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The Slovenian Research Agency, Bleiweisova cesta 30, 1000
Ljubljana, pursuant toArticles 2 and 11 of the Rules on the Procedures of the
(co)financing and Monitoring of the Research Activities Implementation (Official
Gazette RS, No. 52/16 and 79/17; hereinafter: the Rules), in conjunction with
Article 15 of the Research and Development Act (Official Gazette of the RS, nos.
22/06-UPB1, 61/06 – ZDru-1 112/07, 9/11, 57/12 – ZPOP-1A, 21/18 – ZNOrg and
9/19), and based on Methodology for Assessing Applications for Co-financing of
Research Activities No. 6319-2/2013-38 dated 5/06/2017 - official consolidated
text No. 4 (hereinafter: Methodology), hereby announce
Public call for (co)financing potential ERC candidates to visit ERC grantees in 2020
- The title and address of the publicly founded body:
Slovenian Research Agency, Bleiweisova cesta 30, 1000 Ljubljana
(hereinafter: Agency)
- Purpose of the public Call for proposals
In order to ensure a more uniform distribution of grantees of the
European Research Council’s funding, the ERC encourages national authorities
to set up visiting fellowship programme to fund potential candidates for
ERC's calls to visit teams of the ERC-funded Principal Investigators. In
accordance with the above, and in line with goals grounded in Slovenia’s
strategic documents (Resolution on the National Research and Development
Programme 2011-2020) (Official Gazette RS, No. 43/11), provided in Chapter
3.3 R&D Cooperation in the EU and globally, and as well with tasks of the
Agency, the purpose of this Call is to stimulate researchers to apply for
three types of ERC grants (Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant and Advanced
Grant), and thereby increase the success rate of the ERC grant applications.
The Call shall be implemented by the Slovenian Research Agency in accordance
with the ERC Guidelines: Fellowship to visit ERC Grantee, European Research
Council, 15 March 2019, available on the following website:
https://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/fellowship_visit_erc_grantee_en.pdf
- Subject matter and objective of the Call
The subject matter of this Call is (co)financing research fellows
visiting former or current grantees of the European Research Council
(hereinafter: ERC Principal Investigator) that undertake research projects
in any scientific field. The duration of the researcher’s visits from
Slovenia (hereinafter: Visiting researcher) should be for a minimum of one
month and up to six months, commencing within the year 2020. Researcher’s
visits are full length (indivisible) visits for a minimum of one month and
up to six months.
The objective of this public Call is cooperation between the Visiting
researcher and one of the former or the current ERC Principal Investigator
with a view to develop and prepare the project of his/her own. Accordingly,
the Call’s ultimate objective is that within the two consecutive ERC calls
of a kind, after the visit's conclusion, the Visiting researcher applies for
an appropriate ERC grant: Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant or Advanced
Grant.
- Entities that can apply to the Call
Entities that can apply to the Call are research institutions and private
researchers entered in the database on implementers of research &
development activities in the Republic of Slovenia and in the Register of
private researchers run by the Agency, meeting the conditions prescribed by
the Research and Development Act.
- Applicant and Visiting researcher shall at the time of
submitting the application meet the following requirements
5.1. Conditions required for Research
institution
(1)The applicant may lodge several applications, but no more than one
application per researcher. Only one research institution is allowed to
submit application for an individual researcher.
(2)The research institution, the applicant to this Call, is, in addition,
a research institution through which a Visiting researcher shall apply for
an appropriate ERC grant, as follows from paragraph 3 of this public Call.
(3) The applicant has to submit a signed statement declaring that the
Visiting researcher shall apply for an appropriate ERC grant within the two
consecutive calls of a kind after the visit's conclusion, as follows from
paragraph 3 of this public Call. In cases where the latter is unfulfilled,
the Agency shall claim the funds paid;
5.2. Conditions required for Visiting researcher
(1) A Visiting researcher must fulfil conditions required for the
Principal Investigator as laid down in the Research and Development Act, the
Rules, the Rules on the criteria for evaluating project leader
qualifications (Official Gazette RS, No. 53/16), and Methodology (Chapter A.
