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Regulations of the Research Foundation – Flanders governing fundamental research projects

Approved by decision of the Board of Trustees on 22 November 2017

Chapter 1. Preliminary provisions and scope of application

Art. 1.

§1. Pursuant to Article 18 of the Decree of 30 April 2009 on the organisation and financing of science and innovation policy and the decision of the Flemish Government of 10 November 2011 on subsidisation by the Research Foundation - Flanders, the Flemish Government grants the Research Foundation - Flanders a subsidy for the purpose of supporting non-specific research projects.

§2. The Research Foundation - Flanders administers the federal subsidy from the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy as received by the Interuniversity Institute for Nuclear Sciences.

§3. The Research Foundation - Flanders administers the federal subsidy from the Federal Ministry of Public Health as received by the Foundation for Medical Scientific Research.

Art. 2. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

§1. These regulations govern the eligibility of applications, agreements, implementation, amendment and extension, evaluation, subsidy and costs, aspects of personnel, operation and equipment, general financial provisions, payment, financial reporting and auditing of junior and senior fundamental research projects of the Research Foundation - Flanders.

For specific types of projects such as those for humanitarian action, those at a EU, bilateral or other level, deviating provisions may apply, which will be specified in the associated calls.

§2. The internal and external peer review with regard to the selection of the submitted project applications is governed by the FWO regulations "Internal and external peer review".

§3. These regulations are without prejudice to the general regulations of the Research Foundation.

§4. Any situation not provided for in these regulations shall be governed by the other regulations and the jurisprudence of the Research Foundation - Flanders.

§5. Detailed information, full regulations and forms are available online.

Art. 3. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

For the purposes of these regulations, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

1° supervisor-spokesperson: the main applicant of the project;

2° supervisor: the main applicant of a partner main host institution within the project;

3° co-supervisor: the co-applicant within the same main host institution or another eligible host institution within the project the main applicant or a co-applicant within another eligible partner host institution within the project. 

Art. 4.

The fundamental research projects of the Research Foundation - Flanders are aimed at promoting fundamental research that is carried out at the initiative of researchers in all scientific disciplines.

Chapter 2. Eligibility of applications

Art. 5.

Two types of research project can be awarded: a 'junior' type and a 'senior' type, each type having specific application requirements as set out in these regulations.

Art. 6. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 28.03.2018)

§1. Applications for fundamental research projects must be submitted in English using online completed forms.

§2. The forms must be submitted no later than the submission date and time stated in the call.

Art. 7. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019, 22/09/2021 and 27/03/2024)

§1. The Board of Trustees of the Research Foundation - Flanders may award grants for project research carried out at the principal host institutions referred to in § 2 of this article.  The supervisor-spokesperson or supervisor must be affiliated to one of these institutions.

§2. The principal host institutions in the context of this article are the universities in the Flemish Community, the Evangelical Protestant Faculty in Leuven, the Faculty for Protestant Theology in Brussels for research related to religious studies or theology, the Maritime Academy for research related to nautical sciences, the Vlerick Business School and the Antwerp Management School for research related to management sciences, the Institute of Tropical Medicine for research related to tropical medicine, veterinary medicine or healthcare in developing countries and the Flemish schools of arts recognised by decree insofar as it concerns research in the audiovisual and visual arts and/or music and performing arts and insofar as these institutions confirm that there is cooperation in research with a Flemish university at organisational level;

§3. Where appropriate, the principal host institutions from the preceding paragraph can carry out their research in collaboration with a Flemish or Federal scientific institution and/or Flemish higher education institution and/or non-Flemish research institution in accordance with either Articles 10 and 11 or Article 23.

Art. 8. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 24/03/2021 and 15/05/2024)

A research project is carried out under the supervision of one supervisor per main host institution, possibly in collaboration with one or more co-supervisors.

Art. 9. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 28/03/2018, 28/11/2018, 18/09/2019, 10/02/2021 and 06/11/2024)

§1. A researcher can, per call, act as supervisor-spokesperson, supervisor or co-supervisor for maximum one fundamental research project,regardless of whether budget is requested or not. 

§2. The total of requested and ongoing fundamental research projects on behalf of a single supervisor-spokesperson, supervisor or co-supervisor may not exceed two. The date on which a newly awarded research project fundamental research would normally start, is used as reference date to calculate this total.

§3. The first and second paragraphs of this article do not apply to the fundamental research projects carried out under ERA-NET, Bilateral extra-European research cooperations and humanitarian actions or any other level where specified. 

§4. The second paragraph of this article does not apply to projects for which a supervisor or co-supervisor has not requested any budget for the entire duration of the project, provided that the project is a cross-institutional project.

§5. The first and second paragraph of this article also apply to the Weave projects, regardless of where they were submitted.

