International cooperation |
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International collaboration under the Lead Agency funding
scheme framework
By means of an agreement on collaboration under the Lead
Agency funding scheme (Lead Agency Agreement), two or more agencies from
different countries enable researchers to submit a collaborative research
project proposal with one of the agencies (the Lead Agency), which carries out
the evaluation procedure of such collaborative project proposal.
The Lead Agency funding scheme significantly reduces the
administrative workload that the applicants in a collaborative research project
proposal need to perform otherwise, as the evaluation procedure for the
collaborative research project proposal is carried out by only one of the
agencies, ie. the Lead Agency. For project proposals evaluated as successful in
the evaluation process and consequently proposed for co-financing by the Lead
Agency, the Partner Agency recognizes the evaluation procedure results and,
typically, co-finances the research project part falling under its coverage
without any further evaluation procedure, based on the agreement on mutual
recognition of evaluation procedures.
ARRS is one of the twelve European agencies that signed an
agreement in 2020 on a multilateral Lead Agency funding scheme for co-financing
of scientifically excellent bilateral or trilateral Weave research projects. In
addition to ARRS, the Agreement was also signed by: DFG (Germany), FNR
(Luxembourg), FNRS (Belgium), FORMAS (Sweden), FWF (Austria), FWO (Belgium),
GACR (Czech Republic), HRZZ (Croatia), NCN (Poland), RCN (Norway) and SNSF
(Switzerland). The multilateral Lead Agency funding scheme builds on existing
bilateral Lead Agency schemes and expands the collaboration between agencies in
several countries.
The new funding scheme enables researchers to submit a Weave
collaborative research project proposal with one of the agencies (Lead Agency),
which carries out the evaluation procedure for such collaborative project
proposal. In 2021, ARRS will collaborate with: FWF (Austria), FWO (Belgium),
GACR (Czech Republic), HRZZ (Croatia), NCN (Poland), and SNSF (Switzerland).
Within the five-year transitional period defined in the signed agreement, the
collaboration under this instrument will be established with all the agencies
that have signed the Agreement.
The currently ongoing collaboration based on the Lead Agency
model with the Hungarian agency NKFIH in 2021 will remain unchanged and will
follow the well-established processes.
Collaboration under the Lead Agency model is possible both
with ARRS acting as the Lead Agency or ARRS acting as the Partner Agency.
ARRS AS THE LEAD AGENCY
National calls for proposals
The applicant can submit a project proposal in collaboration
with a Partner Agency as part of regular annual call for research project
proposals. The applicant shall submit a key content application (collaborative
application) to ARRS under the conditions defined by ARRS in the public call for
proposals. The co-applicant shall normally submit a collaborative application to
the Partner Agency in one week of the application being submitted to the Lead
Agency. Should such collaborative application fail to be submitted to the
Partner Agency or is submitted too late, such application shall not be included
in the further evaluation procedure. The partner institution may, as applicable,
also request the submission of a parallel application under their terms. ARRS,
in its role of the Lead Agency, carries out the evaluation procedure for the
submitted collaborative project proposal and informs the partner agencies on the
evaluation results. The partner institutions or their decision-making bodies,
without any additional evaluation on their part, recognize the results of the
evaluation and typically accept their part of the positively evaluated
collaborative research project for co-financing. The Slovenian part of the
approved collaborative project is co-financed by ARRS, and the foreign part by
the Partner Agency. The decision to co-finance a collaborative project shall be
made by all participating agencies in order for the co-financing to be carried
out.
Public call for the (co)financing of research projects in 2020
Partner Agencies
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Multilateral Lead Agency – Weave
projects |
Weave application: Weave – Research
funding without borders (weave-research.net)
Multilateral Lead Agency Agreement:
Applicants can submit projects in collaboration with an
agency acting as the Lead Agency under conditions determined by the Lead Agency.
A Weave research project can be bilateral or trilateral. In the case of
bilateral Weave research project proposals, the collaborative research project
will be financed by the agency acting as the Lead Agency and ARRS, each with its
own national part, and in the case of trilateral research project proposals such
Weave collaborative research project will be financed by the Lead Agency, ARRS,
and a participating third partner agency.
As a rule, at the same time the call for Weave collaborative
research project proposals is open with the Lead Agency, ARRS publishes a
parallel public call for proposals to which the applicant shall submit a
completed application, as specified in the call for proposals documentation.
Both or all three parts of the collaborative research project shall be closely
connected and each of them shall provide its own special scientific
contribution. Additionally to the proposal submission, applicants shall also
submit to ARRS’s parallel call for proposal the entire proposal submission which
has been submitted to the Lead Agency call for proposals.
The Multilateral Lead Agency Agreement defines the agreed
co-financing threshold in such a way that a collaborative research projects
shall be ranked among the 20% top rated research projects in the Lead Agency’s
evaluation procedure. The Multilateral Lead Agency Agreement also allows the
option of the agencies mutually agreeing to also (co)finance projects that have
been positively evaluated in the evaluation procedure but failed to meet the
agreed threshold.
