Programmes and projects |
Research projects |
Calls |
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LEGAL NOTE: The following text is intended for information only. The only
legally binding text is the Slovenian version, as published also in the Official
Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia (no. 65/2013).
The Public Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, Bleiweisova cesta 30,
1000 Ljubljana, pursuant to Article 8 of the
Rules on the Procedures of the (co)financing
and Monitoring of Research Activities Implementation (Official Gazette of the
Republic of Slovenia, nos. 4/11, 72/11 and 45/12; hereinafter: the Rules), in
conjunction with Articles 12 and 20 of the Research and Development Act (Official
Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, nos. 22/06-UPB1, 61/06-ZDru-1 112/07, 9/11,
57/12 ZPOP-1A; hereinafter: the Act), and based on the
Methodology for
evaluating applications to calls for proposal no. 6319-1/2013-2 of 18.03.2013
and 15.07.2013 (hereinafter: the Methodology), hereby publishes
Call for proposals to receive (co)financing for research projects in 2014 – call in 2013
- Name and address of the budget user
Public Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, Bleiweisova cesta
30, 1000 Ljubljana (hereinafter: the Agency).
- Subject matter of the Call for proposals
Subject matter of the Call for proposals to receive (co)financing for
research projects in 2014 (hereinafter: the Call) is (co)financing of
research projects:
- small basic research projects and small applicative research
projects.
- postdoctoral basic and applicative research projects and
postdoctoral projects for businesses.
Scientific fields of the Call for proposals to receive (co)financing for
research projects and the planned annual funds:
The annual funds of the Call equal € 10,300,000.00. The Call will be
realized up to the amount of financial means available from the Budget of
the Republic of Slovenia. Allocation of co-financing funds in 2014 in line
with the Call shall take into account the distribution of funds by
scientific field annually that will roughly preserve the fund ratios between
scientific fields from 2013 (table).
| Scientific fields |
% |
| Natural and mathematical sciences |
21,1 |
| Technical sciences |
29,1 |
| Medical sciences |
13,2 |
|
Biotechnical sciences |
9,6 |
| Social sciences |
9,4 |
| Humanities |
17,6 |
| TOTAL |
100,0 |
5% of the means for each scientific field is to be used for
interdisciplinary research.
At least 10% of postdoctoral projects shall be selected within each
discipline. At least 40% of technical sciences projects, at least 30% of
biotechnology projects, at least 20% of medical sciences and social sciences
projects, at least 15% of natural sciences projects and at least 10% of
humanities projects shall be applicative ones. At least 40% of the selected
projects shall have younger researchers in charge (up to 10 active years
after obtaining a doctoral degree).
Applicants may submit projects in cooperation with Austrian researchers (researchers
working in the Austrian research organisations), where the Agency acts as "lead
agency" that carries out the review of the project. Austrian researchers
deliver their applications together with Slovenian researchers, while they
send documentation to the Austrian agency FWF, as required by the FWF. A
project can only be (co)financed by the Agency if the project is co-funded
by both agencies.
- Entities that can apply to the Call
Entities that can apply to the Call may be entered by a legal entity or
natural person listed in records of data on implementers of research &
development activities (hereinafter: the Agency Records) and meeting the
conditions prescribed by the Act and the Rules. Research projects co-financed
by the Agency and complying with the framework programme of research and
technological development activities of the EU shall be open to research
entities from the EU, provided such entities finance their part of the
research from their own funds. The applicants may enter such entities as
collaborating research teams.
- Objectives of the Call
Objective of the Call is to select:
- small (basic and applicative) research projects;
- postdoctoral basic and applicative research projects; and
- postdoctoral projects for businesses entered by enterprises and
intended foremost for the flow (transfer) of young doctors of
science to the business sector and implemented so that the
researcher may after receiving the doctoral degree obtain additional
research experience and knowledge in the business sector.
- Conditions
The conditions for selection of research projects are set in the Act, the
Methodology, the Rules, and the Rules on criteria for evaluation of
qualifications of project leaders (Official Gazette of the Republic of
Slovenia, nos. 41/09 and 72/11; hereinafter: the Project Leader Rules). All
listed documents are a constituent part of the documentation of the Call and
are published at the Agency's website.
