Workshop on EU FP7

Dimitra KoutsantoniJohn Montgomery

Overview of workshop• What is new in FP7?• Programmes, themes,

funding schemes• Rules of

participation/eligibility• Funding opportunities for

Social Scientists: – New themes– New programmes (ERC-

Starting researcher grant)

– Changes in existing programmes (Marie Curie)

• Calls timetable and deadlines

• Making an application• Forms (electronic forms,

parts of the form)• Structuring a proposal-

what to include• Evaluation criteria-how to

address them• Where to go for

information (websites, etc)• Partners (where to find

them, paperwork needed)• Costing issues• Dos and Don’ts

What is new in FP7?• More money! (€54 billion vs. €19 billion in FP6)• New terminology• New programmes and themes• New costing rules • Simplified application guidelines and procedures• Fewer evaluation criteria (for example no

'relevance to Commission objectives' criterion, though they still need to be addressed!)

• Higher rates of reimbursement• Changes to reporting and audits

New terminologyFP6 FP7 What does this

mean?Instruments Funding Schemes Types of Project allocated by

Commission to a topic

Contract Grant Agreement Binding contract between Commission and participants

Participants/Contractors Beneficiaries All main participants in project, who sign grant agreement

Audit Certificate Certificate on the Financial Statements

Independent auditor certifies that the costs claimed are correct

Pre-Existing Know-how (PEKH)

Background Intellectual Property brought into project by participants

Knowledge Foreground New knowledge created by participants during project

The programmes• Cooperation (new theme: Socio-

economic sciences and humanities)• Ideas (new, European Research

Council-ERC)• People (Marie Curie-changes)• Capacities

• EURATOM • Joint Research Centre (similar to UK Research Councils)

FP7 Funding Schemes• Collaborative Projects (CP)• Networks of Excellence• Coordination and Support Actions (CSA)• Support for Frontier Research (ERC)• Research for the Benefit of Specific Groups• Support for Training and Career

Development of Researchers (Marie Curie)

• Combinations – e.g. CP and CSA

General eligibility criteria• Three independent participants from three different

Member States (MS) or Associated countries (AC)

• Additional conditions can be established by the work programme or specific programme

• Co-ordination and Support Actions/Training – at least one legal entity (no limit on place of establishment)

• Frontier research actions (ERC) – at least one legal entity established in a MS or AC

Member States (MS), Associated countries (AC), Third countries

EU-27Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,Cyprus, Czech Republic,Denmark, Estonia, Finland,France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia,Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK

Associated Countries (FP7)Croatia, Iceland, Israel,Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia,Switzerland, Turkey

Third Countries (not EU-27 or AC)low-income, lower-middle-income or upper-middle-income country, identified as such in the work programmes

Note: Industrialised third countries (such as Australia, Canada and the USA) can participate under the FP7 ‘Rules for participation’, but under their own funding, unless specifically set out differently in the relevant work programme

Funding opportunities for Social Scientists

• Cooperation:– Socio-economic

sciences and humanities

– ICT– Energy– Transport

• Read work programmes carefully to identify suitable research questions

• ERC-Starting Research Grant

• Marie Curie Actions– ITNs (International

Training Networks)– Industry Academia

Partnerships and Pathways (IAPPs)

• Capacities: – Science in Society– Research

Infrastructures

Cooperation: themes1. Health2. Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology3. Information and CommunicationTechnologies4. Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and

New Production Technologies5. Energy6. Environment and Climate Change7. Transport8. Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities

(new theme)9. Space10.Security Research

Socio-economic sciences and humanities: research questions to be addressed

• Growth, employment and competitiveness in a knowledge society(innovation, competitiveness and labour market policies; education and lifelong learning; and economic structures and productivity)• A combination of economic, social and environmental objectives in aEuropean perspective (socio-economic models within Europe and across theworld; economic and social and cohesion across regions, the social andeconomic dimensions of environmental policy)• Major trends in society and their implications (demographic change,reconciling family and work, health and quality of life, youth policies, socialexclusion and discrimination)• Europe in the world (trade, migration, poverty, crime, conflict andresolution)• The citizen in the European Union (political participation, citizenship andrights, democracy and accountability, the media, cultural diversity andheritage, religions, attitudes and values)• Socio-economic and scientific indicators (the use and value of indicators inpolicymaking at macro and micro levels)• Foresight activities (the future implications of global knowledge, migration,ageing, risk and the emerging domains in research and science).

