Call for proposals Cooperation Indonesia-The Netherlands, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

Renewable Energy

2019

Contents

1	Introduction		1
	1.1	Background	1
	1.2	Available budget	1
	1.3	Validity of the call for proposals	2
2	Aim		2
	2.1	Thematic focus	2
	2.2	Specific project requirements	3
3	Guidelines for applicants		5
	3.1	Who can apply	5
	3.2	What can be applied for	8
	3.3	When can applications be submitted	9
	3.4	Preparing an application	9
	3.5	Conditions on granting	10
	3.6	Submitting an application	14
4	Assessment procedure		14
	4.1	Procedure	14
	4.2	Criteria	16
5	Contact details and other information		17
	5.1	Contact	17
6	Annexes		17
	6.1	Letter of Intent Format	18
	6.2	Budget Modules NWO grant:	18
	6.3	Format Letter of Commitment	21

1 Introduction

1.1 Background

There is a long history of scientific collaboration between Indonesia and the Netherlands. The Dutch Research Council (NWO), through the Merian Fund¹, and the Indonesian Ministry for Research, Technology, and Higher Education (RISTEKDIKTI) c.q. Directorate of Research and Community Services, Directorate General for the Strengthening of Research and Development, aim to further stimulate their long term research collaboration to strengthen the international position and global impact of their research. Joint funding is provided for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary consortia of Indonesian and Dutch research groups and stakeholder partners, for high quality research that has the potential for societal and scientific impact.

NWO and RISTEKDIKTI have agreed on a strategic knowledge and innovation agenda. A call for proposals on a jointly agreed theme – based on this agenda – is planned to be published annually. Funded research should be in alignment with national research agendas, as well as international initiatives such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and build bridges between different actors in the knowledge chain, fundamental and applied research, and scientific disciplines. The theme for this year’s call is renewable energy.

1.2 Available budget

The total budget for this Call is M€ 1.4 on the Dutch side, which will be matched by RISTEKDIKTI. With the available total budget, NWO and RISTEKDIKTI aim to fund two projects with a duration of three years.

Consortia can apply for up to € 700,000 at NWO. Consortia can apply for multiple work packages for every consortium from RISTEKDIKTI, with a maximum of 400,000,000 Rupiah per year per work package. This depends on the research area of the work package, and is subject to assessment by a RISTEKDIKTI reviewer. Each of these work packages must be led by a different Indonesian work package manager. The work packages need to be integrated within the project, to create one large project.

The NWO Grant Rules 2.017 are applicable to the part of the project’s budget covered by the grant from NWO. The part of the budget covered by the grant from RISTEKDIKTI must follow the RISTEKDIKTI’s Simlitabmas Guidelines XII edition grant conditions. Please see section 3.2 for further details.

1.3 Validity of the call for proposals

This call for proposals is valid until the closing date 17 September 2019, 14:00 hours CEST.

Applications must be preceded by a Letter of Intent explaining the outlines of the planned project proposal, using the format provided in Annex 6.1 of this call. The Principal Investigators cannot be changed after submission of the Letter of Intent.

This Letter of Intent must be received by NWO by 3 September 2019, 14:00 hours CEST. Letters of Intent must be submitted by the Dutch Principal Investigator to indonesia-nl@nwo.nl. Proposals that are not preceded by a Letter of Intent are excluded from the assessment procedure.

2 Aim

Many societal challenges are complex and interrelated. To address them requires sustainable collaboration, and flexibility and creativity to achieve sustainable results for effective and impactful solutions. The collaborative research financed by RISTEKDIKTI and NWO in this call is intended to work towards scientific knowledge and sustainable, innovative solutions for high scientific and societal impact. At the same time, RISTEKDIKTI and NWO aim to stimulate strong, sustainable research collaboration between their two countries, for projects with sustainable results and high potential for impact. They do this by inviting consortia of researchers from knowledge institutions from both countries. In order to increase the societal relevance and impact of their research, the consortia must also include societal partners from public, semi-public and private organisations.

The collaborative research should work towards scientific knowledge and innovative solutions in the field of renewable energy, in order to contribute to realising and supporting resilient societies. The objectives of this call for proposals are:

• to further develop the scientific and societal agenda on renewable energy;

• to create the appropriate inter- and transdisciplinary research partnerships from both countries;

• to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular to SDGs 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 13².

2.1 Thematic focus

One of the challenges that Indonesia and the Netherlands face is the transition towards sustainable, low-carbon energy systems. The transitioning to renewable, sustainable energy sources is a topic that is high on the agenda in both The Netherlands and Indonesia. To reach the goals that are set in the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, and the national goals that flow from them, it is important to transition to sustainable, low-carbon, climate friendly energy systems.

Such a transition comes with it a variety of challenges that span the entire knowledge chain. These challenges are both technical, such as the ensuring that renewable energy sources provide reliable energy to communities, as well as societal, such as ensuring societal support of renewable energy sources in the face of possible short-term costs. Renewable energy sources can have consequences for other areas, such as biodiversity, food security, and livelihoods. It is also important to have options to store clean electrical energy when this is not needed. For conversion techniques, e.g. the production of hydrogen, it is important to increase the efficiency of the process. These challenges may also require new governance frameworks on local, regional, and national levels.

This call for proposals aims to contribute to resilient societies with regard to renewable energy systems by inviting public and private partners to collaborate with academic researchers in formulating research questions and addressing key challenges with regards to transitioning to sustainable, low-carbon energy systems. These can be both related to the sustainability, flexibility, reliability and cost of renewable energy sources that are already being used, such as wind or solar energy, or sources of renewable energy that have so far not been widely used, such as geothermal energy. Projects should take a trans- and interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating expertise from practitioners as well as from the social, natural, and applied and engineering sciences.