General, Part III. Quantitative entry conditions for mentors, principal
investigators of projects and programmes). The compliance with conditions
shall be checked on the closure date of the Call.
(2) The Visiting researcher ought to have a research number meaning
he/she is in the database on implementers of research & development
activities in the Republic of Slovenia or in the Register of private
researchers run by the Agency.
(3) The Visiting researcher has to submit a signed statement declaring
that he/she shall apply for an appropriate ERC grant within the two
consecutive ERC calls of a kind after the visit's conclusion, as follows
from paragraph 3 of this public Call. In cases where the latter is
unfulfilled, the Agency shall claim the funds paid;
(4) The Visiting researcher, who has already visited the ERC Principal
Investigator on the basis of this Call, cannot submit any other application
to the public Call for (co)financing potential ERC candidates to visit ERC
grantees.
- The application shall include:
(a) Outline of the disposition of a future worked out scientific
research project submitted as proposal to one of the ERC’s main calls. The
outline should be written in Slovene and English language in the form
prescribed. The maximum length of the outline of the disposition should not
exceed 15 pages in both language cases. Related tables, graphs and other
visual elements could be attached as file to the application form, but no
more than 5 pages and using portable document format (pdf);
(b) Signed statement of the Visiting researcher declaring that he/she
shall at the time of submitting proposal to one of the ERC’s main calls meet
the requirements of the call submitted: https://erc.europa.eu/;
(c) Signed statement of the applicant and Visiting researcher
declaring that the latter shall apply for an appropriate ERC grant within
the two consecutive calls of a kind after the visit's conclusion, as follows
from paragraph 3 of this public Call;
(d) Curriculum vitae - showing compliance with the conditions for
assessing the scientific excellence of the researcher, as follows from
paragraph 8.b. of this Call. The form of the Curriculum vitae should be
consistent with the ERC’s instructions:
https://erc.europa.eu/;
(e) Letter of support of the ERC Principal Investigator and hosting
research institution with the prescribed elements:
- acquaintance of the ERC Principal Investigator and his/her research
institution with the requirements of the ERC Fellowship initiative;
- acquaintance of the ERC Principal Investigator with the proposed
research of the Visiting researcher;
- expert opinion of the ERC Principal Investigator on the outlined
research project of Visiting researcher (strengths and weaknesses,
potential success in the future ERC calls),
- description of the strategic plan for an active inclusion of the
Visiting researcher into an ongoing project of the ERC Principal
Investigator;
(f) Statement on the acceptance of invitation conditions.
- Evaluation procedure
The evaluation procedure is conducted by the Temporary expert
body(hereinafter: TEB) appointed by the Scientific Council of the Agency
(hereinafter: SCA). The SCA shall adopt the decision on appointing the
Chairperson, the Deputy Chairperson and members of the TEB, setting out
their duties and duration of the term. Composition of the TEB shall cover
all scientific disciplines whose applications are submitted. TEB is composed
of members of the Scientific Council of the Disciplines and Slovenian
reviewers of the ERC projects within Horizon 2020, namely one of them for
each scientific discipline whose applications are submitted..
Members of the TEB shall appoint two reviewers for each application
submitted, taking into account the content of individual application. The
reviewers are selected from the list of the foreign experts run by the
agency, from the list of the Slovenian reviewers of the ERC projects within
Horizon 2020, and as well from the list of members of the Scientific Council
of the Disciplines. When selecting reviewers, priority shall be given to the
foreign reviewers.
Every application is assessed by two reviewers, whereby one of the two is
the reviewer – rapporteur. Reviewers evaluate individual elements of
assessment by completing the evaluation form which contains a numerical and
descriptive assessment of individual criterions – an individual report.