The evaluation procedure is carried out by the agency acting
as the Lead Agency in accordance with its rules. Having completed the evaluation
procedure, such agency acting as the Lead Agency informs the Partner Agencies of
the evaluation procedure results and at the same time suggests the Partner
Agencies to co-finance their parts of the collaborative research projects that
have met the agreed upon co-financing threshold.
The Partner Agencies’ decision-making bodies recognize the
evaluation procedure results and typically approve the co-financing proposal
they receive from the Lead Agency. Subsequently, each of the Partner Agencies
(co)finances its part of the collaborative research project. The final decision
on the (co)financing of a collaborative research project shall be confirmed and
adopted by all Partner Agencies.
In 2021, ARRS will collaborate based on the Multilateral Lead
Agency Agreement with the following agencies: FWF (Austria), FWO (Belgium), GACR
(Czech Republic), HRZZ (Croatia), NCN (Poland), and SNSF (Switzerland). Within
the five-year transitional period defined in the signed Agreement, cooperation
under this instrument will be established with all the agencies that have signed
the Agreement.
Public calls for proposals, where the agencies mentioned in
the previous paragraph act as the Lead Agency, are usually published once a
year, with the exception of the public call for proposals with the Austrian FWF
acting as the Lead Agency, which is open permanently. The schedule of public
calls for proposals in which the Partner Agencies act as the Lead Agency is
published on ARRS
website.
Contacts:
- for collaboration with: FWF, HRZZ and NCN: Aleksandra Panič, tel.: +386
1 400 5924, e-mail:
aleksandra.panic@arrs.si
- for collaboration with: FWO, GA ČR and SNSF: Mojca Boc, tel. +386 1 400
5971, e-mail: mojca.boc@arrs.si
FWF - Der Wissenschaftsfonds
http://www.fwf.ac.at/
Lead Agency Agreement:
Memorandum
of Understanding on the unilateral administration and mutual recognition of
evaluation procedures
Memorandum of recognition:
Lead Agency Agreement (FWF-ARRS) - Memorandum of Understanding on the
unilateral administration and mutual recognition of evaluation procedures
In 2021, it is possible to submit collaborative research projects
applications in the multilateral Lead Agency scheme – Weave research projects.
FWO - Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen
http://www.fwo.be/
Lead Agency Agreement:
Memorandum
of Understanding on the unilateral administration and mutual recognition of
evaluation procedures
Memorandum of recognition:
Lead Agency Agreement (FWO – ARRS) Memorandum of Understanding on the
unilateral administration and mutual recognition of evaluation procedures
In 2021, it is possible to submit collaborative research projects
applications in the multilateral Lead Agency scheme – Weave research projects.
NKFIH – National Research, Development and Innovation Office
http://nkfih.gov.hu/about-the-office
Link to the public call for proposals:
NKFIH
web page
Lead Agency Agreement:
Memorandum
of Understanding on the unilateral administration and mutual recognition of
evaluation procedures
Memorandum of recognition:
Lead Agency Agreement (NKFIH – ARRS) Memorandum of Understanding on the
unilateral administration and mutual recognition of evaluation procedures
Usually, a public call for proposals with NKFIH acting as the Lead Agency is
published once a year. Public call for proposals with ARRS acting as the Lead
Agency is published once a year as part of the public call for research project
proposals.
Contacts: Aleksandra Panič, tel.: +386 1 400 5924, e-mail:
aleksandra.panic@arrs.si
SNSF – Swiss National Science Foundation
http://www.snf.ch/en/Pages/default.aspx
Lead Agency Agreement:
Agreement
between the Swiss National Science Fund (SNSF) and the Public Research Agency of
the Republic of Slovenia (ARRS)
Memorandum of recognition:
Agreement between the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Slovenian
Research Agency (ARRS) (referred to as “Partner Organisations”) on a Lead Agency
Procedure for the unilateral administration of the evaluation procedure and the
mutual recognition of the evaluation results for concerning Swiss-Slovenian
Joint Bilateral Projects
In 2021, it is possible to submit collaborative research projects
applications in the multilateral Lead Agency scheme – Weave research projects.
HRZZ – Hrvatska zaklada za znanost
https://www.hrzz.hr/default.aspx?id=6
Memorandum of recognition:
Memorandum
of Understanding between the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) and the Croatian
Science Foundation (HRZZ) (referred to as “Partner Organizations”) on a Lead
Agency Procedure for the unilateral administration of the evaluation procedure
and the mutual recognition of the evaluation results concerning
Slovenian-Croatian Joint Bilateral Projects
In 2021, it is possible to submit collaborative research projects
applications in the multilateral Lead Agency scheme – Weave research projects.
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CEUS (Partnership of
agencies) |
In addition to ARRS, the CEUS partnership also includes
FWF (Fonds zur Förderung der
wissenschafltichen Forschung, Austria), GA
ČR (Grantová Agentura České Republiky, Czech Republic) and
NCN (Narodowe Centrum
Nauki, Poland).
The Multilateral Lead Agency Agreement enables researchers from four
countries to submit collaborative research project proposals, however, they can
at the most be trilateral.
Memorandum of recognition:
Memorandum of Understanding on the Unilateral administration and mutual
recognition of evaluation procedures.
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