Possible areas of collaboration are:

• Clean, low-carbon biofuels

  The use of biofuels can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector. Increasing the use of biofuels is part of both the EU Directive on Renewable Energy³ and the Indonesian National Action plan. However, in order for biofuels to contribute to lower CO₂ emissions, they must also be produced in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly manner, which excludes for example crops for biofuel cultivated on peatlands or preceded by deforestation.

  Furthermore, changes in land-use to produce crops for biofuels can have consequences for other areas, such as food production and biodiversity, as well as presenting governance challenges. Areas for further exploration and development could be waste treatment for energy, or energy produced from algae.

• Clean, low-carbon energy technology

  Both the Netherlands and Indonesia have great potential for renewable, clean, low-carbon electricity sources, such as solar, wind, and geothermal power, as well as a history of collaboration in these fields. There is furthermore potential for conversion of these energy forms to energy carriers such as hydrogen, as well as for regional and local smart energy grids incorporating these energy sources.

  These renewable energy sources present a variety of challenges. On the technical side, challenges include things like the reliability, flexibility and cost of such energy sources, whereas on the social side, challenges take forms such as accessibility and sustainability for remote communities, societal acceptance of, for example, windmill farms, and the roles of local governments.

• Energy storage and conversion

  For a future society it is important to have options to store clean electrical energy when this is not needed. For relatively shorts periods of time (day/night/week) storage in battery systems is a good option, but for longer periods of time (months/years) conversion to gaseous or liquid fuels might be a better option. A challenge for batteries is to make them cheaper, increase the storage capacity and reduce the environmental impact of battery production. For conversion techniques, e.g. the production of hydrogen, it is important to increase the efficiency of the process. Hydrogen can be used in various ways. It can be used to produce electricity with a stationary fuel cell, but it can also be used in cars or trucks with fuel cells. Use of hydrogen as a feedstock for the chemical industry is another option. All these applications still require a significant research effort.

• Other ideas also worth exploring are e.g. buildings as power plants, vehicles as energy buffers and energy system optimization. For the most efficient use of renewable energy coming from various sources like solar, wind, and biomass, smart energy management systems have to be developed.

2.2 Specific project requirements

2.2.1 Integrated research approach and co-creation

The challenges addressed in this call are interrelated and multi-scalar. To reach impact requires a holistic approach that spans the entire research and innovation chain. Added value may be achieved by integrating and synthesising various sources of knowledge to create new knowledge and by creating sustainability through the development of long-term knowledge relations.

The consortia should be knowledge-chain wide, meaning they should crosscut scientific disciplinary boundaries (interdisciplinarity) and integrate scientific and practitioners’ knowledge in joint research (transdisciplinarity). The proposed research itself should be characterised by integrated perspectives. It should evolve in a process of co-creation with different partners: researchers from both countries and societal partners should be actively involved throughout the entire project, in (advising on) developing the proposal, conducting the research as well as in communicating the progress and results, in order to jointly produce a mutually valued outcome.

Proposals should be based on a thorough review of existing knowledge and should preferably be complementary to existing research initiatives and reinforce these were possible. Project teams are encouraged to use a combination of quantitative and qualitative and quasi-experimental research methods, including operational research, and should include research-into-use approaches.

Projects are also expected to collaborate with the other projects that will be awarded in this call, so as to enhance the impact of the call as a whole. As a part of this, projects are expected to develop and attend joint meeting, such as kick-off and midterm workshops and a final call conference, and possibly contribute to joint publications. Projects should budget (time and money) for this accordingly.

2.2.2 International collaboration

Proposals should be characterised by equal partnership and sustainable collaboration between the Indonesian and Dutch partners. This includes inter-institutional cooperation, a balanced contribution to the proposed research, and frequent exchange between the partners, including exchange visits by both senior and junior researchers. Besides attending the call-meetings, projects must organise a maximum of four research visits (in total) for PhD students and/or post docs (of a minimum of three months each) and for senior researchers (of minimum three weeks each).

2.2.3 Theory of Change & Impact Pathway

The research conducted in this call for proposals should have relevance and potential for impact beyond the academic world, such as in societal, technical, economical or cultural realms. This is why, in addition to having a societal or industry partner within the consortium, consortia should consider how relevant stakeholders can be involved in, or benefit from, the design and realisation of the proposed research project.

To further enhance the potential for impact of the proposed research, the application should state how approaches for achieving impact are integrated in the research design and conducted by the consortium in engagement with end users, such as practitioners, policymakers, and industry.

An integrated approach to impact

Developing a vision on desired change in collaboration between partners and stakeholders is pivotal for developing realistic and feasible strategies to enhance the potential for impact. To this end an integrated approach is required, which consists of the following elements:

• Co-creation

• Theory of Change and Impact Pathway

• Impact Strategy

Co-creation: A form of cooperation in research where different parties (researchers and stakeholders) in the knowledge process (demand and supply) interact and engage in joint learning to define problems, formulate possible solutions, design the research, conduct the research, assess the results and translate these into new practices and products.

A Theory of Change describes how the research process can contribute to impact, taking into account the context, actors involved and describing the sequence of logically-linked cause-effect relations.

Developing a Theory of Change in joint effort with research partners as well as stakeholders allows for making explicit which (and whose) problem is being tackled, and how the desired change is perceived to happen through research efforts. Projections on expected change will be based on a myriad of assumptions; documenting these assumptions allows for reflection on whether and how expected pathways to impact remain adequate or need adjustment.