The research project is implemented by the project team (hereinafter: the
Team) comprising the team leader, researchers and expert and technical
assistants.
If the project team comprises several project sub-teams in different
research institutions, the applicant can be only that research institution
which employs the research project leader. The applicant shall have an
agreement regulating mutual rights and obligations signed with other
participating institutions.
Postdoctoral projects are performed by a single postdoctoral researcher.
The project leaders and the Team shall have available capacity to
implement research projects (the maximum permitted capacity is 1700 hours
annually or 1 FTE) and shall be employed in the research institution
implementing the project or have the status of a private researcher.
Only those researchers being leaders of not more than one research
project in one year after conclusion of the invitation (target research
programmes (TRP), projects under Article 135 of the Rules and newly approved
projects excluded) can enter the invitation as project leaders. A researcher
who has already been the leader of one postdoctoral project cannot enter any
other postdoctoral research project. The project leader shall have at least
170 available research hours annually, with the exception of leaders of
public research institutions. Notwithstanding the previous paragraph, a
project leader can be a retired researcher with 0 hours, who meets all other
conditions for a project leader and has outstanding scientific achievements.
A project lead by a retired researcher shall not exceed € 50,000 annually.
The conditions related to available capacity and employment shall be
verified upon contract signing. The contract shall be signed within three
months following the decision on the project selection. An individual
researcher can be a candidate in the Call as the leader of only one research
project.
The SCA has determined the limit value of the sum A1+A2+A3+A4 which the
project leaders shall have in the application for each field separately –
the values for 2013 are:
Basic project:
A1+A2+A3+A4=5.5 natural sciences
A1+A2+A3+A4=5.0 technical sciences
A1+A2+A3+A4=2.5 medical sciences, pharmaceutical sciences and geology
A1+A2+A3+A4=3,5 biotechnology and biology
A1+A2+A3+A4=2.0 social sciences and clinical medicine
A1+A2+A3+A4=2.5 humanities
Applicative project (including basic project if not more than 10 years
have passed since the project leader received the doctoral degree):
A1+A2+A3+A4=3.5 natural sciences
A1+A2+A3+A4=3.5 technical sciences
A1+A2+A3+A4=1.5 medical sciences, pharmaceutical sciences and geology
A1+A2+A3+A4=2.5 biotechnology and biology
A1+A2+A3+A4=1.5 social sciences
A1+A2+A3+A4=2.0 humanities
Applicative project if not more than 10 years have passed since the
project leader received the doctoral degree:
A1+A2+A3+A4=3.0 natural sciences
A1+A2+A3+A4=3.0 technical sciences
A1+A2+A3+A4=1.0 medical sciences, pharmaceutical sciences and geology
A1+A2+A3+A4=2.0 biotechnology and biology
A1+A2+A3+A4=1.0 social sciences
A1+A2+A3+A4=1.5 humanities
A third of project team members including project leader (and excluding
technical staff) shall for all fields meet the condition A' exceeds 0. The
condition shall be checked for all project teams upon the review of annual
reports.
(Basic and applicative) project leaders can also apply with a lower
overall score A1+A2+A3+A4 if they prove their excellence with achievements
within A" (A">0). All project leaders apart from postdoctoral projects shall
meet the condition of A’ > 0. Applicative project leaders shall meet the
condition of A3 > 0.1. The latter condition shall apply neither to
postdoctoral projects nor to applicative project leaders obtaining a
doctoral degree less than 10 years ago.
A postdoctoral applicant meets the conditions for project leader if he/she
defended his/her PhD not more than 3 years ago. A postdoctoral applicant
shall receive the doctoral degree by 30.09.2013. If the postdoctoral
applicant has used the parental leave – with one year counted per one child
– the allowed time since the PhD is increased above 3 years for the duration
of the actual time spent on parental leave. Equally applies to documented
sick leaves exceeding three months.
A postdoctoral applicant shall be employed by the applying institution or
shall be employed by the applying institution by the date of contract
signing for the project at least for the duration of the postdoctoral
project.
Small basic projects and applicative research projects respectively shall
be financed with the annual finance of roughly EUR 100,000. Any project that
applies for EUR 100.000 may be approved in the amount of EUR 100,000
or EUR 50,000. Projects in the amount of EUR 50,000 are usually assigned to
applications near the bottom of the approved applications list. The number
of such projects cannot exceed 10% for all fields combined (notably in
clinical medicine, mathematics and social sciences).