Art. 10. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 28/03/2018, 18/09/2019, 22/09/2021, 22/12/2021, 09/02/2022 and 27/03/2024)

§1. Any supervisor-spokesperson or supervisor of a junior or senior project must hold at least one of the following appointments or research fellowships:

  • a ZAP appointment or, in the case of non-university institutions, an appointment in the grades of the same name and equivalent appointment with PhD of minimum 50 percent at a principal host institution referred to in Article 7 §2 of these regulations, with the additional condition for (associate) lecturers and (full) professors of schools of arts that they are affiliated with an academic programme in audiovisual and visual arts and/or music and performing arts of the school of arts concerned and are active in artistic education and research;
  • an appointment as research director of the Research Foundation - Flanders;
  • an ERC Grant at a principal host institution referred to in Article 7 §2 of these regulations;
  • an Odysseus II grant with a Flemish university as principal host institution.

§2. A supervisor-spokesperson or supervisor who does not hold any of the appointments listed in the first paragraph of the article and holds a ZAP appointment or, in the case of non-university institutions, an appointment in the grades of the same name and equivalent, including the specific conditions set out in paragraph one, with PhD of minimum 10 percent at a principal host institution as referred to in article 7 §2 of these regulations, may act as supervisor-spokesperson or supervisor of a research project under these regulations, if he/she

  • holds a research fellowship of the Research Foundation - Flanders;

or is appointed at one of the following institutions:

  • a principal host institution as referred to in article 7 §2 of these regulations, which may already serve as a principal host institution for a research project of the Research Foundation - Flanders;
  • a Flemish academic hospital;
  • a Flemish hospital with an academic character;
  • a recognised Flemish or federal research institution;
  • a Strategic Research Centre (SOC);
  • an academic programme of a Flemish School of Arts.

The total employment percentage at a principal host institution as referred to in article 7 §2 of these regulations, and at one or more of the institutions referred to in this paragraph must amount to at least 70% of a full-time equivalent.

§3. A supervisor-spokesperson or supervisor holding both a ZAP appointment of minimum 5 percent and an appointment as clinical head or assistant clinical head or equivalent function at a Flemish Academic Hospital may also act as supervisor-spokesperson or supervisor under these regulations.

§4. For junior projects fundamental research, an additional eligibility requirement applies in that a supervisor-spokesperson and (co-)supervisor must have obtained his/her first PhD degree maximum 12 years before the submission deadline of the project application.

§5. For each continuous period of 365 days between the date of the PhD degree and the application, maximum one extension of one year of the maximum limit defined in paragraph 4 may be granted if during this period continuous periods of at least 3 months, regardless of the number, have occurred because of maternity leave, full-time parental leave, full-time sickness leave or military service/compulsory civilian service in the country of which they are citizen. The maximum extension of the limit as defined in paragraph 4 of this article, is three years.

§6. For senior projects fundamental research, the additional eligibility requirement is met if the supervisor-spokesperson or the (co-)supervisor has obtained his/her first PhD degree more than 12 years before the submission deadline of the project application.

§7. Notwithstanding articles 12 and 13 of the general regulations and §1 to §3 of this article, in the case of a ZAP appointment, the following applies for supervisors(-spokespersons) who are granted emeritus status during the calendar year of submission of the project application or during the duration of the project:  

  • They must meet the requirements for supervisors(-spokespersons) as set out in this article, paragraphs 1 to 6, at the time of submitting the application or, if they are applying as emeritus, at the time they became emeritus.
  • When submitting their application, they must attach the approval from the host institution where the research will be carried out. 
  • If they acted as supervisor(-spokesperson) for the project application, they will automatically become co-supervisor as soon as they are granted emeritus status. The ZAP member previously acting as co-supervisor (see below) then automatically becomes supervisor-spokesperson. 
  • After being granted emeritus status they contribute to the project’s execution until the originally planned end date, as “emeritus/a with assignment” and in the role of co-supervisor, where appropriate and notwithstanding article 11, without remuneration, while remaining affiliated with the initial host institution.
  • They cannot act as sole supervisor(-spokesperson) for the project application.  

The mandatory co-supervisor of the initial project must meet the requirements for acting as supervisor(-spokesperson), as set out in this article, as well as the following requirements:

  • he/she is affiliated with the same main host institution as the supervisor(-spokesperson) who is granted emeritus status just before the start or during the project;
  • meets all the requirements associated with the role in accordance with article 10, paragraphs 1 to 6 and is capable of assuming the administrative responsibility for the project;
  • does not qualify for emeritus status until after the end date of the proposed project;
  • has the appropriate substantive expertise to manage the research project, which must be adequately documented in the application.

Additionally, a second (co-)supervisor from the same or another institution may be included.

Art. 11. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019, 22/09/2021, 09/02/2022 , 26/10/2022 and 29/03/2023)

§1. All co-supervisors have to be researchers of at least postdoctoral level.