The Impact Pathway, which is part of the Theory of Change, is the visualisation of the change process following from research execution as described in the Theory of Change. It makes explicit how the research activities will lead to results (output) and how these will contribute to desired changes in behaviour of partners and stakeholders that are considered essential to achieving the desired impact.

An Impact Strategy is the plan of the consortium that spells out how the activities will contribute to outcomes⁴. Outputs⁵ do not automatically lead to outcomes, thus strategies are needed of the research consortium to plan and monitor how their efforts will enhance the potential for outcomes. This strategy should spell out clearly:

• Stakeholder engagement: which are the relevant stakeholders to engage with, how is this engagement foreseen and whose responsibility is it?

• Communication – which is understood as an iterative process within the consortium and with stakeholders:, which means of communication are foreseen from inception throughout and whose responsibility is it?

• Capacity development: which capacities, of partners and stakeholders, need strengthening in order to achieve the outcomes, how is this organised and whose responsibility is it?

• Monitoring and Evaluation: how is monitoring of activities foreseen and how do lessons feed back into the research design, whose responsibility is it?

How to translate this approach in the proposal?

Co-creation: Specify how the different skills and expertise are complementary and how this is integrated in approaches. Co-creation within the consortium and with stakeholders is central to the development of the research proposal through to the execution of the research Describe how co-creation within the consortium and with stakeholders is organised and monitored.

The Theory of Change describes how the research process is expected to contribute to resilient societies with regard to renewable energy. Describe clearly the contribution of the proposed research from problem definition and the identification of knowledge gaps, through to the research design and how this is expected to contribute to change, including accompanying assumptions. The Theory of Change takes into account the context and the key groups of actors required to achieve the desired change. The Theory of Change is the vision narrative that is the background to the Research Impact Pathway.

Explicate in the Impact Pathway the expected change process that the proposed project contributes to through the realisation of output and outcomes, and the desired contribution to impact (see Box 1).

Describe the sequence of expected logical cause-effect relations, including underlying assumptions. By formulating and revising the Impact Pathways in a collaborative effort between research partners, and stakeholders, it serves both as thought process (joint reflection) as well as method (tool) for formulating activities and strategies and monitoring and progress.

To further increase the potential for impact of the proposed research, the application should state how productive interactions around knowledge from the consortium to end users, such as government ministries, societal stakeholders and companies, will be facilitated. To this end, a clear impact strategy (including stakeholder engagement, capacity development, and communication, also with the aim to influence the enabling environment) needs to be provided. This impact strategy should contain descriptions of the actual knowledge transfer activities undertaken to encourage innovation and boost impact from inception through to the end stages of the proposed research.

Indicators, at output and outcome levels, facilitate monitoring progress and accordingly adjusting the research approach, where the assumptions proved insufficient or incorrect. Indicators should be formulated in SMART ways and be ambitious, yet realistic.

A Theory of Change is not fixed, but rather reflected on continuously throughout the research process. For this reason, it is also used as part of the monitoring, evaluation and learning trajectory.

Box 1: Output, outcome and impact

Research outputs relate to the direct and immediate results obtained by a research project or programme;

Research outcomes relate to the changes in behaviour, relationships, actions, or activities of stakeholders as a result of sharing and uptake of research;

Research impact is defined as changes in economic, environmental and social conditions a project or programme is aiming at.

Change is a complex process that depends on a variety of actors and factors of which research is only one. Where research outputs fall under the direct sphere of control of a research project or programme, outcomes belong to their sphere of influence, and impact to their sphere of interest.

3 Guidelines for applicants

3.1 Who can apply

Eligible consortia are composed of researchers based in the Netherlands and in Indonesia, with active involvement in the project of a senior Principal Investigator (PI) on both the Dutch and the Indonesian side. The consortium must also include a partner from the public, semi-public or private practitioner organisation (for-profit or not-for-profit). The consortium may also include other co-applicants, as long as they are eligible according to the criteria in 3.1.2.

Together, the consortium members will 1) formulate relevant research questions and approaches; 2) formulate and submit the proposal through the Principal Investigators; 3) conduct the project activities; 4) coordinate knowledge sharing and support the application, dissemination and communication of the project results to a broader group of possible knowledge users that are not a member of the consortium; and 5) take responsibility for the adequate and timely reporting conditions.

Each Principal Investigator and consortium can only submit one proposal.

This call aims at knowledge chain-wide collaboration, to enhance demand articulation, ownership, and the effective uptake of results. For this reason, all consortium partners, as well as relevant stakeholders, are expected to be engaged in all phases of the project execution, from its inception to sharing the (emerging) results. Evidence of such active engagement will be an important element in the assessment of project proposals and may be demonstrated through references to involvement in project preparation, active involvement as a project partner and links between the proposed research project and ongoing projects of NGOs, private enterprises, and/or policy implementation.

A Consortium Agreement to regulate consortium governance, task division, resource management and ownership of results between the collaborating consortium organisations is obligatory (see section 3.5 for details).

3.1.1 Principal Investigators

A proposal should have two Principal Investigators: one based in the Netherlands or at a university established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and one based at a university established in Indonesia. The Dutch Principal Investigator will serve as the recipient of the grant from NWO. Meanwhile, The Indonesian Principal Investigator will serve as the main coordinator for all work-package managers and will coordinate the substance of the research and administrative matters from the Indonesian side. The Indonesian Principal Investigator can be a work package manager, but this is not mandatory. The Dutch and Indonesian Principal Investigators will serve as the points of contact for NWO and RISTEKDIKTI respectively. The Principal Investigators’ organisations will take responsibility for the project secretariat, the day-to-day management and all financial affairs of the research project. Each Principal Investigator will be responsible for the accountability of funds of their respective organisations.

