infosessie mandaten 2013 hans willems · 17/12/2013 9 selection procedure and how to apply 17 call...

17/12/2013

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Information session

FWO:

Call 2013-2014

Fellowships

Dr. Ir. Isabelle VerbaeysScience policy advisor

December 2013

On the agenda

1. Mission and key facts

2. Selection procedure and how to apply

3. Funding schemes of the FWO

Pre-doctoral fellowships (a.o. Aspiranten)

Postdoctoral fellows

Pegasus

Research and travel grants

4. Varia

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1. MISSION AND KEY FACTS

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Mission and key facts

Mission of the FWO

Funds fundamental scientific research (“frontier research”)

Bottom-up funding in all disciplines

Strong selection based on scientific excellence and

interuniversity competition (Flemish universities and, to a lesser

extent, research performing organisations)

Transparent and equal opportunities

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5

Mission and key facts Universities (Leuven, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Hasselt)

Main (Strategic) Research Centers:


Mission of the FWO

Label awarded in december 2010

Implementation of Charter & Code

Focus on transparent recruitment procedures and family/gender-

friendly measures6

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Target groups of the FWO

Young researchers

Postdoctoral researchers

Established researchers

Research teams

Top-researchers and high-potential researchers

Equal opportunities: no discrimination with respect to nationality,

gender, disciplines,…

flexible regulations to support and stimulate female researchers

in their academic career.

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Funding schemes of the FWO Funding for individual researchers

• Pre- and postdoctoral fellowships, bench fees and grants

Funding for research teams• Research projects, Big Science, Bilateral agreements, …

Supporting mobility, international contacts and collaborations• Travel grants, Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowships, Sabbatical leaves,

Scientific research communities, Organisation of conferences in Belgium, International coordination actions, collaboration agreements, …

Attracting excellent researchers, active abroad, to Flanders• Odysseus , Pegasus

Awarding scientific prizes8

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9

Budget 2013: 224 million EUR, ca. 80% from Flemish Government

2008


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Evolutie inkomsten 2006‐2013

Vlaamse Overheid

Federale Overheid

Totaal Toelagen

Allocation 2012

Distribution over domains 2012

10

42%

2%1%

53%

2%Mandaten

WetenschappelijkecontactenKredieten aan Navorsers

Onderzoeksprojecten

Administratief beheer

13%14%

15%

2%

30%

26%

Biologische Wetenschappen

Cultuurwetenschappen

Gedrags‐ enMaatschappijwetenschappenInterdisciplinair

Medische Wetenschappen

Wetenschap en Technologie

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Mission and key facts Evolution number researchers ‘in function’ (on 1/10)

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Total 2013 : 2859 researchers funded by FWO

867

892

1100

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Aspiranten

PostdoctoraleonderzoekersOnderzoekers oponderzoeksprojecten


Gender balance

Strong increase in number of female researchers on pre-doctoral level: in 2010 53% of the research fellows in function were women.

The amount of female researchers has also risen on postdoctoral level, yet, despite implementing family friendly regulations, the percentage of femaleresearchers stays below 40%.

12

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Pre-docs

Female

Male

0,00%10,00%20,00%30,00%40,00%50,00%60,00%70,00%80,00%90,00%

100,00%

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Postdocs

Female

Male

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% foreign researchers

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Continuous increase in number of foreign researchers in function:In 2010, ca. 12% of the researchers had a non-Belgian nationality.N.B.: this does not include researchers employed on FWO research projects

0,02,04,06,08,0

10,012,014,016,018,0

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

aspiranten postdoctorale mandaathouders

Mission and key facts Evolution Success Rate

14

23

25

15

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Aspiranten

PostdoctoraleonderzoekersOnderzoeksprojecten

Target: 33%

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Events

2. SELECTION PROCEDURE AND HOW TO APPLY

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Selection procedure and how to apply

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Call

Submission/eligibility check

ExpertPanels(29+1)

CIS(Pegasus)

Board of Trustees

Externalreferees (online)

1 February1 April

February/MarchApril/May

2x / year meeting in Brussel

25 June 201419 November 2014

Duration workflow fellowships: < 5 monthsDuration workflow projects: < 7 months

Selection procedure and how to apply

Online: FWO E-Portal (register at least 24 hours in advance)

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3. FUNDING SCHEMES OF THE FWO

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Funding schemes of the FWO

Pre-doctoral fellowships

Postdoctoral fellows

Pegasus


Deadline fellowships: 1 February – 17h00 (3/2/2014)

Start date: 1 October

Applications in English

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Fellowships: general remarks

There is a maximum of 2 attempts to apply for a specific

grant

Evaluation and ranking (Pre- and Postdoctoral fellows)

• Each panel can rank at most 2x the mean of the number of grants

awarded within that panel the previous two years (with a minimum

of 10).