§2. Co-supervisors, with the exception of the co-supervisor/emeritus, must hold a remunerated appointment at one of the following institutions: 

  • a host institution as referred to in Article 7 § 2 of these regulations;
  • an academic programme of a Flemish School of Arts;
  • another recognised Flemish research institute, excluding university colleges;
  • a recognised federal scientific institute.
  • a non-Flemish research institution.

§3. A co-supervisor of a non-Flemish research institution (and non-federal scientific institution) can be involved in the research project and, where appropriate, receive funding under the awarded FWO project via the main host institution of the supervisor-spokesperson, provided the collaboration is relevant for the project and the funding does not exceed 10 percent of the total requested project budget for all co-supervisors of non-Flemish research institutions (and non-federal scientific institutions) combined and provided a collaboration agreement is concluded between the main host institution of the supervisor-spokesperson and the non-Flemish research institution (and non-federal scientific institution) within nine months after the start of the project agreement. This collaboration agreement shall contain at least a detailed description of the collaboration, arrangements on ownership and usage rights to the project results, and liability. The FWO, or its authorised representative, may request the collaboration agreement from the main host institution concerned on an ad hoc basis or during audits, at the earliest nine months after the start of the project agreement until after the final completion of the project. The FWO may suspend payment of the grant if the audit shows that no collaboration agreement was concluded.

Art. 12. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 28.03.2018)

If the eligibility requirements set out in articles 10 and 11 of these regulations are not met at the time of the application, the applicant needs to prove that this will be the case at the start of the agreement.

Chapter 3. Agreement with regard to the research project

Art. 13. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

§1. The research funds awarded by the Research Foundation - Flanders are set out in detail in an agreement. Parties to this agreement are the supervisor-spokesperson, the supervisor and/or the co-supervisors. These parties undertake to complete or continue the subsidised research.

§2. All correspondence with the FWO on the agreement goes through the supervisor-spokesperson. The supervisors and co-supervisors receive a copy of the correspondence.

§3. Where the project research is carried out jointly by a supervisor-spokesperson and one or more (co-)supervisors of different host institutions, each (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) and each host institution must be party to the agreement referred to in the first paragraph.

The agreement must contain all necessary provisions regarding the hiring of staff, the management of the grants and the ownership of the equipment provided.

Art. 14. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

In principle, agreements in connection with research projects fundamental research cover a period of four years and in any case at least two years. New project applications can substantively build on previous FWO and/or other research projects.

Art. 15.

The agreement on the research project must contain a provision or provisions making it possible for one of the contract parties to terminate the agreement unilaterally. The agreement must also contain a provision or provisions on notice periods. 

Chapter 4. Execution, modification and extension of the research project

Art. 16.

§1. The Research Foundation - Flanders asks the host institution to give its consent for the execution of the FWO-funded research at their premises.

§2. The head of the host institution will be asked to give its approval for access by researchers from other institutions to the facilities made available. 

Art. 17.

§1. The funds are granted exclusively for the execution of fundamental research projects approved by the Research Foundation - Flanders.

§2.The supervisor-spokesperson and the supervisor are required to use the grants exclusively for the execution of the research project as approved by the FWO.

§3. In case the supervisor-spokesperson or supervisor fails to use the funds exclusively for the execution of the research project, the funds or the remaining balance will return to the FWO.

Art. 18.

§1. Any fundamental modification of the research project in progress must be the subject of an assessment similar to those for a new research application.

§2. Any fundamental modification of the research project in progress is included in the agreement referred to in articles 13, 14 and 15 of these regulations. The agreement will not be extended.

§3. Any partial modification of the research project, as well as any change in the planned expenditure, is subject to prior approval by the Research Foundation - Flanders.

Art. 19. (deleted by decision of the Board of Trustees of 23/10/2019)

Exceptional and duly justified requests for extension must be submitted to FWO no later than by 30 November of the last year of the period of use permitted under the regulations, i.e. the term of the signed contract plus two years, and are limited to maximum six months.

Chapter 5. Evaluation

Art. 20.

§1. For the ex-ante, intermediate and ex-post evaluation of the files, the Board of Trustees of the Research Foundation - Flanders calls on qualified expert panels appointed for this purpose.

For the ex-ante evaluation, they also call on external referees, in accordance with the FWO regulations for internal and external peer review.

Art. 21. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 29/03/2023)

§1. For the fundamental research projects in progress, the supervisor-spokesperson must submit to the Research Foundation - Flanders a scientific report including the progress report on the research as well as the part of the research still to be carried out, together with the list of scientific publications resulting from the relevant project, if any.

§2. For the fully completed projects, the supervisor-spokesperson must, after the expiry of the agreement, submit to the Research Foundation - Flanders a final report on the scientific activities, together with a list of publications in connection with the project;

§3. The FWO communicates the timeline for reporting on the website and communicates it to the researchers involved via e-mail and the e-loket.