Dutch Principal Investigator

The Dutch Principal Investigator will submit the joint proposal via ISAAC.

For scientists based in the Netherlands or at a university established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the NWO eligibility criteria apply. The Dutch Principal Investigator should be affiliated to one of the following:

• Universities registered in the Kingdom of the Netherlands;

• University medical centres;

• NWO and KNAW institutes;

• TO2 institutes;

• the Netherlands Cancer Institute;

• the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen;

• researchers from the DUBBLE Beamline at the ESRF in Grenoble;

• NCB Naturalis;

• Advanced Research Centre for NanoLithography (ARCNL);

• Prinses Máxima Center for pediatric oncology;

AND

have an employment contract for at least the duration of the application procedure and the duration of the research the grant is applied for;

AND

have at least a PhD or an equivalent qualification.

Researchers with a 0 hour contract at one of the institutions above cannot apply.

An exemption can be made for principal investigators on a ‘tenure track’ contract at one of the institutions above.

Indonesian Principal Investigator

For Indonesian scientists, RISTEKDIKTI requires the Principal Investigator to meet conditions in accordance to Simlitabmas Guidline XII edition, with a minimum requirements as follows:

• Indonesian citizens and hold a permanent or fixed-term contract in an eligible university or research institute in Indonesia;

• An employee of Higher Education Institutions/University;

• Competent in oral and writing English skills;

• Receive permission from employing Higher Education Institutions/University to administer the grant;

• Meet the minimum terms and conditions of the grant for international collaboration.

• The Principal Investigator shall also be willing to coordinate the Indonesian members of the consortium in the administrative process and substance of the research.

3.1.2 Work Package Manager (RISTEKDIKTI grant only)

A Work Package Manager is the leader of the smaller unit of the research project that a project can be broken down to when creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) on the Indonesian side of the consortium. A Work Package Manager will manage the grant from Ristekdikti.

Please refer to the Simlitabmas Guideline XII edition for complete requirements. Simlitabmas Guideline XII edition is available at http://simlitabmas.ristekdikti.go.id/

RISTEKDIKTI requires the Work Package Manager to meet conditions in accordance to the Simlitabmas Guideline XII edition⁶, with a minimum requirements as follows:

• Indonesian citizens and hold a permanent or fixed-term contract in an eligible university or research institute in Indonesia;

• An employee of Higher Education Institutions/University;

• Competent in oral and writing English skills;

• Receive permission from employing Higher Education Institutions/University to administer the grant;

• Meet the minimum terms and conditions of the grant for international collaboration.

3.1.3 Co-applicants

A co-applicant is participant in the consortium and receives funding through the Principal Investigator or through a work-package manager. A co-applicant is:

• a researcher from one of the institutions listed in 3.1.1., who has an employment contract for at least the duration of the application procedure and the duration of the research the grant is applied for;

  AND

  has at least a PhD or an equivalent qualification (not necessary for Indonesian co-applicants).

  Researchers with a 0 hour contract at one of the institutions above cannot be a co-applicant. An exemption can be made for researchers on a ‘tenure track’ contract at one of the institutions in 3.1.1.

• an experienced researcher (a professor, assistant professor, or a researcher with a similar appointment) with an appointment at an university of applied sciences funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education for the duration of the application process and the project (funded in accordance with Article 1.8 of the law on higher education and scientific research;

3.1.4 Public and/or Private Collaboration partners

Public and/or private practitioner collaboration partners are partners from the public and/or semi-public sectors and/or industry. They are closely involved with the research and impact strategy. Please note that personnel of these organisations are excluded from payment of salaries and research costs from the NWO grant, unless they are hired through the module 2 – work by third parties (see Annex 6.2). Costs for for-profit partners cannot be charged to the NWO budget.

Collaboration partners, both for-profit and not-for-profit, can be reimbursed from the RISTEKDIKTI grant through the Work Package Manager. After the assessment process, Work Package Managers of the awarded consortia will be required to submit their work packages and budgets to RISTEKDIKTI. Please note that at that stage, Indonesian collaboration partners who will be working on these work packages (such as LPNK, Baliban Kementerian, Litbang BUMN, Private research institutions, or LSMs) should be included as co-applicants in the document submitted by the Work Package Manager.

All organisations participating in a consortium must be registered as a legal persona.

3.2 What can be applied for

The Principal Investigators and consortia can apply for funds for a project with a maximum duration of three years. A maximum of € 700,000 can be requested from NWO. RISTEKDIKTI will make funds available for multiple work packages for every consortium, with a maximum of € 400,000,000 Rupiah per year per work package. The actual RISTEKDIKTI funding will depend on the research area (Paket SBK Kementerian Keuangan) and assessment by RISTEKDIKTI reviewer.

This call invites full proposals to be submitted, preceded by a Letter of Intent. All consortium members have to be involved in the formulation of the research questions, in the development of the proposal and in the execution of the research project. Each Principal Investigator and consortium can apply for one project only.

Reimbursable cost

Different costs can be reimbursed from the RISTEKDIKTI and NWO grants. The application form allows you to specify which organisation you would like to cover a certain cost. You should complete two budgets, one specifying the costs to be covered by the NWO grant and one specifying the costs to be covered by the RISTEKDIKTI grant.