Applications for the Interdisciplinary Panel which are ineligible

based on the interdisciplinarity of the research proposal, can be

directed towards a monodisciplinary panel (after consultation of

the applicant).21


Predoctoral fellowships

PhD Fellowships

Special PhD Fellowships

Clinical PhD Fellowships

Postdoctoral fellowships

Postdoctoral Fellowships

Senior Clinical Investigator

Pegasus


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PhD Fellowships

What?

2 year, 1x renewable (2x2)

Full time research

In preparation of a PhD

Fellowship

Social security is paid (by FWO)

No personal taxes

Fiscally dependent on parents / partner (marriage or legally

cohabiting)

Same pension rights as employees 23

PhD Fellowships

Who can apply?

Nationality requirements:

• EE Area-citizen (or Swiss) and degree which allows you to obtain a

PhD

• Non-EE Area: basic degree awarded in an EES-country (or

Switzerland)

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PhD Fellowships

Who can apply?

Age limitations:

• < 31 years: no restrictions

• ≥ 31 years: five years after awarding master degree (1/10)

– In case more than one master degree, only degree in field of

planned PhD is taken into account

– In any case: 1st degree no longer than 10 years ago (1/10)

Scientific anciennity: ≤ 3 years (1/10)

• Training as Medical Doctor – or pharmacologist – counts for 50%

Never before be appointed as FWO-fellow

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PhD Fellowships

Who can act as (co-)supervisor ((co-)promotor)?

1. a ZAP-member with an appointment of more than 10% at a

Flemish university;

2. a ZAP-member with an appointment of 10% at a Flemish

university, with a specific research mandate;

3. a ZAP-member with an appointment of 5% at a Flemish university

AND at the same time appointed as (assistant) head of the clinic

or in a similar function at an Academic Hospital in Flanders;

4. Academic personnel appointed at the Evangelische Protestantse

Faculteit in Leuven or at the Faculteit voor Protestantse

Godgeleerdheid in Brussels;26

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PhD Fellowships

Who can act as (co-)supervisor ((co-)promotor)?

5. A research director of FWO;

6. A nominative beneficiant of an ERC grant

(Starting/Consolidator/Advanced) or an Odysseus II grant.

> only ERC Grants at Flemish universities

§3. All co-supervisors should be researchers of at least

postdoctoral level; Co-supervisors should be appointed at a

Flemish university or the Transnational University of Limburg, a

Flemish research institution, a Flemish Academic hospital, or a

Federal research institution.

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PhD Fellowships

Recommendation letter

Supervisor

Where applicable: co-supervisor

Personal statement

Important element in evaluation. Each applicant should write

his/her own letter

No external referees

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PhD Fellowships

Personal statement The personal statement is your opportunity to discuss personal

motivations, your (research) interests, your experience and activities, and your future goals. The Personal Statement should focus on your personal background or experiences that have significantly influenced you or your goals. It should be a document that describes your abilities, skills, and accomplishments as evidence of your aspirations for pursuing a career in research

If you have interrupted your academic career at any given point for at least three months, you may provide details about this in your Personal Statement (optional).

This Personal Statement should be written in English, and is limited to 3.000 characters, including spaces (ca. 500 words). 29

PhD Fellowships

Evaluation and selection criteria

• Course results

• Scientific independence

• Research capability and potential

• Originality and innovative nature of the project

• Feasibility of the project

• Purposefulness of the project

• Methodology

• Quality of coaching and assistance

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Publications

The classification in the publication list does not imply a qualitative

ranking order.

The Expert panel evaluates the quality of the publications.

The FWO does not put forward qualitative or quantitative norms.

(cf. publication list)

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PhD Fellowships

The criteria are scored by the Expert panel as follows:

A+ marks for the top 5% of the proposals;

A marks for the top 10% of the proposals;

A- marks for the top 20% of the proposals;

B range only for the top 50% of the proposals;

C or D for the lower half of the proposals.

