Weave – Simplified funding procedures for projects across European borders
With Weave, researchers from two or three European countries can submit a research application to one of the participating funding organisations and it will then undergo a single evaluation. Each project partner is funded by its own country’s research funder.
Contents:
1. What is Weave?
Weave is a bottom-up, cross-European initiative developed by European research funders to support excellent collaborative research projects across borders. It is supported by Science Europe
External link., the European association of research funding and performing organisations. It is the first time that such a large number of funders develop an initiative to facilitate structured bilateral and trilateral scientific cooperation. It aims to simplify the submission and selection procedures of collaborative research proposals that involve researchers from up to three European countries or regions. It does this by making proposals go through a single evaluation procedure.
- Within Weave, researchers from two or three European countries or regions are allowed to submit a collaborative research proposal to any of the participating funders. To submit a proposal, all participating researchers need to be eligible for funding at the involved Weave funding organisation.
- Weave will enable bi- and trilateral scientific cooperation within Europe. Researchers will be able to collaborate with their peers in countries where there were previously no collaborative funding agreements.
- It is a bottom-up mechanism, with no additional restrictions on the thematic focus or subject matter covered by the proposals than the ones provided for by the relevant national and regional calls.
- Weave does not represent additional research funding. Proposals compete in the national and regional funding schemes opened to Weave. Funding allocated for collaborative research projects through Weave will be provided through national or regional funding programmes.
2. Who is part of Weave?
Weave comprises 12 national research funders from 11 European countries. Together, they commit to strengthening international research collaboration and helping to realise the European Research Area.
Researching funders in Weave:
- Belgium: Research Foundation Flanders FWO External link.
- Croatia: Croatian Science Fundation HRZZ External link.
- Luxembourg: Luxembourg National Research Fund FNR External link.
- Norway: Research Council of Norway RCN External link.
- Poland: National Science Centre NCN External link.
- Switzerland: Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF External link.
- Slovenia: Slovenian Research Agency ARRS External link.
- Sweden: Swedish Research Council for sustainable development, Formas
- Czech Republic: Czech Science Foundation GACR External link.
- Germany: German Research Foundation DFG External link.
- Austria: Austrian Science Fund FWF External link.
Weave will be rolled out progressively over the course of the next years. Not all configurations for collaboration will be possible under Weave immediately at launch. Participating funders will start by funding projects with the other funders they have standing agreements with and will enlarged incrementally. Weave will also open up and welcome new funders into the scheme once fully up and running.
The Weave tool shows the possible project combinations and the upcoming submission deadlines.
3. Who is Formas collaborating with now?
Within Weave, Formas currently directly co-operates with the three following research funding organisations:
4. How does Weave work?
Weave was developed by European funders to support excellent research projects. It simplifies the submission of joint applications by centralising evaluation at a single agency. In the Weave funding scheme, researchers from two to three European countries submit a joint proposal to one of the funding organisations involved. Each applicant needs to meet the participation requirements and eligibility criteria defined by their funder. The main applicant must meet the requirements and eligibility criteria defined by their national funder (Lead Agency) and each co-applicant must meet the requirements and eligibility criteria defined by their own national funder (Partner Agency).
Formas is part of Weave through Explore – Formas’ open call for research projects.
Weave is based on the Lead Agency Procedure
- The researchers appoint one person as the main applicant, whose role includes submitting the joint application to the funding agency of their country (Lead Agency).
- For administrative reasons, the co-applicants also need to make parallel submissions to the national funders of their countries (the Partner Agencies).
- The funder that receives the proposal (the Lead Agency) evaluates it according to its internal rules set out for its respective national or regional programme.
- If the application follows the rules of the call, the Lead Agency forwards the decision to its partner organisation(s) (the Partner Agencies)for approval and budgetary purposes. If the main applicant is not eligible or if the application does not follow the rules of the call the application will be rejected, and the Partner Agency(ies) will be informed.
- The partner organisation checks that their applicants meet the eligibility criteria set forth in call guidelines. If the co-applicants are eligible at the Partner Agency, the Partner Agency inform the Lead Agency and the application will continue to the review process of the call. If any of the co-applicants are not eligible at their Partner Agency, the complete application will be rejected.
5. Formas acts as a Lead Agency
The Lead Agency process allows researchers in Sweden and partner country(ies) to submit a joint research proposal to one of the national funding organisations. Weave projects are compared directly with the other projects submitted in the same funding scheme. Joint proposals submitted to Formas as the Lead Agency must be prepared in accordance with Explore – Formas’ open call for research projects.
Register your application in Prisma as a Weave collaboration: In the application form for the Explore call, tick the box indicating the application is part of the Weave initiative from Science Europe. Then fill in the countries included in the collaboration.