Art. 22. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 26/06/2024)

§1. For the execution of fundamental research projects, the Research Foundation - Flanders may grant funds for two cost categories:

1st category: funds for staff and consumables

2nd category: funds for equipment, including collections, natural habitats, corpora, databases (including their digital disclosure, excluding staff) and connections to platforms.

§2. These funds cannot be transferred from the 1st category to the 2nd category and vice versa.

Art. 23. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019, 24/06/2020 and 26/10/2022)

§1. For staff and consumables combined

  • an amount of minimum €50,000 per project year must be applied for;
  • an amount up to maximum €145,000 can be applied for per Flemish or federal host institution.

§2. If required from a scientific perspective, the expert panels can reduce the requested budget referred to in paragraph 1 of this article.

§3. The execution of specific operational subtasks within a project may also be outsourced to subcontractors within the consumables cost category. These shall always be routine tasks, without any creative input. The cumulative contribution from subcontractors shall not exceed 20 percent of the total consumables. A higher share is possible provided this is duly substantiated in the project application”

Art. 24. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

For equipment a maximum amount of €150,000 for the entire project can be applied for. Matching funding from outside the FWO is possible.

Art. 25. (deleted by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

Art. 26. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 22/09/2021)

Supervisors-spokespersons, supervisors and co-supervisors are not allowed any remuneration or accumulation with a remuneration under a research project funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders. For projects under European or other international programmes the FWO Board of Trustees may grant exceptions based on substantiated requests.

Chapter 6. Staff and consumables

Costs

Art. 27. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 27/11/2019 and 26/06/2024)

§1. The following costs can be charged to the awarded staff and consumables funding, provided they are specified in the original application:

  1. staff costs of scientific and/or technical employees;
  2. normal consumables required for the execution of the project;
  3. fees for job students, pollsters and expenses resulting from the invitation of a guest researcher in the research department;
  4. small equipment of less than €20,000 per unit, required for the project, including collections, natural habitats, corpora, databases (including their digital disclosure, excluding staff) and connections to platforms;
  5. fees for student stays and participation in conferences abroad provided they are in line with the awarded research project;
  6. costs for a CO2 contribution linked to research-related air travel, to the extent that such travel is in line with the awarded research project;
  7. access to and dissemination of research results;
  8. travel costs in Belgium;
  9. use of the infrastructure of the Flemish Supercomputer Centre as set out in the regulations and the tariffs at https://www.vscentrum.be/getaccess
  10. use of other scientific core facilities.

§2. Staff costs can only be justified if all of the following conditions are met:

  • the recruitment of staff is included in the original application;
  • the staff were recruited under an employment agreement or a grant agreement for the appointment of a PhD or postdoctoral fellow by the host institution;
  • in the case of an appointment based on a grant award, the grant is subject to social security tax,

§3. Holiday pay upon termination in the case of staff having worked either for three-fourths of the project's duration, or for at least three consecutive years on one or more fundamental research projects of the Research Foundation - Flanders can be charged to a budget item specially provided for this purpose. For staff that do not meet the applicable requirements, however, it shall be charged to the project.

Art. 28. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

Positive balances of the awarded staff and consumables funding may be used for the charging of costs as set out in the first paragraph of article 27, up to two years after the end date of the agreement.

Chapter 7. Recruitment and appointment

Art. 29.

§1. To initiate the recruitment process, the supervisor-spokesperson or the supervisor must have received permission from the Research Foundation - Flanders under the agreement concluded with regard to the research project.

§2. Recruitment shall comply with the provisions of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission, as established in the European Charter for Researchers as published in 2005.

§3. Appointment shall comply with the applicable legal provisions, with the regulations in force at the host institution and with the compensations payable at the host institutions, as regards the hierarchy of grades, the requirements for recruitment and promotion, and the remunerations. The host institutions may impose additional requirements if deemed necessary.

Art. 30.

§1. Scientific staff must either meet the requirements to enrol for a PhD at a university in the Flemish Community or hold a PhD by thesis or a degree or certificate recognised as equivalent by law or in accordance with European Union directives or a bilateral agreement, in compliance with the provisions of Article V.20 of the Decision of the Flemish Government of 11 October 2013 on codification of the decree provisions concerning higher education.

§2. As far as is possible within the project objectives, the research shall be organised so as to enable pre-doctoral researchers to obtain a PhD by thesis.

Art. 31.

Each year, the host institution shall submit to the Research Foundation - Flanders a list containing an overview of the staff working on the various FWO projects before 15 March of the following year. The list is to be broken down by project/budget and should include the following information: surname, first name, date of birth, nationality, date of start of employment, date of end of employment, employment percentage, type of contract, statute (BAP - PhD fellow, BAP – WM, ATP…) and highest degree obtained, and a certificate of the host institution stating that the scientific staff meet the applicable requirements.