Reimbursable costs NWO budget:

The budget is built up using the NWO-wide standardised building blocks, the so-called modules. These modules are described in Annex 6.2. In the proposal budget, applicants choose which combination of modules are needed to answer the research question and how often each module will be deployed. The following modules are available for an application within this round. Please note that the descriptions below are an indication, and any requested costs must be conform the modules in Annex 6.2:

• 1. Personnel

  You may use this module to cover salaries and/or research leave conform the module’s specifications. Please note that, should you wish to use this module to cover the salary, living costs, or research leave of someone appointed in Indonesia, local tariffs apply, and may not be more than the equivalent in the Dutch agreement “Funding for Scientific Research”⁷. As this granting is for a three year research duration, a guarantee from the university must be provided regarding funding for the fourth year if a PhD student is appointed. Costs for personnel of TO2 institutes and universities of applied science should be determined by the cost-covering rate of the CAO scale of the person in question, with a maximum of the tariffs (per day/hour) specified under the Handleiding Overheidstarieven 2017 (HOT).

• 2. Material Credit

  Only costs directly related to the project are eligible for reimbursement in this module. These costs should be specified and substantiated in the proposal. International travel related to international cooperation, or costs related to international workshops, may also be placed under module 5 (internationalisation). Please note that if the Netherlands Principal Investigator is not from a university or KNAW institute, the project will be required to submit an audit report at the end of its duration. Please budget for this accordingly (€ 2,500).

• 4. Impact

  Funding from this module can be requested for costs related to the proposal’s impact strategy, such as workshops, policy briefs, and other activities to share the project’s findings during and at the end of its duration. Please take into consideration the requirements regarding impact and an impact strategy as specified in section 2.2 of this Call for Proposals. Proposals should furthermore request funding for a kick-off, midterm, and final workshop; and funding to attend the kick-off, midterm, and final workshop with the other project funded in this Call (€ 25,000). Please note that a maximum of € 25,000 can be requested per module, but the module can be applied more than once.

• 5. Internationalisation

  Funding in this module can be requested to further facilitate international exchange and travel. The total requested in this category may be a maximum of 20% of the total requested budget from NWO. Please note that a maximum of € 25,000 can be requested per module, but the module can be applied more than once.

NWO has provided a budget form (Excel) that should be uploaded with your application. While filling in the budget, you are expected to justify how the proposed cost will support the project. This justification may be no more than 1 A4 page, and should be included in section 4b of the application form. A specification of the costs that are covered per module can be found in Annex 6.2. The modules can be applied for as many times as necessary, until you have reached € 700,000 euros.

Reimbursable costs RISTEKDIKTI budget:

For researchers funded by the RISTEKDIKTI, the budget should follow guidelines from Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia for the standard of input cost (Ministry of Finance Regulation No. 32/2018) and standard of output cost (Ministry of Finance Regulation No. 69/2018).

Examples of limitations for budget of Indonesian researchers are as follow:

• Indonesian grant cannot be used for equipment, salary, communication, and mobility that are not related to the topic of their research

• Personnel Costs for student research assistants can be covered if their work is clearly related to the research project, by referring to the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, specifically the ”Standar Biaya Masukan (Standard of input cost)”.

Mobility of Indonesian research cover:

• Flight to and from destination: economy class flight

• Visa costs

• Transfer to and from the airport

• Daily allowance (the amount depends on the destination)

• Insurance fees

3.3 When can applications be submitted

Letters of Intent must be submitted by 3 September, 14:00 hours CEST. The Letter of Intent must be submitted by the Dutch Principal Investigator to indonesia-nl@nwo.nl.

The deadline for the submission of full proposals is 17 September 2019, 14:00 hours CEST. Proposals must be submitted on time to ISAAC (www.isaac.nwo.nl).

When you submit your application to ISAAC you will also need to enter additional details online, such as the institutions or organisations of both Principal Investigators and your co-applicants and collaboration partners. You should therefore start submitting your application at least five working days before the deadline of this call for proposals.

Applications submitted after the deadline to NWO will not be taken into consideration.

3.4 Preparing an application

Letter of Intent

A Letter of Intent should be sent to Indonesia-nl@nwo.nlby the Netherlands-based Principal Investigator, following the format in Annex 6.1. The Letter of Intent should be signed by both Principal Investigators, and be sent to NWO by the indicated deadline.

The Letter of Intent itself will not be subject to an eligibility procedure, other than the requirement of being submitted on time by the correct person. However, NWO and RISTEKDIKTI may give feedback if there are any issues that may affect the full proposal’s eligibility, such as on the composition of the consortium or the degree of fit with the Call. NWO and RISTEKDIKTI may furthermore use the project description in the Letter of Intent to look for and invite external reviewers.

Webinar

A webinar on the Theory of Change and Impact Pathway approach will be held on 20^th August 2019. In this webinar, you will be given more information regarding this approach, as well as have the opportunity to ask questions. It is not mandatory. More information, including the link to join the webinar, will be made available on the Cooperation Indonesia-The Netherlands programme page.

Proposal

• Download the application form and budget Excel form from the electronic application system ISAAC or from NWO’s website (on the grant page for this programme);

• Complete the application form and budget Excel form, using the guidelines in the application form and the budget specifications in Annex 6.2;

• Save the application form as a pdf file and upload it in ISAAC;

• Save the budget form as Excel and upload it as separate document in ISAAC.