Calculated as project research hours, that would mean roughly 3632 annual
hours of the price class A (1816 for projects of EUR 50,000), 3198 annual
hours of the price class B (1599 for projects of EUR 50,000), 2776 annual
hours of the price class C (1388 for projects of EUR 50,000), 2475 annual
hours of the price class D (1238 for projects of EUR 50,000), 2238 annual
hours of the price class E (1119 for projects of EUR 50,000) or 2041 annual
hours for price class F (1021 for projects of EUR 50,000).
Each basic or applicative project shall include the applicant and at
least one participating research institution which will together perform at
least 20% of the project value. For this purpose members of the same
university do not count as different research institution If the project has
been approved in the amount of € 50,000, the applicant may exclude or reduce
the share of participating research institutions which shall be stated upon
application – Stage II, Item 14 (with specification of the share of
participating research institutions).
The scope of basic postdoctoral projects and postdoctoral projects for
businesses is 1700 annual research hours (1 FTE) of the price class B
and of applicative postdoctoral projects 1275 annual research hours (0.75
FTE) of the price class B.
The applicant shall mark in the application form whether the contents of
the research project proposal are deemed business secret.
The Agency obtains and calculates quantitative assessments for individual
assessment elements (A1, A2 and A4 scores) and for individual scientific
fields specified in the Methodology. The Agency will use data entered in the
SICRIS (COBISS) database and the Agency Records (A1, A2 and A4 scores) at
the date of conclusion of the Call to calculate quantitative assessments.
The Agency obtained data for calculation of funds of other users based on
the Methodology (A3 score) directly from research institutions (hereinafter:
the RI) for all project leaders who are members of programme research teams.
The Agency will take into account for members of programme groups only data
entered in the ARRS-RPROG-VPETOST/2013 form on which competent persons
vouched for data accuracy with their signature.
Research project leaders not being members of any programme group shall
enter data on funds of other users in the ARRS-RPROG-VPETOST-D/2013 form
published on the Agency’s website and send it by e-mail to
vpetostprogram@arrs.si by
30.09.2013, 12 noon. A printed, signed and stamped form shall also be
sent via regular mail to:
Public Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (ARRS)
Bleiweisova cesta 30
1000 Ljubljana
Also by 30.09.2013, 12 noon. The Agency will take into account
data from those forms only if the candidate is a member of no programme
group.
- Application to the Call
The Call will be carried out in two stages. All applicants enter Stage I
of the Call by a short application using the ARRS-RPROJ-JR-Prijava/2013-I
form.
Application to the Call is made by an application form using the ARRS-RPROJ-JR-Prijava/2013-I
form on the Agency’s e-Forms web portal
eObrazci. The portal can be used by researchers entered in the Agency
Records, administrators of the eObrazci portal in the RI, authorised persons
representing the RI and additional users. There are two ways of logging in
the
eObrazci web portal:
using a digital certificate (SIGEN-CA, SIGOV-CA, NLB-CA, POSTArCA or
HALCOM-CA);
using username and password (researchers can obtain password on the e-Forms
portal by themselves, other users get it from the administrator of
eObrazci in the RI or the Agency).
The application form is simultaneously filled in Slovene and English – it
needs to be filled in both languages.
- Assessment criteria
Evaluation conditions, criteria and indicators for assessing project
proposals are specified in the Rules and Project Leader Rules, and the
assessment method in the Methodology.
Project proposals are assessed in a two-stage procedure:
Stage I
- Preliminary selection
The SCA based on an analysis of the five-year production of Slovenian
researchers by research field (particle physics subfield is taken into
account separately in physics) and accounting for the available funds
for research fields determines researchers who can automatically enter
the second round of assessment. Those researchers are informed on the
possibility of automatic entry in the second round of assessment upon
publication of the Call and if they send an application to the Call,
they will only enter the project’s title, a short abstract and Cv of the
project leader, and fill in administrative data on their application
form for the first stage. If they do not submit an application until
conclusion of the Call, they cannot enter Stage II of the assessment.