Staff expenditure under FWO research projects that does not meet these requirements shall be rejected.

Chapter 8. Equipment

Art. 32.

§1. All materials acquired under a bench fee or an equipment grant of the Research Foundation - Flanders will become the property of the principal host institution to which the grant holder is affiliated, or of the host institution, by virtue of the agreement made with the principal host institution that must be included in the application.

§2. The institution or principal host institution undertakes to keep the said material at the disposal of the researcher for the time that is needed to complete the research for which the grant was awarded.

§3. The host institution or principal host institution undertakes to neither sell nor lend out the material without prior permission of the FWO.

§4. If the material could be purchased only with the contribution of foreign funds, the Board of Trustees of the FWO shall decide on the ownership issue in consultation with the relevant authorities, as set out in paragraph 1 of this article.

§5. Material purchased under a grant of the FWO by a researcher who does not belong to the staff of a university, an assimilated institution or a Flemish or Federal research institution, shall remain the property of the FWO. The holder of such material undertakes to return it in perfect condition - except for normal wear and tear and in case of force majeure - when it is no longer needed.

Art. 33. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

§1. Only equipment that is needed for the project and that is specified in the application, can be charged to this category. The maximum amount for this category is limited to €150,000 for the entire project. Matching funding from outside the FWO is possible.

§2. For the purchase of equipment other than that specified in the application form, an application must first be submitted to the FWO.

§3. Expenses for equipment are accepted if they are dated during the first two project years.

§4. Bench fees and/or staff costs cannot be charged to the equipment category.

Art. 34.

§1. If allowed by the government, overheads can be paid to the host institutions in accordance with guidelines to be laid down by the government and the Research Foundation - Flanders.

§2. Apart from these overheads, the following items shall not be charged to an FWO grant:

  • costs of renting, heating, lighting and maintaining premises and furniture;
  • management or administration costs.

The costs mentioned under the first indent are normally borne by the host institution.

Chapter 9. Payment and financial reports

Art. 35.

§1. For each research project, throughout its term as specified in the agreement, two advance payments - one of 40 percent in the month of May and one of 35 percent in the month of October- on the awarded grant of the relevant grant year, including, where applicable, the overhead on the awarded grant in proportion to the advance payment, are payable to the host institution. The staff administration costs (maximum 2 percent on personnel costs) are included in the awarded grant.

In the first year after the end date of the project, 15 percent of the total grant is paid out.

At the time of the final settlement of the project, upon receipt of the financial report, the balance is paid out.

§2. The host institution submits a forecast of the expenditure on research projects of the relevant grant year to the Research Foundation - Flanders before February 15 of the following grant year.

Art. 36. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 27/11/2019)

§1. Each year, a financial report on the expenditure of the relevant grant year is submitted per project to the Research Foundation - Flanders before March 15 of the following grant year.

§2. The financial report includes a breakdown by category/grant and posting number and posting date or invoice date and an overall total year. 

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

§3. 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".

§4. 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.

§5. This procedure of articles 35 and 36 applies throughout the term of the project.

§6. Within the framework of a sustainable travel policy where the CO2 contribution is accepted as an admissible cost, the relevant guidelines of the host institution involved must be complied with and the host institutions are required to annually report on the compliance to the FWO. Such reporting shall coincide with the financial reporting on research projects.

Art. 37.

Non-submission or late submission of the reports referred to in article 36 will result in suspension of the payments under these regulations.

Chapter 10. Audit

System audit

Art. 38.

The host institution submits the auditor's report on the audited annual accounts of the past financial year to the Research Foundation - Flanders each year before April 30.

Overall reconciliation

Art. 39.

Before March 15, each host institution submits to the Research Foundation - Flanders a certificate from its own independent auditor on the past financial year, stating that, without taking into account the awarded and charged overhead (if applicable), the expenditure relating to the past financial year as reported by the host institution via the financial reports, corresponds with the accounting records of the host institution.

Project audit

Art. 40. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 26/06/2024)

§1. For projects in which a project partner (a research institute established in Belgium that is part of the project) has an FWO budget of 1,300,000 euros or more, an on-site project audit will be conducted with this project partner at the end of the research project by the auditor the Research Foundation - Flanders. The project audit settles this part of the project definitively. If there are not enough projects with project partners above this limit in a given year, projects will be chosen with project partners that are closest to this limit.

§2. The independent auditor of the FWO has to confirm whether the financial reporting by the host institution to the FWO represents a fair account of the use of the resources.

§3. The audit by the independent auditor is conducted in accordance with the standards and recommendations of the Institute of Independent Auditors.

§4. The independent auditor of the FWO shall, upon request, be granted access to all documents that he/she deems necessary to perform the audit task.

§5. The costs of the project audits are borne by the Research Foundation - Flanders.