Full proposals should include:

• The application form for full applications;

• A completed budget, using the Excel budget form or any other form required;

• A letter of commitment from the organisations of the Principal Investigators, work package managers, co-applicants and public and/or private collaboration partners, in which the institution or organisation confirms that they agree to the conditions required for the execution of the project. The letter must be signed by the Dean of the faculty or director of the organisation and be printed on the letterhead of the institution. See the format in Annex 6.3;

• A draft consortium agreement;

• CVs of both Principal Investigators, work package managers, all co-applicants, and all public and/or private collaboration partners;

• A list of literature references;

• In case of co-financing: a letter of guarantee from the co-financing institution confirming the numeric amount that will be provided as co-financing. In case the institution of a consortium member provides co-financing, this confirmation can be included in the letter of commitment. Letters of guarantee are unconditional and do not contain any opt-out clauses;

• A Work Breakdown Structure Chart that explains the distribution of task and name of coordinator and his/her affiliation for each work package.

It is not permitted to include other documents than those requested above. Applicants will be asked to remove any additional documents.

3.5 Conditions on granting

The NWO Grant Rules 2017 and the Agreement on the Payment of Costs for Scientific Research apply to all grants provided by NWO. The RISTEKDIKTI Simlitabmas Guideline XII edition grant rules apply to all grants provided by RISTEKDIKTI.

Conditions start and runtime of project

Start

The project should start within four months after the date of the grant letter. At least one researcher must be appointed to the project at the time of its start. If the project has not started within four months, the NWO-WOTRO Steering Committee, on behalf of NWO, and the accredited officials of RISTEKDIKTI can decide to revoke the granting decision.

Start documents

The Dutch Principal Investigator and Indonesian Principal Investigator are responsible for ensuring the necessary documents for the start of the project are submitted to their respective funding organisations, so that the project in its entirety can start on time.

NWO

The project can start if the following documents have been approved by NWO:

• A project notification form with information of project staff;

• A data management plan;

• A consortium agreement, signed by all consortium organisations⁸;

• (if relevant) approval of relevant ethics committees;

• (if relevant) receipt by NWO of the first tranche of in-cash co-financing.

RISTEKDIKTI

Once the assessment process is complete, the Indonesian Principal Investigator and Work Package Managers who are selected and become part of the awarded consortia will need to submit their proposals via Simlitabmas for administrative and budget assessments. The opening and deadline for this selection will be announced later through NWO and RISTEKDIKTI’s communication channels.

For the Indonesian researchers, the projects can start if:

• Each Work Package Manager has submitted their proposal into the Simlitabmas. The Indonesian PI must coordinate and ensure all members’ submission.

• All proposals have been reviewed by the reviewer especially in regards to budget and financial feasibility

• Contract between RISTEKDIKTI and the Indonesian researchers’ employing organization have signed. Funding will be disbursed to through the institution.

Publications

When publishing the results of the subsidised research, the support by NWO and RISTEKDIKTI should be mentioned. NWO and RISTEKDIKTI expect that during the project’s runtime, as well as in the years following the project, all forms of output related to the project will be registered in ISAAC in the year of publication.

Reporting to NWO and RISTEKDIKTI

Midterm report

About halfway the project’s runtime, the project must submit a report to inform NWO and RISTEKDIKTI on the overall project progress, experiences and output. The Dutch Principal Investigator will receive instructions and a format for this report in advance.

The projects will also be evaluated at the mid-term of the projects’ running time by self-assessment. This includes a workshop of the project team organised by the consortium and a discussion of the results with stakeholders from outside the project team. Consortia should include this workshop in their budget.

The mid-term report will be based both on conclusions of the workshop, including a reflection on and (if applicable) revision of the Impact Pathway and impact strategy, the underlying assumptions, and the indicators. The International Advisory Committee (IAC, see 4.1) constituted by RISTEKDIKTI and NWO will evaluate the progress of the projects based on mid-term reports submitted by the consortia. Interviews or field visits may be organized to evaluate the progress and impact of the projects. The IAC will give recommendations based on their evaluation.

The mid-term reports of all the projects of a call need to be submitted before the joint mid-term workshop and will be used as input. The deadlines will be distributed by the NWO office once the date for the midterm workshop is set.

Final accountability to NWO

A final report should be submitted within three months after the end of the project’s runtime, detailing the research done and the achieved results, as well as a reflection on the project’s Impact Pathway and its indicators. As part of this, projects will be asked to again complete a self-assessment, and hold a final workshop and a discussion with stakeholders from outside the project team. The final substantive report will be evaluated by the IAC, constituted by RISTEKDIKTI and NWO. The joint final workshop should again be taken into account in the consortium’s budget.

Simultaneously, the Dutch Principal Investigator and the controller/financial manager of the Principal Investigator’s institution should submit a signed financial end report, organised according to the budget lines of the NWO approved budget. The report should detail, among others, the effective duration (period) and size (fte) of the personnel appointed to the project under the module Personnel, and, if applicable, how eventual replacements were arranged. The realised in cash and in-kind co-financing should also be accounted for. If the Dutch Principal Investigator is not based at a Dutch university, an external audit report must also be submitted. NWO reserves the right to conduct an external financial audit.

NWO reserves the right to externally evaluate projects financed under this call. The project ends with the issuing of the grant settlement decision. This decision is taken after approval of the final document(s) by NWO.

Final accountability to RISTEKDIKTI

The Work Package Manager is obligated to provide progress reports, annual reports, and final research report that will be regulated in the contract.

• The Work Package Manager must report the progress of the research output, and the daily record of research activities.

• Research output and daily records of research activities, Research Progress Report, are reported through Simlitabmas.

