The Czech Science Foundation (GACR) is announcing calls for proposals for tenders in the area of Standard Projects, EXPRO, JUNIOR STAR, POSTDOC INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP, and International and Lead Agency projects. The submission deadline is 7 April. The winners will be announced in November and December this year. Projects which win funding after passing the multi-stage evaluation process will be launched in 2023.
“This year, after a one-year hiatus, scientists can apply for EXPRO grants again. They are intended for the best among them. If they pass the selection process, they will receive extraordinary grants of up to CZK 50 million for 5 years of project work. The first EXPRO projects have already produced a number of excellent results with a significant impact within their scientific fields, including Highly Cited Papers,” said the Chairman of the Czech Science Foundation Assoc. Prof. Petr Baldrian, Ph.D., adding: “Another of our priorities is to support early-career scientists. This year marks the second year of the POSTDOC INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP tender, which fosters international mobility, and the third year of the JUNIOR STAR tender, through which the best scientists will receive up to five years of funding. Of course, early-career scientists can also apply and succeed in all other tenders. ”
Project proposals can be submitted in the individual tenders until7 April 2022. The announcement of the tenders this year was earlier than in previous years, also due to the complicated epidemiological situation. This will give scientists more time to prepare their project proposals.
The project proposals will be assessed in a multi-stage transparent evaluation process, in which expert reviewers from other countries also participate substantially in addition to experts recommended by Czech research institutions. Among the winners, there is not a single project which has not been reviewed internationally. In case of the highly selective EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR projects, this process is the responsibility of international experts only.
Standard Projects
Standard Projects are the cornerstone of grant funding for basic research in the Czech Republic – every year since it was established in 1993, the Czech Science Foundation has funded a few hundred of them . Standard Projects are funded to facilitate the best of basic research in all fields of science. Proposals for usually 3-year projects may be submitted by any researcher or team, regardless of their age or experience.
EXPRO
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).
JUNIOR STAR
JUNIOR STAR grants are intended for excellent scientists in their early careers (within 8 years of receiving their PhDs) active in all areas of basic research who have published in prestigious international journals before, and have had substantial experience abroad. The 5-year project allows them to receive up to CZK 25 million and gives them an opportunity to attain scientific independence or even start their own research team, which can bring new areas of research into Czech science.
POSTDOC INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP
POSTDOC INDVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP (PIF) is the latest type of grant funding. The Fellowship is targeted at scientists who have completed their PhDs in the last four years. The OUTGOING PIF makes it possible for Czech scientists to perform research at any institution in the world, provided that the Fellow returns to the Czech Republic to spend at least one year at a local institution. The INCOMING PIF enables a scientist from abroad to come to a Czech institution to carry out his or her research.
International Projects
Proposals for International Projects may be submitted in tenders published with agencies abroad jointly, on the basis of an agreement between the Czech Science Foundation and the other agencies. Project Proposals are either evaluated by both agencies (bilateral cooperation), or recommended for funding only by one of the agencies, and the other one accepts that recommendation (cooperation based on Lead Agency)
Agencies involved within bilateral cooperation
- Taiwan – Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)
- South Korea – National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)
- São Paulo, Brazil – São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
Agencies involved on Lead Agency basis
- Austria – Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
- Germany – German Research Foundation (DFG)
- Poland – National Science Centre (NCN)
- Slovenia – Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS)
- Switzerland – Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
- Luxembourg – National Research Fund (FNR)
- USA – National Science Foundation (NSF)
Additional international calls for proposals on the basis of Lead Agency may be published later this year.