Art. 41. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 26/06/2024)

In addition to the regulation set out in Article 40 of these regulations, a number of research projects will be selected annually by the Research Foundation – Flanders on the basis of a statistical method, in which the other project partners within the projects selected on the basis of Article 40 will also be involved. Remaining will be selected on all other ongoing projects where accountability will be requested on all expenditures for the past fiscal year.

Random audit

Art. 42. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 26/06/2024)

§1. The administration of the Research Foundation - Flanders randomly requests and audits documents, including salary slips, during the term of the projects. The documents can be transmitted electronically. The requested documents shall be forwarded to the FWO within 3 months.

At the time of the request, the supporting documents are reconciled with the project application file.

The procedure in this paragraph will be maintained until the final closure of the research project.

§2. The FWO may instruct its independent auditor to perform a project audit also for projects of less than €1,300,000, in accordance with the provisions of Article 40 of these regulations.

§3. The host institution shall in any case retain a right of reply and may, in support of its case, grant the independent auditor of the FWO access to the records of its independent auditor. The purpose of these procedures is to avoid double audits.

Art. 43. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 26/06/2024)

In case of late or non-submission of the certificates or underlying supporting documents requested by the company auditor or the FWO referred to in articles 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42 43 will result in suspension of the payments under these regulations.

Chapter 11. General financial provisions

Art. 44. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

Under no circumstances can expenditure be charged to research funding awarded for future financial years. This also implies that invoices dated before the start date of the research project shall not be accepted.

Art. 45. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 18/09/2019)

The management of the awarded research funding is entrusted to the accounting department of the university or the scientific institution to which the supervisor-spokesperson or supervisor is affiliated. 

Art. 46.

The financial year begins on 1 January and ends on 31 December.

Chapter 12 ERC runner-up projects

added by decision of the Board of Trustees of 23/09/2020 and 30/11/2022

Art. 47. (as amended by decision of the Board of Trustees of 26/10/2022 and 28/06/2023)

§.1. In addition to supporting fundamental research projects as described in these regulations, the FWO each year provides funding to support five runner-up projects for applicants of a Starting Grant and five runner-up projects for applicants of a Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), hereinafter referred to as “ERC runner-up project”.

To be eligible, an application for an ERC runner-up project must be submitted during the ERC call, prior to the FWO call for the runner-up projects, with a main host institution as defined in article 7 §2 of these regulations or in affiliation with the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), and the applicant must have received an ‘A’ score in step 2 of the ERC evaluation procedure, but has been denied funding by the ERC due to budgetary constraints. For ERC applications with VIB affiliation, the runner-up project application must be submitted with one of the main host institutions as defined in article 7 §2 of these regulations, with which the project will also be affiliated if it is awarded. The FWO awards the runner-up projects according to their ranking order (from high to low) on the ERC’s list.

If the number of eligible applications is less than the maximum of five available runner-up projects for either type of ERC Grant, the resources thus freed up can be spent on additional projects for the other type; however, the standard budget as defined in this article is not guaranteed for projects following the fifth runner-up project for that type.

§.2. If an ERC application for which a runner-up project has already been acquired is again submitted to the ERC and awarded, the runner-up project shall remain acquired.

If an ERC application, for which a runner-up project has been allocated, still is approved by the ERC in the framework of the same call as for the ERC runner-up project, the runner-up project will be terminated as soon as the ERC funding starts, that is at the latest on the last day prior to the start date of the ERC project. The supervisor-spokesperson of the runner-up project must inform the FWO of any such ERC allocation well in advance.

Candidates can apply several times for a runner-up project in accordance with the eligibility provisions, but only one runner-up project per candidate can be awarded for each ERC Grant type. Several runner-up projects per applicant cannot be combined simultaneously.

§.3. Applicants shall, no later than at the start of the ERC runner-up project and throughout the duration of the runner-up project, hold one of the appointments or a research fellowship as referred to in article 10 §1-3 of these regulations.

The project is always affiliated with one of the main host institutions referred to in Article7 §2 of these regulations.

§.4. Based on the notification by the ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA), the FWO invites the eligible applicants from the candidates for an ERC runner-up project, to submit an application for such a project. If a candidate declines the invitation, the next candidate on the ERC’s ranking list will be invited.

Applications for ERC runner-up projects must be submitted as prescribed by the FWO and shall include the complete ERC Starting Grant application (part A, part B1 and part B2), the Evaluation Summary Report of the ERCEA, and the application form with a description of the research that the candidate intends to undertake with the FWO funding.

The evaluation procedure applicable to fundamental research junior and senior projects does not apply to ERC runner-up projects.

The Board of Trustees shall make the award decision in accordance with the conditions set out in this article and based on the description of the candidates’ research proposals.

An approval for runner-up projects can only come into force at the earliest six months after the notification by the ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA) to the applicants.

§.5. The maxima for projects applied for and ongoing projects as stipulated in article 9 of these regulations do not apply for ERC runner-up projects.