• The Work Package Manager is obligated to make a Final Report of Research through Simlitabmas

Research Budget Planning (RAB) for Indonesian researchers refers to the Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) on Output base research budget Standards (SBK). SBK is the maximum research budget that can be agreed to achieve mandatory outcome targets. RAB must be broken down in accordance with the Input Cost Standards (SBM). Justification of RAB is made based on research needs. The details of the RAB contain material expenditure components, data collection, data analysis, equipment rental, reporting, mandatory outputs, and additional outcomes. The financial report in terms of financial accountability must refer to the Finance Ministry regulation about output base research financial implementation.

Programmatic coherence

The projects awarded under this call should contribute to resilient societies in the area of renewable energy. To this end, Principal Investigators, researchers and other consortium members are expected to contribute to knowledge exchange and knowledge utilisation at a programme level, and to participate in and contribute to the meetings organised for that purpose. This includes a joint kick-off and midterm workshop with all projects of the call, as well as a final conference. This is in addition to the activities organised by the individual projects for this purpose. Consortia should budget for their participation in these meetings in their application (€ 25,000)

Co-financing

• Co-financing by private and/or public parties is not a requirement for this Call, but if available, can take the form of in-kind or in-cash co-financing;

• It is possible for contributions to be partially in-kind and partially in-cash. The amounts of co-financing specified in the budget should correspond to the amount of co-financing specified in the guarantee letter, or letter of commitment in the case of co-financing by a consortium partner;

• The private and/or public parties that are part of the consortium should be involved in the research for the duration of the project;

• The RISTEKDIKTI budget table in question 4a of the application and the NWO budget format in Excel offer the possibility to specify co-financing. Co-financing included in the RISTEKDIKTI budget table should be accounted for to RISTEKDIKTI. Co-financing in the NWO budget format should be accounted for to NWO;

• After a research proposal has been awarded funding, NWO will invoice the private or public party that has pledged an in-cash contribution if that in-cash contribution exceeds € 5.000. After the contribution has been received, the money will be awarded to the project. This will need to occur before the project can start. Cash contributions of less than € 5.000 should be invoiced by the Netherlands-based Principal Investigator. It is the responsibility of the Netherlands-based Principal Investigator to invoice these cash co-funding organisations.

Consortium agreement

For research partnerships to be effective, they have to be fair. A consortium agreement⁹ should be signed by all consortium partners prior to the start of the awarded project, detailing agreements regarding rights (such as copyright, publications, intellectual property etc. of products or other developments in the project), knowledge utilisation, as well as affairs such as payments, progress- and final reports, and confidentiality. The agreement furthermore details agreements on governance of the consortium (to the extent that it gives sufficient guarantee for effective collaboration), finances, and if applicable, basic knowledge to be contributed, liability, disputes, and information sharing within the consortium. The agreement has to be drafted in a spirit of equality.

The initiative for the concluding of these agreements lies with the Principal Investigators. The agreement will be tested for consistency with the NWO and RISTEKDIKTI agreement, NWO Grant Rules 2017, and RISTEKDIKTI Simlitabmas Guideline XII edition. For Intellectual Property (IP) rights, the provisions as specified in Chapter 4 of the NWO Grant Rules 2.017 are applicable, according to which the IP-rights to the results belong to the research institution, whose employee generated the results in question (ownership follows inventorship). For the IP rights of the results of possible co-financing institutions, the percentages shown are applicable, unless an appropriate reflection justifies the deviation from this.

Open Access

All scientific publications resulting from research that is funded by grants derived from this call for proposals are to be immediately (at the time of publication) freely accessible worldwide (Open Access). There are several ways for researchers to publish Open Access. A detailed explanation regarding Open Access can be found on www.nwo.nl/openscience-en.

Data management

Responsible data management is part of good research. NWO and RISTEKDIKTI want research data that emerge from publicly funded research to become freely and sustainably available, as much as possible, for reuse by other researchers. Furthermore, NWO and RISTEKDIKTI want to raise awareness among researchers about the importance of responsible data management. Proposals should therefore satisfy the data management protocol of NWO. This protocol consists of two steps:

1. Data management section

The data management section is part of the research proposal. Researchers should answer four questions about data management within their intended research project. Therefore before the research starts the researcher will be asked to think about how the data collected must be ordered and categorised so that it can be made freely available. Measures will often need to be taken during the production and analysis of the data to make their later storage and dissemination possible. Researchers can state which research data they consider to be relevant for storage and reuse.

2. Data management plan

After a proposal has been awarded funding the researcher should elaborate the data management section into a data management plan. The data management plan is a concrete elaboration of the data management section. In the plan the researcher describes whether use will be made of existing data or a new data collection and how the data collection will be made FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. A data management plan must be submitted as part of the starting documents. Approval of the data management plan by NWO is a condition for disbursement of the funding. The plan can be adjusted during the research.

Further information about the data management protocol of NWO can be found at www.nwo.nl/datamanagement.

Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol became effective on 12 October 2014 and ensures an honest and reasonable distribution of benefits emerging from the use of genetic resources (Access and Benefit Sharing; ABS). Researchers who make use of genetic sources from the Netherlands or abroad for their research should familiarise themselves with the Nagoya Protocol (www.absfocalpoint.nl). NWO and RISTEKDIKTI assume that researchers will take all necessary actions with respect to the Nagoya Protocol.

Ethical aspects

Any research proposal that raises ethical issues must be carefully considered in advance. The applicants need to assess what ethical challenges will be met in the proposed research, consider how these will be addressed, and how ethical clearance will be obtained. In the Netherlands, certain research projects require a statement of approval from a recognised (medical) ethics review committee or an animal experiments committee. In addition, some research proposals require a licence under the Population Screening Act (WBO). Similar laws and regulations in Indonesia must be adhered to if required and applicable. Applicants must subscribe to and comply with the prevailing codes.

