Weave - FWO as Partner Agency

Weave is a bottom-up cross-European initiative developed by European research funders – and embedded in Science Europe – to support excellent European collaborative research projects across national and regional borders. Based on the Lead Agency Principle, Weave aims to simplify the submission and selection procedure of collaborative project proposals: a European team of researchers from two to three European countries or regions that have signed the Weave initiative, submits their joint project proposal to only one research funder (Lead Agency) who is responsible for the entire administrative procedure and scientific evaluation. Each research funder involved is as such responsible for the payment of its own researchers (i.e. researchers eligible for funding from this research funder). Since Weave will enable bilateral as well as trilateral scientific cooperation within Europe, it will contribute to the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA).

More details on the research funders that joined the Weave initiative as well as the aim, procedures, … can be found on this Weave website. The Weave initiative will be rolled out progressively over the coming years with a possible official accession of new Weave research funders. The eligible collaboration combinations are as such a dynamic fact.

• Timeline when FWO as Partner Agency: the Lead Agency’s procedure and timing apply.
• Although some research funders with whom the FWO has a bilateral agreement in principle have a system of continuous submission, ‘cut off’ dates apply to Weave projects in which a Flemish partner is involved:

• Austria FWF: Call closed
  
• French-speaking Community of Belgium F.R.S.-FNRS: Call closed
  
• Germany DFG: Call closed
• Luxembourg FNR: Call closed
• NEW! Netherlands NWO (pilot call): Call opens mid-July, submission possible at NWO between 1st of December 2024 and 28th of February 2025
• Poland NCN: Call currently open (NCN deadline: 16 December 2024)
• Slovenia ARIS: Call closed
• Sweden Formas: Call currently open (Formas deadline: 16 October 2024)
• Switzerland SNSF: Call closed (the 1^st of October 2024 deadline at SNSF is not open for Swiss-Flemish projects)

• 1^st of January 2025: start of projects on the Flemish side (regardless of the Lead Agency)
  • Please be aware: Projects submitted within the call with NCN Poland as Lead Agency (deadline: December 2024) will be evaluated in 2025 and, when successful, will start at Flemish side on 1^st of January 2026. As a consequence, this type of NCN-FWO projects are taken into account for the maximum of 2 projects:
    • For which you can act as (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) in application round 2025
    • That you can have registered in your name as (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) on 01/01/2026.

Weave is not a new, separate funding programme. It makes use of existing funding channels for fundamental research (with the corresponding timelines and conditions) of the Lead Agency.

Further information about these programmes for the research funders with whom the FWO has signed a bilateral agreement, can be found on the following websites:

• AUSTRIA through FWF (Austrian Science Fund)
• FRENCH-SPEAKING COMMUNITY OF BELGIUM through F.R.S.-FNRS (Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique)
• GERMANY through DFG (German Research Foundation)
• LUXEMBOURG through FNR (National Research Fund)
• NETHERLANDS through NWO (Dutch Research Council) (Weave pilot phase)
• POLAND through NCN (National Science Center)
  • Despite the fact that in the NCN (as Lead Agency) application form only the Polish and foreign supervisor-spokesperson (main applicants of the project) should be named (and all other research team members are anonymous), it is required in the FWO administrative submission that you list all persons (Flemish and non-Flemish) that will officially take up a role in the consortium, not only as supervisor-(spokesperson), but also as co-supervisors.
• SLOVENIA through ARIS (Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency)
• SWEDEN through Formas (Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development)
  • Please be aware: Formas funds bottom-up fundamental and need-driven research in all scientific domains but with a focus on the following areas of activity:
    • Environment
    • Agricultural Sciences
    • Spatial Planning

The aforementioned information is a crucial part of the eligibility check at Swedish side. Therefore Swedish researchers (and the Swedish part of the joint Weave proposal) must adhere to the restrictions within Formas’ areas of responsibility. Find out more about the focus areas of Formas.

• SWITZERLAND through SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation)

More information about the timeline, conditions, procedure... of each of these research funders can also be found on this Weave website.