After consulting the other reviewer, the reviewer – rapporteur prepares in a
systematic and orderly manner the combined work report with an overall
assessment for each criterion. The coordinated report is signed by both
reviewers.
Members of the TEB shall then review the received reviewer’s reports. In
the event of a significant number of applications reaching the threshold for
inclusion into the draft list of projects, and thereby exceeding the
available funds for co-financing, an integral part of the evaluation process
shall be an oral hearing (interview). The oral hearing is intended only for
those applications whose total score is equal to the lower marginal
threshold, which in the present case is determined by the funds available
and by the principle of inclusion of all scientific disciplines whose
applications are submitted. The oral hearing shall be assessed by at least
two members of the TEB, whereby one of the members of the TEB ought to be
from the scientific field of application submitted. The presentation is
evaluated with an assessment from 0 to 5, whereby the quality of the
application, academic age of the researcher and his/her prospects for
success in the future ERC call shall be considered. The evaluation of the
hearing is complementary to the overall assessment.
At the end of the evaluation procedure the TEB shall prepare a final
evaluation of the applications and the financially evaluated priority list
of applications, taking into account the principle of representation of all
scientific disciplines in such a way that at least one positively assessed
application for each discipline is included in the priority list. Ranking
list of all other applications shall be carried out on the grounds of the
overall assessment. The draft priority list of applications for co-financing
is then submitted for discussion to the SCA. The decision on the selection
of applications for (co)financing is adopted by director of the agency upon
the proposal from the SCA.
- Assessment criteria
The detailed evaluation elements applying to the excellence of the
research project are set out below.
a) In terms of research project quality criterion, the following
indicators shall be considered:
- To what extent does the proposed research address important
challenges?
- To what extent are the objectives ambitious and beyond the state of
the art (e.g. novel concepts and approaches or development across
disciplines)?
- To what extent is the concept sound and the proposed timescales and
resources necessary and properly justified (based on the outline of a
scientific research project)?
- To what extent is the proposed research methodology appropriate to
achieve the goals of the project (based on the outline of a scientific
research project)?
b) In terms of researcher scientific quality, the following
indicators shall be considered:
- To what extent have the achievements of the researcher typically
gone beyond the state-of-the-art?
- To what extent does the researcher provide evidence of creative
independent thinking?
- To what extent has the researcher demonstrated the ability to
propose and conduct ground-breaking research?
c) Partnership quality is assessed against the Application form and
the Letter of support of the ERC Principal Investigator, as follows from
paragraph 6.e., whereby the following shall be taken into consideration:
- To what extent does the proposed research project correspond with
the ongoing research project of the ERC Principal Investigator?
- To what extent is the proposed plan for an active inclusion of the
Visiting researcher into the ongoing project of ERC Principal
Investigator well-defined and feasible?
- To what extent is the relevant research infrastructure available to
the Visiting researcher?
Each criterion is assessed on a scale from 0 to 5. For admission to the
selection for the co-financing application must reach the threshold of three
points for each criterion and 10 points in total. In the event that the
application fails to achieve the threshold, it will be rejected.
- The amount of available funds for the call and (co)financing of
the visits
The planned annual amount for the Call is EUR 240.000.
The Call shall be implemented in line with the funds earmarked in the
budget of the Republic of Slovenia and the Agency’s budget.
The Agency shall, in respect to this Call, (co)finance Visiting
researcher’s visits with:
- a reimbursement of expatriation allowances, including accommodation
costs, costs of one roundtrip to and from the city of the ERC research
group, the cost of public transport to the place of the host
institution, and meal expenses in total sum of 1.600 EUR per month,
multiplied by the Country correction coefficient for living allowance,
attached as an Annex to the invitation documentation. For countries
where the correction coefficient is not indicated in this Annex, a
correction coefficient of 100 is to be taken into account.