- The project description must encompass the entire bi- or trilateral research project.
- The distribution of work between the partners must be clearly described.
- Applicants based abroad are entered in the application as participating researchers (co-applicant) in Prisma. Follow the co-applicant guidelines for the call.
- The co-applicants have seven (7) days to submit their application by email for evaluation.
- The budget is to be explained and cover information on both the Swedish and the international parts of the project.
- You may only be a main applicant on one application submitted to Explore – Forma’s open call for research projects, including the Weave application.
- A Weave application can be submitted provided that there are no thematic overlaps with project grants that Formas has already approved for funding.
6. Formas as a Partner Agency
When another country and funding organisation within Weave serves as the Lead Agency, the application must adhere to that organisation’s formal guidelines. Follow the information and guidelines on the website of the Lead Agency and contact them directly if you have any questions regarding their submission process.
- As a co-applicant, you have seven (7) days to submit by email an exact copy of the application sent to the Lead Agency.
- An application can be submitted provided that there are no thematic overlaps with project grants that Formas has already approved for funding.
- The budget is to be explained and cover information on both the Swedish and the international parts of the project. The project description must encompass the entire bi- or trilateral research project. There must be a detailed work plan for that research for both the main applicant and the co-applicant(s) that clearly describes the distribution of work between the partners.
- The applicant needs to submit a letter of intent (LoI) from their Swedish administrating organisation that includes an assurance that the applicant and the project are approved by the Swedish administrating organisation.
Documents needed to be sent to Formas
- An exact copy of the application submitted to the Lead Agency
- Letter of intent from the Swedish administrating organisation
Application procedure when Formas is a Partner Agency
- If the application follows the rules of the call, the Lead Agency forwards the decision to its partner organisation(s) (Partner Agencies) for approval and budgetary assessment.
- If the main applicant is not eligible or if the application does not adhere to the call rules, the Lead Agency rejects the application and the Partner Agencies are informed.
- The formal requirements of the Swedish partner’s part of the application are assessed in accordance with Forma’s guidelines for Explore – Formas’ open call for research projects.
- If Formas or another Partner Agency discovers that an applicant or an applicant’s part in a project does not meet the requirements for their respective call, the entire application will be rejected.
- The administrating organisation will need to sign and approve the application in Prisma once registered in the system.
- If the project receives funding from the Lead Agency, the Swedish part will receive funding from Formas (Partner Agency).
7. Project duration
The maximum duration that applicants can apply for depends on the research funding agency/agencies involved. If the joint proposal is submitted to Formas within the framework for Explore – Formas’ open call for research projects, this call’s guidelines apply. If the application is submitted to an agency abroad, the maximum duration depends on the Lead Agency. The maximum duration is defined either according to the rules of the call the project is submitted to or is set by the research funding organisation that has the shortest project duration. If in doubt, check with the Lead Agency or your own funding agency before submitting a proposal.
8. Budget and costs
The application must include a clear budget and explanation of the budget for the Swedish parts of the project and for the other co-applicants’ budgets. The project parts will be funded separately by the respective national/regional funding agency in accordance with their standard rules. Applicants are advised to check with their respective funding agency. Swedish parts of projects follow the budget rules for the Explore call. This is true regardless of whether Formas is the Lead Agency or a Partner Agency.
9. Funding
Weave makes use of existing funding programmes. When Formas is the Lead Agency, the project budget for the Swedish part of the application is integrated into the budget of the Explore call. When Formas is a Partner Agency, a specific budget is allocated to fund the project that is separate from the Explore call. Other involved national funding agencies fund the sub-projects conducted in their countries.
- The rules of the relevant funding scheme apply, there are no additional conditions. Applicants are advised to check with their respective funding agency.
- Costs are calculated on the basis of the relevant national guidelines for respective applicant. The Swedish partner needs to follow the national guidelines of Formas and other partners according to their national guidelines.
- A Lead Agency application can be submitted provided there are no thematic overlaps with project funding grants that are already under way. See all regulations for the national call.
10. Language
It is advised to write the application in English since the review panel mostly consists of international reviewers and partner, and the Partner Agency or Lead Agency is in another country than Sweden.
11. Submission deadlines
Submission deadlines vary depending on the Lead Agency; please consult the respective country pages. If Formas is the Lead Agency, the deadline follows that of the Explore open call.
12. Success rates
The success rate varies between Lead Agencies, since they vary between different calls for researcher-initiated projects within Weave. When Formas is the Lead Agency, the application competes with other applications in that year’s Explore call.
13. Additional information
Applications received within the framework of the Weave collaboration are handled according to a special procedure. This is done to follow jointly agreed practices between the international funders.
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