Ideas: European Research Council (1)

Two funding schemes: ERC Starting Grant

attract & retain the next generation of researchers

ERC Advanced Grantattractive & prestigious grants for established leaders

Ideas: European Research Council (2)

Eligibility for ERC Starting grant:

• Applicants should have at least 2 years of experience after their PhD, but no more than 9 years

• This can be extended by up to 12 years after the PhD in special circumstances (maternity/paternity leave, military/civil service)

• No allowance for part-time work (e.g. 2 yrs half time=2 yrs full time)

• Preference for projects NOT to be collaborative

• Need for collaborators MUST be absolutely justified

People: Marie Curie actions (1): Funding schemes

Host actions Individual actions

Initial training of researchers (ITN) : Marie Curie Networks

Life-long training and career development: Individual Fellowships; Co-financing of regional/national/international programmes

Industry-academia pathways and partnerships: Industry-Academia Scheme

International dimension: Outgoing International Fellowships; Incoming International Fellowships

International Cooperation Scheme; Reintegration grants

People: Marie Curie actions (2)

Host Actions-This means:– Host institutions/network applies for a number

of fellows/researchers– Host’s proposal is evaluated– Selected host/network advertises fellowship

position and selects fellows/researchers– Contract duration with host, usually 4 years– Fellows’ stay depending on Action (up to 3– years)

ITNs• Multi-site projects, mono-sites

or twinnings• At least at post-graduate or

equivalent level researchers, typically during the first five years (or full-time equivalent) of their careers in research (with some exceptions)

Typical Activities of an ITN:• Training activities• Networking• Visits and secondments• Visiting scientists• Organisation of international

conferences and other training events open to external researchers

• Recruitment procedure should be in line with the principles set out in the European Charter for Researchers and in the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. See: http://ec.europa.eu/eracareers/europeancharter

• For a number of European policy links, see: http://www.grad.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Policy/European_policy/p!eFjlkal

Industry-academia partnerships and pathways

• Two-way partnership with at least one commercial enterprise and one academic organisation in two different Member or Associated Countries

Typical activities: • Staff secondments

between both sectors within the partnership

• Temporary hosting in both sectors of experienced researchers recruited from outside the partnership

• workshops and conferences

• As an SME specific measure: a contribution to small equipment related to their participation in the co-operation.

Marie Curie actions-Differences between FP7 and FP6

FP7 FP6ITN Research Training Networks, Host

Fellowships for Early Stage Research Training

Initial training of researchers Intra-European Fellowships, European Re-integration Grants

Industry-Academia Pathways and Partnerships

ToK-Industry Academia Strategic Partnerships

International Dimension Outgoing International Fellowships, Incoming International Fellowships, International Reintegration grants 

Specific Actions Excellence Awards

Capacities (1)Science in Society: 3

action lines• Action Line 1: A more

dynamic governance on the science and society relationship

• Action Line 2: Strengthening potential, broadening horizons

• Action Line 3: Science and society communicate

Action Line 2: • The evolving role of

universities– Defining better

conditions for university research

– Partnerships with the business sector

– Reinforcing knowledge-sharing

• Gender and research• Young people and

science

Capacities (2)Research Infrastructures • ‘soft’ tools

– databases– surveys– e.g. SHARE-Survey of Health, Ageing and

Retirement in Europe

Calls: timetable and deadlines

• 25 April: ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant- Call identifier: ERC-2007-StG –A

• 7 May: Initial Training Networks-Call identifier: FP7-PEOPLE-2007-1-1-ITN

• 10 May and 29 November: Socio-economic sciences and humanities-Call identifier: FP7-SSH-2007-1

• 31 May: Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways: FP7-PEOPLE-2007-3-1-IAPP

Making an application (1)• Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS)

(available at least four weeks before the call deadline)• Co-ordinator must register on CORDIS and be

sent password and access details• Passes on access to other participants• Complete A forms• Upload .pdf file of Part B (10Mb limit)• Can revise up to deadline• Deadline strictly enforced • ‘Submission’ must be selected• EPSS user guide on:

http://www.ukro.ac.uk/subscriber_services/fp6/submission_evaluation/epss/050803_epss_user_guide.pdf

Making an application (2)The application forms• Part A

– Participant Identity Code (PIC) - a unique organisational identifier, not running for first calls

– Basic info – call details, title, summary, partners, budget…

• Part BCover Page, Table of ContentsS&T Quality (plus templates for work packages,

deliverables and milestones)ImplementationImpactEthical IssuesConsideration of gender issues

Writing the proposal-general guidelines (1)

• Take the steer from the Work Programme

• Understand the Commission’s objectives

• Be aware of Lisbon and Barcelona objectives and mention them!!!

