The Czech Science Foundation (GACR) will fund 10 new EXPRO projects and 23 JUNIOR STAR projects starting next year. These prestigious schemes both aim to promote scientific excellence through superior conditions – EXPRO is designed for seasoned scientists who have a groundbreaking idea, whereas JUNIOR STAR will allow outstanding scientists in their early careers to pursue their own research topics. The five-year projects will receive a total of almost one billion crowns.
“Only the best of the best projects receive funding within EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR, reviewed and recommended by international evaluation panels. Their investigators will enjoy better terms of funding during the five-year project period,” says Petr Baldrian, GACR President. “It is also important what these projects are supposed to bring – EXPRO is expected to deliver a breakthrough in a given scientific field, and JUNIOR STAR fosters the rise of a new, independent scientific generation.” Projects will, for example, focus on the development of new detector systems for particle identification, contribute to more efficient plant breeding through a more detailed understanding of evolutionary forces, improve the regulatory framework involving artificial intelligence, explore ways to reduce environmental burdens, and design more effective cancer therapies.
The evaluation process involves foreign scientists only. It takes place in two phases – each project that receives funding is first reviewed by six subject-matter experts, and it is then discussed in detail at a meeting of the Discipline Committee.
EXPRO
The aim of the EXPRO grants is to facilitate the development of excellent research, to set standards for excellent science, and to help overcome the barriers inhibiting the success of project proposals submitted to the highly prestigious European ERC grant programme. One of the obligations of the investigators is to apply for an ERC grant. The cost of EXPRO projects, which are mainly designed for seasoned researchers, can reach up to CZK 50 million over five years. The EXPRO grant calls will now be launched in even-numbered years only.
In this year’s tender, out of the ten winning projects, three will be carried out at the Masaryk University in Brno, two each at institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Czech Technical University in Prague, and the Charles University. One grant has also been awarded to scientists from the Palacký University in Olomouc. Over CZK 450 million will be allocated to these projects.
EXPRO Projects to be Funded 2023 onwards
JUNIOR STAR
The JUNIOR STAR grants are designed for excellent early-career scientists who completed their Ph.D. no more than 8 years ago, have already published in prestigious international journals, and have had significant international experience. The five-year projects with up to CZK 25 million in funding will give them the opportunity to become independent scientists and possibly to start their own research group to bring new research topics to the world of Czech science.
Starting next year, a total of 23 JUNIOR STAR projects will receive new funding, most of them at the Charles University (5 projects), the Czech Technical University in Prague (4 projects), the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (4 projects), and institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences (3 projects). More than half a billion Czech crowns is earmarked for these projects over the next five years.
JUNIOR STAR Projects to be Funded 2023 onwards
The evaluation of EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR project proposals will be made available to proposers in GRIS in the coming days.