§.6. A runner-up project has a maximum duration of four years and is not renewable. The budget is €77,000 per year or €308,000 for a full four-year period for an ERC runner-up project of the Starting Grant type and €100,000 per year or €400,000 for a full four-year period for an ERC runner-up project of the Consolidator Grant type.

This budget must be allocated to the remuneration of minimum one full-time equivalent (FTE) scientific staff member. The balance can be spent on consumables and/or equipment.

The budget can be freely allocated over the project years.

§.7. The holder of an ERC runner-up project undertakes to submit, before the end of the runner-up project, a new application for an ERC grant of the same type as or of a different type from that to which the runner-up project relates.

§.8. Except for and without prejudice to the specific provisions in this article, the full regulations for fundamental research junior and senior projects also apply to ERC runner-up projects.

Chapter 13 Projects submitted under the Weave initiative

added by decision of the Board of Trustees of 10/02/2021 and amended on 26/10/2022

Art. 48. FWO as Lead Agency

§.1. For any joint fundamental research project submitted under the Weave initiative to the FWO, the FWO will act as Lead Agency and as such be responsible for the complete handling of the evaluation process.

§.2. An administrative version of the joint Weave project must also be submitted to the respective foreign Weave partner(s) recognised by the FWO. The respective eligibility rules of the foreign Weave partner(s) in question will then apply. If one (or more) foreign Weave partner(s) declares the application to be inadmissible, it will also be declared inadmissible by the FWO and any other foreign Weave partners involved.

§.3. The main host institutions referred to in Art. 7§2 of these regulations can, if they so wish, conduct their research in collaboration with a Flemish or federal scientific institution and/or a Flemish higher education institution. However, apart from the foreign research institutions deemed eligible by the foreign Weave partner(s), no other non-Flemish research institutions are allowed to participate in the Weave application.

§.4. The FWO is responsible only for funding the Flemish research contribution to the approved Weave project. The agreement regarding the Weave research project is therefore concluded and monitored only with the Flemish researchers involved.

§.5. A partnership agreement must be concluded between all the Flemish/federal host institutions and non-Flemish Weave partner institutions involved within nine months of the start of the project. This partnership agreement must contain at least a detailed description of the partnership as well as agreements on ownership and user-rights to the project results and liability. The FWO or its authorised representative can request the partnership agreement ad hoc or during audits from the promoter-spokesperson's main host institution concerned at the earliest nine months after the start of the project until after the final settlement of the project. The FWO may suspend payment of the grant if the audit shows that no partnership agreement was concluded.

§.6. Subject to and without prejudice to the specific provisions in this article, the regulations regarding fundamental research projects also apply in full to Weave projects where the FWO acts as Lead Agency.

Art. 49. FWO as Partner Agency

§.1. For any joint fundamental research project submitted under the Weave initiative to another foreign partner recognised by the FWO, the FWO will act as Partner Agency. Consequently, the foreign Weave partner where the application was submitted will be responsible for the complete handling of the evaluation process and the respective regulations regarding the evaluation procedure of the foreign Weave partner will apply. The FWO regulations for internal and external peer review do not apply to such applications.

§.2. An administrative version of the joint Weave project must be submitted to the FWO using the specific online Weave form within seven calendar days of the expiry of the deadline adopted by the foreign Weave partner (Lead Agency). In this respect, Chapter 2 of these regulations, i.e. admissibility of applications, will apply with the exception of articles 5, 6 and 10 paragraphs 4 and 6. If one (or more) of the Weave funder(s) involved declares the application to be inadmissible, it will be declared inadmissible by all partners involved.

§.3. The main host institutions referred to in Art. 7§2 of these regulations can, if they so wish, conduct their research in collaboration with a Flemish or federal scientific institution and/or a Flemish higher education institution. However, apart from the foreign research institutions deemed eligible by the foreign Weave partner(s), no other non-Flemish research institutions are allowed to participate in the Weave application.

§.4. The FWO is responsible only for funding the Flemish research contribution to the approved Weave project. The agreement regarding the Weave research project is therefore concluded and monitored only with the Flemish researchers involved.

§.5. A partnership agreement must be concluded between all the Flemish/federal host institutions and non-Flemish Weave partner institutions involved within nine months of the start of the project. This partnership agreement must contain at least a detailed description of the partnership as well as agreements on ownership and user-rights to the project results and liability. The FWO or its authorised representative can request the partnership agreement ad hoc or during audits from the promoter-spokesperson's main host institution concerned at the earliest nine months after the start of the project until after the final settlement of the project. The FWO may suspend payment of the grant if the audit shows that no partnership agreement was concluded.

§.6. Subject to and without prejudice to the specific provisions in this article, the regulations regarding fundamental research projects also apply in full to Weave projects where the FWO acts as Partner Agency.