• Also mention recent relevant communications from the European Commission (e.g. White and Green Papers)

• Be aware of the outcome of previous programmes and the nature of ongoing projects

• Understand the funding schemes

• Know what the evaluator is looking for (read evaluation criteria in work programme)

Writing the proposal-general guidelines (2)

• Involve all partners• Think about the impact of

the project– European or Regional

Economy– Impact on European

Policy or Legislation– Social Impact

• Ensure that ALL aspects are addressed (science, management, integration, training, technology transfer, dissemination….)

• Pay attention to layout• Follow the guidance• Stick to the guidelines e.g.

page and budget limits• Address ethical, safety,

regulatory and gender issues

Cooperation: Evaluation criteria(1)

Relevance

S/T Quality Excellence

Impact

Overall threshold 10/15

3/53/5

Implementation

3/53/5 3/53/5 3/53/5

Cooperation: Evaluation criteria (2)

Addressing ‘S & T Quality’:

• Have you explained the concept of the project?• Have you clearly identified your objectives?• Are your objectives achievable within your project?

• Have you addressed the state-of-the-art?• Do you have improvement or innovation?

• Have you clearly described your aims and methodology?• Have you described your overall strategy of the work

plan?• Have you used Gantt Charts ?• Are the work packages explained?

Cooperation: Evaluation criteria (3)

Addressing ‘Implementation’:

• Have you described the management structure?

• Do you have an information management strategy?

• Do you have a knowledge management strategy?

• Its it matched to the complexity and scale of the project?

Individual Participants and the Consortium as a whole:

• Have you identified the role of the co-ordinator?

• Have you described individual participants?

• Have you explained the consortium structure?

• Do you have the appropriate personnel/is it well balanced?

• Can you demonstrate relevant management experience?

• Do partners have the appropriate equipment?

• Can they illustrate integrated financial planning?

• Can they illustrate integrated project planning?

Cooperation:Evaluation criteria (4)

Addressing ‘Impact’:

• Have you described how your project will contribute to the expected impacts in the Work Programme?

• Does the project have suitably ambitious goals?• Can you illustrate a contribution to economic

competitiveness?• Can you illustrate impact on quality of life?• Can you illustrate the effect of shaping research in the field?• Have you elaborated on your dissemination strategy?• What about exploitation of results, IP (if appropriate) and

knowledge management?

ERC-Starting Grant: Evaluation criteria (1)

(1) Potential of applicant (?/5)(2) Quality of project (?/5)(3) Research Environment ("pass/fail" and

commented but not scored)

ERC-Starting Grant: Evaluation criteria (2)

(1) Principal Investigator: Potential to become a world class research leader

a. Quality of research output• Has the Principal Investigator published in high quality peer

reviewed journals or the equivalent?• To what extent are these publications ground-breaking and

demonstrative of independent creative thinking and capacity to go significantly beyond the state of the art?

b. Intellectual capacity and creativity• To what extent does the Principal Investigator's record of

research, collaborations, project conception, supervision of students and publications demonstrate that he/she is able to confront major research challenges in the field, and to initiate new productive lines of thinking?

ERC-Starting Grant: Evaluation criteria (3)

(2) Quality of the research proposal a. Ground-breaking nature of the research• Does the proposed research address important challenges in the field(s)

addressed?• Does it have suitably ambitious objectives, which go substantially beyond

the current state of the art (e.g. including trans-disciplinary developments and novel or unconventional approaches)?

b. Potential impact• Does the research open new and important, scientific, technological or

scholarly horizons? c. Methodology• Stage 1: Is the outlined scientific approach (including the activities to be

undertaken by the individual team members) feasible?• Stage 2: Is the proposed research methodology (including when pertinent

the use of instrumentation, other type of infrastructures etc.) comprehensive and appropriate for to the project? Will it enable the goals of the project convincingly to be achieved within the timescales and resources proposed and the level of risk associated with a challenging research project?

ERC-Starting Grant: Evaluation criteria (4)

(3). Research Environment a. Transition to independence

Will the proposed project enable the Principal Investigator to make or consolidate the transition to independence?

b. Host institution [normally applicant legal entity] Does the institution hosting the project have most of the

infrastructure necessary for the research to be carried out? Is it in a position to provide an appropriate intellectual

environment and infrastructural support and to assist in achieving the ambitions for the project and the Principal Investigator?

c. Participation of other legal entities If it is proposed that other legal entities participate in the

project, in addition to the applicant legal entity, is their participation fully justified by the scientific added value they bring to the project?