• Project duration: as a rule, projects have the same duration both on the Flemish side and on the non-Flemish/foreign side, and the project duration rules of the Lead Agency apply:
  • If DFG Germany or ARIS Slovenia is the Lead Agency, the project duration on the Flemish side is also max. 3 years.
  • If FNR Luxembourg is the Lead Agency, the regulations of the FNR’s CORE programme need to be followed: the Flemish side can then in principle also request a maximum project duration of 3 years. Only when the Luxembourg side makes use of the option to additionally request a PhD student in the 4^th year, Flemish applicants can also request budget from the FWO for the 4^th year. This extra budget for a 4^th year from FWO is however limited to PhD related costs (staff costs and bench fee) and also needs to be scientifically motivated (!).
  • When Swedish researchers are involved (through research funder/Partner Agency Formas), the project duration at Swedish side is always fixed at 4 years (shorter project duration not possible). However, this project duration is not by default applicable to the other partners involved.
  • An overview of the (maximum) Weave project durations can be found here.
• FWO staff and consumables: at least € 50,000 per year for the entire project (all Flemish, federal and non-Flemish institutions included) and at most € 145,000 per year per Flemish/federal institution.
• FWO equipment: maximum € 150,000 per project (all Flemish and federal institutions included).

The modalities (e.g. budget) and eligibility criteria of the Flemish part follow the regulations of the junior/senior projects for fundamental research. This means among other things:

• Institutions involved (Article 7) and (co-)supervisor(s) (Article 10-12) involved have to comply with the conditions as described in the regulations for junior/senior projects for fundamental research. Within a Weave project it is however not possible to include a non-Flemish institution other than the foreign Weave partner(s) involved for up to 10% of the total project funding.
• Regardless of the fact whether the FWO is Lead or Partner Agency, Weave projects (including those with the Netherlands NWO) are always taken into account for the maximum of 2 research projects fundamental research per application round for which you can act as (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson). They also fall within the rule stating that the total number of research projects fundamental research – applied for and currently ongoing – in name of one and the same (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) cannot be more than two on the starting date of the new granted project.
• The same Weave project may only be submitted once within the same budget year. The parallel submission of the same Weave project at several research funders where the research partner(s) involved is (are) eligible, is therefore not allowed.
• Applicants agree with the Research Integrity Clause.

The application needs to be submitted in its entirety according to the procedure (incl. deadline) in place at the relevant non-Flemish/foreign research funder (Lead Agency). Please make sure that the requested Flemish budget is clearly indicated in detail (per budget year, cost category, type, …) and scientifically justified in the application to the Lead Agency, responsible for evaluating the Flemish budget as well.

Please note: in addition to this submission,

• The Flemish supervisor-spokesperson needs to do an obligatory administrative submission to the FWO through the E-portal, using the specific application form‘Research project WEAVE (FWO acts as Partner Agency)’, no later than 7 calendar days after the deadline adopted by the non-Flemish/foreign research funder (Lead Agency) where the complete research proposal was submitted. Important: in the tab ‘project’ you must upload the complete and identical application with all attachments (not only the project description) as submitted to the Lead Agency (PDF format). Furthermore, make sure that each applicant involved at Flemish and non-Flemish sides as well as the requested Flemish budget submitted to the Lead Agency are identical to what is being submitted to the FWO in the administrative submission.
• Each (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) of the Flemish research teams involved, needs to have a profile on the FWO E-portal including an updated overview of their functions/careers and an updated list of publications.

• The FWO and the research funder(s) involved check the eligibility of the application/applicants.
• The entire evaluation will be performed by the research funder where the research proposal was submitted (Lead Agency) according to its own procedures. Positively evaluated proposals will be presented by the Lead Agency to the FWO and to any other researchers involved for ratification.
• The boards of trustees of all research funders involved do the final ratification. The FWO will pay for the Flemish part of positively evaluated proposals proposed by the Lead Agency.

For any further questions regarding Weave, please send an email to weave@fwo.be