(Cf. Assessment Form)

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PhD Fellowships

Accountability

Progress report / end report

Evaluated by FWO Expert Panels

FWO should be mentioned on each publication

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PhD Fellowships

Extra activities

Supervision of practica: max. 4 hours / week

Administrative / clinical tasks: max. 8 hours / week

Important: Progress of the PhD-research may not be jeopardised

NO teaching activities are allowed

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PhD Fellowships

Additional courses

Registration for PhD-courses / doctoral school is allowed

It is not allowed to:

• Obtain a second / third master degree

• Obtain a master after master degree

• Follow a teacher’s training

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PhD Fellowships

Bench fee

Each year € 3.720

Common responsibility of aspirant and supervisor

May be cumulated with other working allowances

Saldi may be used the next year

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PhD Fellowships

Bench fee can be used for:

Travel and accommodation costs (congress, research stays, …)

Consumables used for the approved research project (computer,

literature, …)

Publication costs

To buy chemicals or lab animals

Bench fee cannot be used for:

Commuter traffic

Admission fee for (inter)national universities

Personal expenditures of the PhD

Overhead university

Costs made by other members of the research team 37

PhD Fellowships

Fellowships with an external partner: SCK.CEN, VITO and L’Oréal

SCK.CEN• Each year 2 fellowships + bench fee• SCK Jury• Ranked FWO-applicants• FWO funds renewal

VITO• Each year fellowships + bench fee• VITO-Jury• Ranked FWO-applicants• FWO funds renewal

L’Oréal• Every 2 year (Life Sciences)• Women in Science• FWO funds renewal 38

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PhD Fellowships






Pegasus


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What?

Intended to enable persons not employed in a research group to

complete a PhD within a year and to obtain study leave from

their current employer for this purpose.

Subject to social security

The stipend covers the net salary that is renounced by the

candidate

Advice, selection, evaluation

Cfr. PhD Fellowships40

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Who can apply?

Applicants need to have a permanent position (private sector,

administration, etc.)

Applicants may not be appointed as researcher

(Hogescholen: personel group 1: may apply, group 2 and 3 not)

No clinicians

Never before awarded with a PhD fellowship

It must be possible to finish the PhD in 1 year

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PhD Fellowships






Pegasus


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What?

PhD for

Medical doctors, veterinarians, dentists and pharmacists, who, no later

than 1 October preceding the fellowship, are recognized as medical

specialists, veterinary specialists, dental specialists, general practitioner

or pharmacist specialists in Belgium.

Halftime exemption of clinical tasks for 2 years

Age limit: none

50% of the salary costs (< 35.000 EUR)

Advice, selection, evaluation

Director academic hospital/ head of the dep. of the animal clinic

Dean of the faculty43


Who can apply?

Permanent position in an academic hospital / animal clinic of a

Flemish university / Flemish dep. of family medicine

Possible to complete your PhD in 2 years

Never before awarded a PhD fellowship

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PhD Fellowships






Pegasus


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Postdoctoral fellow

What?

3 years, 1x renewable (no longer 2nd renewal)

Full time research

Postdoctoral level (obtained PhD < 1/6/2014)

First step in academic career

No nationality requirements

No formal age limit:

≤ six years after obtaining PhD in domain (1/10/2014)

For other PhDs: no more than 12 years (1/10/2014)

One extra year for each pregnancy or parental leave

(not applicable when < 36 (1/10/2014))

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Postdoctoral fellow

In practice

Employment contract, 3 years

Renewable once

• Apply before 1 February of the last year

Salary is at the same level of doctor-assistant of a Flemish

university

Seniority is taken into account

Disciplinary dependent of the host institution

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Postdoctoral fellow

Personal statement The personal statement is your opportunity to discuss personal

motivations, your (research) interests, your experience and activities, and your future goals. The Personal Statement should focus on your personal background or experiences that have significantly influenced you or your goals. It should be a document that describes your abilities, skills, and accomplishments as evidence of your aspirations for pursuing a career in research.

If you have interrupted your academic career at any given point for at least three months, you may provide details about this in your Personal Statement (optional).

