The Czech Science Foundation (GACR) announces calls for project proposals for the EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR tenders. The submission deadline for project proposals is 20 April 2026. EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR project proposals are submitted via the new GRITA system. Calls for other tenders were announced in mid-February.
“The highly selective EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR grants bring extraordinary results, not only in the field of new scientific discoveries. EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR researchers are also successful in obtaining prestigious ERC grants, and their projects often have a practical impact,” says GACR President Prof. Milan Jirsa.
Proposals for EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR projects may be submitted between 5 March and 20 April 2026 via the new GRITA system. Final project proposals for these tenders are not sent via the data box, but are confirmed in the GRITA application itself by the governing body of the applying institution. This authority may be delegated to selected employees by means of a Power of Attorney or a similar authorisation to represent the institution if delivered to the GACR by 6 April 2026. Users can find guidance on working in the new system in these instructions.
After a year’s break, the EXPRO competition is once again open for the most excellent Czech scientists. A few selected researchers and their projects are going to raise five-year funding for their teams. During this period they will be able to draw up to 50 million CZK, i.e. an average of CZK ten million per year. The projects with the greatest potential to be part of a breakthrough in their field will be selected for funding by international panels. The research team will also be required to submit a project proposal to the European Research Council (ERC).
The JUNIOR STAR tender is almost always met with great interest by applicants from the ranks of excellent scientists in basic research who are at the beginning of their career (up to 8 years after being awarded their Ph.D. titles) who have had their work published in prestigious international journals and have significant foreign experience. The goal of these five-year projects with a budget of up to 25 million CZK is to give the applicants a chance to gain scientific independence, including potentially founding their own research group to bring new topics into Czech science. Similarly to EXPRO projects, the review of JUNIOR STAR project proposals is carried out solely by external reviewers.
- GRITA
- About GRITA
- Publications
- Evaluation process EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR
- Notice of concurrent project proposals launched in 2027
- GACR & Open Science (Open Access a Data Management Plan)
- Important terms and deadlines
- Forms – Affidavit to demonstrate eligibility (in Czech only)
- Announcement: Tenders for the Year 2027 (Standard projects, International projects, POSTDOC INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP, Restart Grants)