Chapter 14 Bilateral extra-European research projects

added by decision of the Board of Trustees of 22/11/2021

Art. 50.

§1. The bilateral extra-European research projects of the Research Foundation - Flanders are aimed at promoting joint fundamental research with extra-European partners that is carried out at the initiative of researchers active in the scientific disciplines specified in the call documents.

§2. If an application is submitted to the FWO under a call for bilateral extra-European research projects, an application must also be submitted to the relevant extra-European research foundation. For the extra-European researchers the eligibility rules of the relevant extra-European research foundation will apply. For the Flemish supervisor-spokesperson and (co-)supervisor, chapters 1 and 2 of these regulations on the eligibility of applications, will apply except for

  • Article 4: the eligible scientific disciplines are specified in the specific call documents, which are drawn up in consultation with the extra-European partner;
  • Article 5 and Article 10(4,6): bilateral extra-European research projects do not distinguish between junior and senior projects;
  • Article 9(1,2): a project application under a bilateral extra-European call does not count towards the number of research projects fundamental research that may be submitted per application round, or towards the admissible number of proposed and ongoing research projects fundamental research. A researcher can, per application round (defined per country or region), act as supervisor-spokesperson, supervisor or co-supervisor for maximum one application for a bilateral extra-European research project, regardless of whether budget is requested or not.
  • Article 7(3) and Article 11(3): the main host institutions referred to in Art. 7(2) of these regulations can, if they so wish, conduct their research in collaboration with a Flemish or federal scientific institution and/or a Flemish higher education institution. However, apart from the foreign research institutions deemed eligible by the relevant extra-European research foundation, no other non-Flemish research institutions are allowed to participate in the application.

If one of the research foundations involved declares the application to be inadmissible, it will also be declared inadmissible by the other research foundation.

§3. The FWO is only responsible for funding the Flemish research contribution to the approved bilateral extra-European research project. The agreement regarding the bilateral extra-European research project is therefore concluded and monitored only with the Flemish researchers involved.

§.4. A partnership agreement must be concluded between all the Flemish/federal host institutions and extra-European partner institutions involved within nine months of the start of the project. This partnership agreement must contain at least a detailed description of the partnership as well as agreements on ownership and user-rights to the project results and liability. The FWO or its authorised representative can request the partnership agreement ad hoc or during audits from the promoter-spokesperson's main host institution concerned at the earliest nine months after the start of the project until after the final settlement of the project. The FWO may suspend payment of the grant if the audit shows that no partnership agreement was concluded.

§.5. A bilateral extra-European research project has in principle a duration of three years unless otherwise agreed between the research foundations involved. The available research resources as well as the eligible costs and the budget per research project are established in consultation with the non-European research fund and specified per call in the call documents.

§.6. Subject to and without prejudice to the specific provisions in this article, the regulations regarding fundamental research projects also apply in full to the Flemish contribution to bilateral extra-European research projects.

§.7. The evaluation procedure is established for each new call in consultation with the extra-European partner and specified in the call documents. The external peer review must be carried out in full compliance with chapter III of the regulations for external and internal peer review. The internal peer review, by contrast, is carried out by an ad hoc panel of experts selected on the basis of their profile and expertise so as to ensure optimal coverage of the proposed research projects. The FWO panel members must comply with the code of conduct set out in chapter IV of the regulations for external and internal peer review.

Chapter 15. Humanitarian research projects “Kom op tegen Kanker” and “JEZ!”

added by decision of the Board of Trustees of 29/06/2022

Art. 51.

§1. The Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen (FWO) awards annual grants to support research programmes in cooperation with the charities "Kom op tegen Kanker" (KOTK) and "JEZ!", namely the stichting Kom op tegen Kanker and the JEZ! Fonds.

§2. Humanitarian research projects address a topical theme decided in consultation with the respective partners, normally each time for a period of three years.

For the KOTK research projects, it is the (cancer) patient-centred research that is central and for the RN research projects, the mental health and psychological well-being of young people.

§3. Specific provisions apply to humanitarian research projects with respect to the following articles of these regulations:

  • Article 5: The seniority of the (co)promoter(s) is not a deciding factor for applications.
  • Article 6: Grant applications must be submitted in English using online completed forms. For KOTK project applications, a Dutch-language description of the research in readable language should also be included with the application, for submission to patient representatives.
  • Article 14: All agreements that concern humanitarian research projects cover a two-year period.

§4. The evaluation of humanitarian research projects by the KOTK jury and the JEZ! jury is done in accordance with the regulations regulating internal and external peer review

§5. When publishing research results that have been realised thanks to a grant awarded by the FWO, not only should the source of the research grant be mentioned, that is the FWO, but also the respective partners, that is the stichting Kom op tegen Kanker or the JEZ! Fonds.

§6. Except for and without prejudice to the specific provisions in this article, the full regulations for fundamental research junior and senior projects also apply to humanitarian research projects.