This Personal Statement should be written in English, and is limited to 3.000 characters, including spaces (ca. 500 words). 48

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Postdoctoral fellow

External advice

Head of the receiving research unit

At least 2 external referees

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Postdoctoral fellow

Selection procedure referees:

Applicant suggests 10 potential referees

APPLICANT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ELIGIBILITY OF THE

REFEREES. IN CASE OF ANY MISCONDUCT EACH

APPLICATION WILL IMMEDIATELY BE INELIGIBLE

FWO-administration selects at random referees until at least 2

reports are available

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Postdoctoral fellow

Not eligible as referee are:

Members of the Board of FWO;

Members of an expert panel of FWO;

Those who are appointed at a Belgian university, research

institution or whatever other organization;

Those who are professionally appointed at an institution where

the applicant(s) has/have been enrolled as a student or has/have

been professionally appointed during the last three years;

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Postdoctoral fellow


Co-authors of the applicant(s) of a publication that has been

submitted or published after 1 January of the year n-3 (n=year of

application); Co-authorship is to be understood as follows:

– Co-authorship of a monography of which the applicant is co-

author as well;

– Co-authorship of an article or another type of contribution to a

collection of which the applicant is co-author as well;

– Editors are not regarded as co-authors, insofar as they have

not also acted as what is understood under ‘co-author’. Co-

editors of the applicant are not accepted as external referees.

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Postdoctoral fellow


Partners of the applicant(s) in a research project that has been

applied for or ongoing within the last three years prior to the final

submission date for applications

Applicants are responsible for the eligibility of the

proposed referees! If the proposed referees do not

comply with the eligibility criteria, the application will be

declared ineligible!

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Postdoctoral fellow

External referees

When in doubt about the eligibility, applicants can contact FWO

before submitting the application: [email protected]

The questions to the FWO before submission will be presented to

the FWO referee commission of the appropriate scientific domain.

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Postdoctoral fellow

FWO Referee Commission

5 referee commissions, 1 for each domain (for applications

submitted to the interdisciplinary panel, the referee commissions of

the respective scientific domains will be consulted)

Co-authorship in publications with > 10 authors FWO

administration will consult the referee commission

Referee commission will decide on the alleged eligibility of the

proposed referees

When the referee commission decides negatively on the

eligibility of a proposed referee in an application that has

already been submitted, this application will be disqualified!55

Postdoctoral fellow

FWO Referee Commission

Referee commission answers negatively to a question concerning

eligibility of a proposed referee that reached the FWO before

application: applicant will be asked to propose a new referee that

meets the eligibility criteria.

After administrative check: FWO will inform applicants about

violations that were found alleged violations result from a

factual error of the FWO administration, the FWO can be notified

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Postdoctoral fellow

External referees

Applicants must see to it that any contact information of the reviewers

is up-to-date not the case: FWO will not take further steps in

tracking down the reviewer(s) and applicant may be asked to submit

new names

Applicants and reviewers may not in any way communicate with each

other about any aspect of the application and of the evaluation

At the time of entry in application process: reviewers will need to

declare that they comply with eligibility requirements or reviewers and

that they will treat any information contained in the application as

confidential and that they will not use any of this information for

purposes other than the drawing up of their evaluation57

Postdoctoral fellow

External referees

Primarily, FWO administration will see to it that applicants strictly

observe the eligibility regulations and other guidelines. It will inform

the Board of Trustees about any violation of this sort. The Board of

Trustees will take the final decision on these violations.

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Postdoctoral fellow

Selection criteria (1)

Quality of the applicant

• Research capability and potential such as

– Publications in peer reviewed journals as well as other elements of the

candidate’s CV

– Patents, teaching, advanced courses, etc., taking into account the level of

experience

• Research skills and methodology

• Scientific independence (independent thinking, management

experience and leadership qualities)

• Scientific background of the candidate

• Mobility of the applicant (previous transnational and/or intersectoral

mobility experience) 59

Postdoctoral fellow


Quality of the proposal

• Originality and innovative nature of the project (progress beyond the

state of the art)


• Focus of the project

• Relevance of the project

• Coherence of the project

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Postdoctoral fellow


Quality of the context of employment

• Quality of the research environment of the host group (researchers,

infrastructure, etc.)

• Quality of the supervision and training support of the host group

61

Postdoctoral fellow

Accountability

Yearly progress report

FWO should be acknowledged on every publication

FWO should be informed about every foreign stay

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Postdoctoral fellow

Combining jobs: general max. 8 hours / week

Unpaid

• Administrative or clinical tasks

• Guiding practica / seminars (1 hour = 2 hours)

• ≤ 2 hours on yearly basis in teaching at a univ./institution for higher

education (3 hours on yearly basis in 2nd and 3rd mandate)

Parttime paid

• Appointment as fellow % reduced

Allowed without application

• Compensation for stay abroad

• Compensation covers only travel and accomodation costs63

Postdoctoral fellow

Mobility

Very important for postdoctoral fellows

Make use of (FWO) funding schemes for international mobility

Travel grants (short/long stay)

Bench fee: € 4.000

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Postdoctoral fellow

Bench fee

Each year € 4.000

Responsibility of the researcher

Can be combined with other funding

Saldi may be used the next year

Cf. PhD Fellowships

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PhD Fellowships






Pegasus


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Who can apply?

