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 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.

In contrast to the regular research projects fundamental research no distinction is made between junior and senior research projects. In addition, it is not possible to use 10% of the budget requested at FWO for non-Flemish research institutions.

• Next call expected spring 2025
• Joint research project with partners from Vietnam. It must be an integrated research proposal with a central research question, methodology and implementation.
• Period: maximum 3 years
• FWO personnel and consumables: minimally € 45,000 and maximally €75,000 per year per project
• FWO equipment: maximally € 150.000 per project
• Call closed

• The collaboration with partners from Vietnam will have added value for the proposed research project.
• Your research will be carried out at an eligible Flemish main host institution, possibly in collaboration with other Flemish and/or federal research institutions and under the supervision of a supervisor-spokesperson, possible in collaboration with other (co-)supervisor(s).
• In the framework of this call with NAFOSTED, you can only act once as a supervisor(-spokesperson) or co-supervisor.
• No remuneration or accumulation with a remuneration is allowed for (co-)supervisor(s)(-spokesperson) under a research project funded by FWO.
• Applications in the framework of this cooperation are not part of the regular project competition and as a result:
  • do not count for the maximum of two projects per application round for which you may act as (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson);
  • are not taken into account for the maximum of two projects applied for and ongoing on the start date of the newly allocated project.
• You agree with the Research Integrity Clause.

• Your joint fully integrated application is submitted simultaneously at FWO (by using the online application form in the FWO E-portal) and at NAFOSTED according to their modalities before the deadline. 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.
• Each (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) of both the Flemish and Vietnamese research team:
  • must have a fully updated online FWO E-loket profile including an up to date list of publications;
  • needs to add via the Flemish supervisor-spokesperson a CV to the FWO application. Please do use the template provided in the FWO application form.
• 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 international peer review according to the respective regulations for peer review.
• An ad hoc joint interdisciplinary selection committee composed of Flemish and Vietnamese experts makes a final ranking.
• The Board of Trustees of FWO and NAFOSTED take the final decision.
• Afterwards you will receive feedback on this decision.

Remark: In case of transfer of personal data within the framework of an international collaboration, FWO will ensure that the partners abroad guarantee an equal level of protection with respect to the involved parties.