Marie Curie: Evaluation Criteria (1)

(1) S & T Quality• Inter/multi-disciplinary, intersectoral and/ or newly emerging

supra-disciplinary fields• Scientific quality of the research programme • Appropriateness of research methodology• Originality and innovative aspect of the research programme • Knowledge of the state-of-the-art

(2) Training and knowledge transfer• Quality of the training programme• Several methods of training• Complementary skills offered: Management, Communication, IPR,

Ethics, Grant writing, Commercial exploitation of results, Research Policy, entrepreneurship, etc.

• Conferences and training courses part of training package

Marie Curie: Evaluation Criteria (2)

(3) Implementation • Infrastructure, work plan, feasibility of project• Adherence to principles of Code of Conduct of the Recruitment of

Researchers • Detailed management processes and plan

(4) Impact• Long-term collaboration prospects• Researcher professional development• For IAPPs: extent of SMEs’ participation, adequacy of infrastructure

Note: If you have received previous funding under the Marie Curie actions under the Seventh Framework programme or under similar actions under previous Framework Programmes, you have to clearly demonstrate the substantial added value of the new project in relation to the project previously financed.

Where to find informationCORDIS:http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ncp_en.html

ERC Home page:http://erc.europa.eu/index_en.cfm

UKRO:http://www.ukro.ac.ukhttp://www.ukro.ac.uk/mariecuriehttp://www.ukro.ac.uk/erc

EC’s Framework Programme Websites:http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfmhttp://cordis.europa.eu/en/home.html

Cass Research Support pages:http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/ressupport/secure/eu.html

Policy websitesInformation on green and white papers, reports & pressreleases: http://europa.eu/documents/comm/index_en.htm

EUR-Lex (EU legislation):http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm

Official statistics agency of the EU - wide range of useful datafor your proposal: http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/

Lisbon Strategy:http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/et_2010_en.hml

European Research Area:http://cordis.europa.eu/era/concept.htm

Barcelona objectives:http://cordis.europa.eu/era/3percent.htm

PartnersWhere to find them:

CORDIS: http://cordis.europa.eu/partners-service/

Welcome Europe:http://www.welcomeurope.com/default.asp?id=1510

UKRO:(electronic system currently

down, but UKRO can put you in touch with partners)

Singleimage: http://www.singleimage.co.uk/index.html

Documentation needed: Consortium agreement (draft can be found on UKRO website)

Advice: • If you already have

contacts in other countries, use those (safer!)

• Network in conferences, seminars, etc.

Costing issues (1)Costs are eligible if:• Actual• Incurred during the project• Determined according to usual accounting

and management principles• Used solely for project objectives• Consistent with principles of economy,

efficiency and effectiveness• Recorded in accounts• Exclusive of non-eligible costs

Costing issues (2)Management costs include:• maintenance of the consortium agreement, if it is obligatory• the overall legal, ethical, financial and administrative

management including [for each of the beneficiaries] obtaining the certificates on the financial statements or on the methodology

• implementation of competitive calls by the consortium for the participation of new beneficiaries, where required by Annex I

• obtaining any financial security such as bank guarantees, when requested by the Commission

• any other management activities foreseen by the annexes, except coordination of research and technological development activities

• NB 7% limit of total costs in FP6 limit removed but….participants are expected to self-regulate

Dos!• Carefully read the text in

the work programme• Research previous and

current projects• Meet with consortium

partners (if applicable)• Register in EPSS• Make sure all forms are

completed correctly• Get someone to read

through your proposal• Discuss budget early with

us

• For ERC: Absolutely adhere to page limits-longer proposals WILL NOT be evaluated

• Submit before the deadline-STRONGLY advised!

• Register as an expert with CORDIS (evaluator, reviewer or monitor expert): https://cordis.europa.eu/emmfp7/

• Contact us for advice and support

• Register with UKRO• Attend UKRO proposal writing

training events

Don’ts!• Do not undertake co-ordination of a consortium if

this is your first EU application• Do not submit a proposal without having obtained

approval from the university (this involves contacting us and having us cost and process your application)

• Do not submit proposals for collaborative projects to ERC

• Do not solely rely on CORDIS/UKRO etc. for finding partners-use existing contacts

• Do not submit on the last day of the deadline!!!

Any questions?

If you are thinking of applying

for EU funding…

We are here to help!We can give you detailedinformation on:• the work programme• how to apply• how to structure the

proposal• what documentation you

need• eligible costs

Call us on extensions: – 0140 (Dimitra)– 4193 (John)

E-mail us:dimitra.koutsantoni.1@city.ac.uk

j.montgomery@city.ac.uk

Further training• UKRO (free):

http://www.ukro.ac.uk/subscriber_services/events/index.htm#0607_training_development

• Bluebell Research: http://www.bluebell-res.co.uk/