The SCA selects researchers based on the classification by order of the
sum of assessments A1+A2+A3+A4 in the list within a field. All selected
researchers shall have scores in category A' and the total score of
A1+A2+A3+A4 at least equal to the condition for applying a basic project.
Scores for A1 and A2 from the SICRIS database have been calculated as at
01.07.2013.
The number of thus selected researchers roughly equals 50% of the
number of those entering the second stage. Interdisciplinary research
and post-doctoral projects have no preliminary selection.
- Selection through the Call
Applications for projects are checked by members of the Scientific
councils of the (scientific) fields (hereinafter SSA), and in the case
of candidature to the inadequate area of science propose a transfer to
the appropriate area, with an explanation based on the OECD (SCI, SSCI)
classification of publications of the project leader and the topic of
proposed research. If a member of the SCD is at the same time an
applicant, another researcher put forward by the chair of the SCD shall
propose any reclassification.
The Agency will use assessments from the assessment procedure to
classify projects as A or B category.
A category: projects included in the A category are determined
from projects within a field by descending scores B1+B2+B3+B4+B5. The A
category also includes postdoctoral projects where the applicant has
entered a project at a research institution other than that of his
current employment. The A category projects have not yet been selected
for financing. A project shall have the B1+B2+B3+B4+B5 score of at least
15 (threshold) to be considered for the A category.
B category: Projects included in the B category are those not
included in the A category. The B category projects are rejected. The B
category includes all projects with the score B1+B2+B3+B4+B5 less than
15 and other projects not included in the A category.
Stage II
The Agency calls upon the applicants included in the second stage of
the project selection (A category) to submit within three weeks on the
ARRS-RPROJ-JR-Prijava-2013-II form (hereinafter: the Stage II
Application Form) the supplemented research project proposals on the
eObrazci portal. The project composition is included in the Stage II
Application Form.
The project composition from the Stage II Application Form cannot be
changed upon contract signing.
The applicants entering projects with an enterprise as the
Implementer, co-implementer or co-financing the project shall, in
accordance with the Rules on state aid in research & development, no.
007-6/2009-8 of 17 June 2009, submit filled in form for granting state
aid, ARRS-RPROJ-JR-Prijava/2013-II-DP.
- Volume of the Call
The planned annual amount for the Call is EUR 10,300,000.00 EUR.
Allocation of co-financing funds in 2014 in line with the Call shall take
into account the distribution of funds by scientific field annually that
will roughly preserve the fund ratios between scientific fields from 2013.
The Call will be implemented in line with the funds earmarked in the
budget of the Republic of Slovenia and the Agency's budget.
The Agency will finance basic projects up to 100% of eligible project
costs. The Agency will finance applicative projects up to 75% of eligible
project costs. The applicants entering applicative projects shall cover at
least 25% of eligible project costs from other interested users and submit
evidence on project co-financing (agreement on co-financing) for the entire
period of project implementation with regard to the research hour price in
the beginning of financing. Co-financing shall mandatory be in cash. A co-financier
of an applicative project can be a co-contractor of the same applicative
project, namely up to maximum 10% of the volume of the project, except when
a company is the applicant of an applicative project.
With regard to the load of researchers with research hours financed from
the budget of the Republic of Slovenia, the Agency will in line with the
Decree on criteria and standards for allocating resources for the
implementation of the National Research and Development Programme (Official
Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, nos. 103/11 and 56/12) finance
individual researchers with regard to the share of employment for research,
up to a maximum of 1700 research hours annually. The minimum annual workload
of a researcher per project is 17 hours. A participating RI shall contribute
at least 170 hours in the project implementation period where the minimum
scope of a participating RI in a year shall be 170 hours. The number of
hours of a participating RI during the project implementation can be 0 hours
in a year.
- Duration of research projects
The planned start of co-financing of project implementation is
01.07.2014.
The Agency will co-finance selected projects up to three years except for
postdoctoral research projects which will be co-financed for two years. The
selected research project will be allocated an annual number of research
hours, meaning determining the annual number of research hours for all years
of project duration in the Call.
- Selection of research projects
10.1. – Stage I
The applications will be assessed by the procedure and method set by the
Rules and the Methodology.
The working body will prepare a draft project list to be included in
Stage II of the selection (A category, see Item 7 of the Call) and the draft
project list to be rejected in Stage I of the selection (B category), and
submits them to the SCA for discussion.