A medical specialist, general practitioner or pharmacist specialist

in clinical biology

full-time clinical role at a university hospital.

5 years, 2 x renewable

Halftime exemption of clinical tasks

Obtained PhD (< 1/6/2014)

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External advice

Head of the receiving research unit / description of the clinical

task by the medical superintendent / head of the clinic or the

animal clinic

At least 2 external referees

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Selection procedure referees:

> See Postdoctoral Fellowships

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PhD Fellowships






Pegasus


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Pegasus

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Pegasus

Background

International mobility, incoming and outgoing, is important

Until before Pegasus, FWO instruments were focusing on

outward mobility

Odysseus programme for very high-level researchers, in general

not for young postdocs

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Pegasus

Aims of the programme

To increase incoming mobility into the Flemish research

community

To provide selected fellows with optimal career development

opportunities (i.c.w. universities) and thus contribute to ERA

To serve as a pioneering initiative for ongoing evolutions within

FWO (HR strategy, e-government, etc.)

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Pegasus

PEGASUS-long (30): 3 year-fellowship with employment

contract (no call in 2014)

PEGASUS-short (59): 1 year-fellowships, employment

contracts or stipends

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Pegasus

General overview: calls

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Call deadline Available fellowships

01/02/2012 30 long + 10 short

01/05/2012 10 short

01/02/2013 10 short

01/05/2013 10 short

01/02/2014 10 short

01/05/2014 9 short

Pegasus

Who can apply?

PhD no longer than 6 years ago for Pegasus-long or 10 years for

Pegasus-short on the start of the fellowship (if ≥ 36 years)

At least 2 of the 3 previous years active abroad

(Belgian nationals not excluded)

After receiving the grant: affiliated to one of the universities of the

Flemish Community (collaboration with other RPO’s is possible)

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Pegasus

Selection procedure: remote referees

Remote referees (cf. Postdoc)

Regular Expert Panel evaluation (cf. Postdoc)

General panel:

• CIS: Panel for International Collaboration

Multidisciplinary, majority of foreign members

77

Pegasus

What the regular Expert panels do…

Discussion of all the Pegagsus applications submitted to it, on

the basis of preliminary reports by at least 2 panel members

Ranking of all suitable Pegasus applications (independently

from other fellowships)

What the CIS panel does …

Discussion of the ranked proposals on the basis of all available

information

Global ranking of Pegasus applications (ranking cannot

overrule sub-ranking by panels)78

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Pegasus


Quality of the applicant

• Research capability and potential such as:

– Publications in peer reviewed journals as well as other elements of the

candidate’s CV

– Patents, teaching, advanced courses, etc., taking into account the level

of experience

• Research skills and methodology

• Scientific independence (independent thinking, management

experience and leadership qualities)

• Scientific background of the candidate

• Mobility of the applicant (previous transnational and/or intersectoral

mobility experience 79

Pegasus


Quality of the proposal

• Originality and innovative nature of the project (progress beyond the

state of the art)


• Focus of the project

• Relevance of the project

• Coherence of the project

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Pegasus


Quality of the context of employment

• Quality of the research environment of the host group (researchers,

infrastructure, etc.)

• Quality of the supervision and training support of the host group

• Potential to acquire new scientific (disciplinary and interdisciplinary)

and non-scientific skills (“soft skills”, e.g. project management, IPR,

grant writing, communication, ethics, etc.)

81

Pegasus

Interim and ex-post evaluation

PEGASUS-long: annual progress report expected from the

candidate

PEGASUS-short: final report within three months after the end of

the fellowship

Reports are examined and marked by the CIS panel

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PhD Fellowships






Pegasus


83


Research grants

> Together with call Research Projects (deadline: April 1st)

Postdocs and ZAP (limited)

Personal research budget between € 2.500 and € 40.000

Grant for 1 year

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Travel grants

Bottom-up: free choice of destination and research topic

Types of grants:

• Attendance of international conferences / workshops

• Short and long stays abroad

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For more information on the FWO

Website of the FWO: www.fwo.be

Information on strategy, regulations, scientific prizes, calls, …

Free to download publications

More information on FWO: http://www.geschiedenisfwo.be/

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infosessie mandaten 2013 hans willems · 17/12/2013 9 selection procedure and how to apply 17 call...

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