-portal) and at NAFOSTED according to their modalities. Please note that each online FWO submission is automatically confirmed by a confirmation email. If you did not receive such an email, please verify whether you properly submitted your application.

• Specific points of attention FWO application:

  • The Flemish supervisor-spokesperson needs to upload for each of each involved Flemish and Vietnamese (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) a CV that is structured according to the FWO CV template to the FWO application.

  • Each Flemish and Vietnamese ((co-)supervisor(-spokesperson)should register at FWO by creating an online profile including an overview of academic positions and an updated list of publications on the FWO E-portal before the submission deadline. Please note that the registration of your login/password takes 24 hours. It is therefore strongly advised to start well in advance.

  • NEW: From 2025 onwards the online FWO application form will contain a specific tab 'Research Security'. Applicants are required, based on the topic of their research proposal, involved countries and foreign partners, to complete a set of questions regarding unwanted knowledge transfer, misuse of research results and/or interference. If as a result of this, your project proposal needs a research security approval, please contact the dedicated contact persons at your host institution immediately, preferably before the submission of your proposal. On Tuesday 29/04/2025 an online info session was organized specifically on research security within the framework of the Extra-European calls. The presentation can be consulted here.

• FWO and NAFOSTED perform an eligibility check to verify if your application meets all formal criteria of respectively FWO and NAFOSTED.

• FWO and NAFOSTED will send out the proposal submitted at respectively FWO and NAFOSTED out for external peer review according to the respective regulations for peer review. More information on the FWO modalities can be in the FWO regulations internal and external peer review.

• An ad hoc joint interdisciplinary selection committee composed of Flemish and Vietnamese experts makes a final ranking. This panel is composed after the call deadline based on the applications that were submitted.

• The Board of Trustees of FWO and NAFOSTED take the final decision.

• At the end of the evaluation procedure you will receive feedback on your application.