The Agency shall (co)finance Visiting researcher’s visits for a minimum
of one month and up to six months. After receiving the positive notice on
the result of application, the applicant shall inform the agency on the
exact date of the visit’s start and end which has to be full length
(indivisible) visit for a minimum of one month and up to six months. The
Agreement between the Agency and the applicant sets out the amount as well
as the rights and obligations and the terms and conditions applicable to the
grant awarded.
A Visiting researcher who had visited the ERC Principal Investigator on
the basis of this Call has to submit a final work report of the visit, using
the form specifically designed for this purpose. Final work report should be
delivered within 30 days after the visit’s conclusion. The report has to be
signed by both the Visiting researcher and the ERC Principal Investigator.
The applicant shall submit within 90 days after the visit’s conclusion
the financial report, which shall, in accordance with regulations, contain
an overview of the expenditure of funds according to the cost groups of such
research. The financial report shall be signed by the legal representative
of the Research organization (applicant), Visiting researcher and the
responsible accountant. The financial report shall be drawn up on a
prescribed form set out by the Agency.
When the applicant submits the application for an appropriate ERC grant
as follows from paragraph 3 of this public Call, the Visiting researcher has
to inform the Agency with a valid evidence of application.
- Method, form, and deadline for submitting applications
10.1. Submitting the application form with a digital signature
(1) An application to the Call is made and submitted by an application
form using the ARRS-MS-ERC-FS-JR-Prijava/2019 on the Agency's web portal
eObrazci.
A submitted application shall be considered complete if it contains both
digital signatures (of the authorized person of the RI and the researcher).
(2) The application shall be submitted both in Slovene and English.
(3) An application shall be deemed duly if it is secured with both
digital signatures on the web portal
eObrazci
by 5 November 2019, 14:00.
10.2. Submitting the application form without a digital signature
(1) If the applicant and/or the researcher have no digital signature, the
application form should be submitted unsigned in electronic form to the
Agency's
eObrazci web portal and in print, bearing the original signature of
the authorized person of the RI and the researcher respectively and the
stamp of the RI.
(2) Both electronic and printed forms of the application have to be
completely the same in terms of content.
(3) Printed applications have to be submitted in closed envelopes marked
"DO NOT open - CALL FOR (CO)FINANCING POTENTIAL ERC CANDIDATES TO VISIT ERC
GRANTEES IN 2020 and with the name and address of the applicant, sent to the
address: Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost RS, Bleiweisova cesta 30,
1000 Ljubljana.
(4) The applications shall be deemed timely when submitted in printed and
electronic formats by the deadline. An application shall be timely if
submitted in electronic form to the Agency's
eObrazci
web portal by 5 November 2019, 14:00 whereas the printed format is to be
received in the mail room of the Agency by 5 November 2019, 14:00.
Applications sent by registered mail from Slovenia by 5 November 2019
(postal stamp) shall also be deemed timely.
10.3. Completeness of applications
(1) An application shall be considered complete if submitted using the
prescribed form and format (point 10.1 - with digital signature, point 10.2
- without digital signature) and containing all data as prescribed
herein.Incomplete applications will be addressed in accordance with the
Rules.
(2) The committee for opening applications shall disregard untimely and
incorrectly marked applications, which will be returned unopened to the
sender (unless the name of the applicant is not clearly written on the
envelope, then the application will be opened).
- Applications opening date
The committee for opening applications will open all timely delivered and
properly marked applications at the registered office of the Slovenian
Research Agency, Bleiweisova cesta 30, 1000 Ljubljana, presumably on 7
November 2019.
- Deadline by which the applicants will be informed of the results of
the Call
The applicants will be informed on the outcome of the Call within eight
days after the adoption of the decision by director of the Agency.
- Place, time, and contact person where interested parties can obtain
documentation of the Call
This public Call will be published from the date of publication in the
Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia on the Agency’s website
www.arrs.si. Any additional information
related to the Call can be obtained by contacting Bojan Volf, the person
responsible for the Call, by phone (01) 400 5973 or by email:
bojan.volf@arrs.si.
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