The SCA will adopt the draft financially evaluated priority project list
of the A category to be included in Stage II of the application selection
and the draft project list of the B category to be rejected after Stage I of
the selection. The draft decision is submitted for adoption to the Director
of the Agency. The Management Board of the Agency decides on redresses after
Stage I.
10.2. – Stage II
The panel prepares the draft priority project list and submits it to the
SCA for discussion. The SCA prepares the draft financially evaluated
priority list for project selection after Stage II of the assessment and
submits it for approval to the Director of the Agency. The Management Board
of the Agency decides on redresses after Stage II.
- Method, form and deadline for application submitting – Stage I
11.1. Submitting the application form with a digital signature
The application to the Call is made and submitted by an application form
using the ARRS-RPROJ-JR-Prijava/2013-I form on the Agency’s
eObrazci web portal. A submitted application shall be complete, if it
contains both digital signatures (authorised person of the RI and the
research project leader).
The applications shall be submitted by 30 September 2013, 12 noon.
We advise the applicants not to submit applications on the last day of the
set period because the server may overload.
An application is in time if it was submitted to the Agency’s
eObrazci web portal by 30 September 2013, 12 noon.
11.2. Submitting the application form without a digital signature
If the applicant and/or the research project leader have no digital
signature, the application form should be submitted in electronic form
unsigned (on the Agency’s
eObrazci web portal) and in print, including an authentic signature of
the authorised person of the RI and the research project leader and the
stamp of the RI.
Both electronic and printed form of the application shall be completely
the same in terms of contents.
Printed applications shall be submitted in closed envelopes marked “DO
NOT open – CALL FOR PROJECTS” and obligatory marking of the application (ARRS-RPROJ-JR/2013-I
/...) with indication of the field on the envelope (a field from Item 7 of
the application form) and name and address of the applicant, sent to the
address: Public Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (ARRS)
Bleiweisova cesta 30 1000 Ljubljana Timely applications shall be those
submitted in print or electronically by the deadline. An application shall
be timely if submitted to the Agency’s
eObrazci web portal (with status “Submitted”) or received in the mail
room of the Agency by 30 September 2013, 12 noon. Timely shall
be also applications sent by registered mail from Slovenia by 30
September 2013, 12 noon (postal stamp).
11.3. Completeness of applications
An application shall be complete if submitted in the prescribed form on
the applicable form (Item 11.1 – with digital signature, Item 11.2 – without
digital signature) and containing all data as prescribed herein. An
application will be counted as incomplete if the applicant will not
supplement it in the given time. The committee for opening applications
shall disregard untimely and incorrectly marked applications, which will be
returned unopened to the sender.
- Applications opening date
The committee for opening applications will open all timely delivered and
properly marked applications at the registered office of the Public Research
Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, Bleiweisova cesta 30, 1000 Ljubljana, on
02.10.2013, 10 a.m.
- The deadline by which the applicants will be informed on the Call’s
results
The applicants will be informed on the projects rejected after Stage I of
the selection by the end of January 2014. The applicants will be informed on
the project selection after Stage II, expected in May 2014.
- Method, form and deadline for application submitting – Stage II
The application submitting procedure will be similar to Stage I. The
applicants entering Stage II will be informed in writing on the method, form
and deadline of submitting application forms.
- Place, time and person where interested parties can obtain
documentation of the Call
15.1. Documentation of the Call is available on the Agency’s website (http://www.arrs.gov.si/sl/razpisi/).
15.2. Any additional information related to the Call can be obtained on
the Agency’s website http://www.arrs.gov.si
and the Public Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, Bleiweisova
cesta 30, 1000 Ljubljana, and telephone number 400 5960 (Ms Vanja Rodič, Ms
Almira Bremec, Ms Alja Kastelic Primc, Ms Mateja Gašpirc in Ms Tina
Valenci).
Number: 6316-6/2013-1
Date: 02.08.2013
Public Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (Javna agencija za
raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije)
PhD Franci Demšar, PhD,
Director
Published in the Official Gazette of the RS, no. 65/2013 dated 02.08.2013.
Documentation of the Call:
- Sample of the evaluation sheet for Phase I:
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