Applicants themselves are responsible for determining whether their research proposal raises possible ethical issues. If so, they are also responsible for obtaining any necessary statement of approval from the appropriate ethics review committees and/or license under the Population Screening Act or similar organisations. A research project can only start when NWO has received a copy of the necessary approving ethical statement and/or Population Screening Act license (if applicable). For complex questions related to ethical issues and in case applicants would question the need for ethical clearance, NWO and RISTEKDIKTI reserve the right to consult an external adviser. If after consulting the applicant, NWO and RISTEKDIKTI are of the opinion that an ethical assessment is needed for the application, then the applicant is obliged to take the necessary measures for such an assessment. If the applicant fails to obtain the necessary statement of approval from an ethics review committee then the grant shall be immediately withdrawn.

Once the project has started the research must be conducted in an ethically responsible way. The Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings can be complementary in this aspect to the Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. If the applicant fails to conduct the research in an ethically responsible way, NWO and RISTEKDIKTI shall reserve the right to withdraw the grant immediately.

3.6 Submitting an application

Applications should be submitted to ISAAC, by the Dutch Principal Investigator. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be included in the assessment procedure.

The Dutch Principal Investigator must submit his/her application via his/her own ISAAC account (www.isaac.nwo.nl). Applications not submitted via ISAAC will not be admitted to the assessment procedure.

If the Principal Investigator does not have an ISAAC account yet, then this should be created at least five working days before the application is submitted to ensure that any registration problems can be resolved on time. If the Principal Investigator already has an NWO-account, then he/she does not need to create a new account to submit an application.

Please note that you will be asked to submit additional information when submitting your application in ISAAC, such as the organisations of your consortium members. For this reason, we strongly advise that you start submitting your application at least five working days before the deadline.

For technical questions please contact the ISAAC helpdesk, see Section 5.1.2.

4 Assessment procedure

4.1 Procedure

Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest

Up to and including 30 June 2019, the NWO Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest applies to all persons and NWO employees involved in the handling, assessment and/or decision-taking process. On 1 July 2019, this Code of Conduct will be replaced by the new Personal Interest Code. From 1 July 2019, the assessment and/or decision-taking process for this funding round will therefore be carried out according to the Personal Interest Code. More information concerning the Personal Interest Code can be found on the NWO website. See also: www.nwo.nl/en/documents/nwo/legal/nwo-code-of-conduct-on-conflicts-of-interest.

The first step in the assessment procedure is the check if the application meets the eligibility criteria, specified in section 4.2.1. All applicants and their institutions must fulfil national eligibility rules for research proposals as set by the relevant organisation (see section 3.1, Who can apply).

NWO and RISTEKDIKTI will jointly compose an International Advisory Committee (IAC), with international experts. All applications are assessed in competition by the IAC, according to the criteria specified in paragraph 4.2.2. The IAC will formulate a funding advice. The NWO-WOTRO Steering Committee and the accredited officials of RISTEKDIKTI will take a provisional decision based on the advice of the IAC regarding the applications to be awarded. The decision is final when both organisations have reached the same decision.

Below is a further description of the assessment procedure.

Eligibility

After the deadline, the administrative eligibility of the applications is assessed by NWO and RISTEKDIKTI, based on the eligibility criteria specified in paragraph 4.2.1.

If correction of an application is possible and necessary, the Dutch Principal Investigator will be given the opportunity to adjust the application and the correction shall be done through close consultation with the Indonesian Principal Investigator. If the application is not corrected within the given time frame, NWO and RISTEKDIKTI will not include the application in the assessment process. Corrected applications will, after approval of eligibility by both NWO and RISTEKDIKTI, be included in the assessment procedure.

The remainder of the assessment procedure will subsequently be conducted through the online system of NWO.

Substantive assessment

All eligible applications will be sent to independent, (inter)national reviewers, who will assess the application based on the criteria specified in 4.2. Each application will be assessed by a minimum of four reviewers. The reports by the external reviewers will be made available to the Dutch Principal Investigator via ISAAC, who must share them with the Indonesian Principal Investigator, after which the consortium will have five working days to write a response to the reviewers’ reports. The response should be submitted by the Dutch Principal Investigator on behalf of the consortium, via his or her ISAAC account.

Assessment and Grant Advice

The IAC will make a final assessment of the application, based on the application, the reviewer reports, and the response by the consortium, according to the criteria in section 4.2.2. The IAC will subsequently rank all applications. The IAC will then present a substantiated advice to the NWO-WOTRO Steering Committee and the accredited officials of RISTEKDIKTI regarding which applications are to be awarded.

Decision

The NWO-WOTRO Steering Committee, on behalf of NWO, and the accredited officials of RISTEKDIKTI will check whether the assessment procedure has been carried out in accordance with the Call for Proposals, and will provisionally decide on the projects to be awarded, based on the advice of the IAC. The decision becomes definitive when the NWO-WOTRO Steering Committee and the accredited officials of RISTEKDIKTI have come to the same provisional decision.

Qualification

Based on the IAC’s final score, NWO will award a qualification to all full proposals, and will make this known to the Dutch Principal Investigator with the decision about whether or not the application has been awarded funding.

Only applications that receive the qualification "excellent" or “very good" will be eligible for funding. For more information about the qualifications please see www.nwo.nl/en/funding/funding+process+explained/nwo+qualification+system.

Data management

The data management section in the application is not evaluated and therefore not included in the decision about whether to award funding. However, both the referees and the committee can issue advice with respect to the data management section. After a proposal has been awarded funding, the researcher should elaborate the data management section into a data management plan. Applicants can use the advice from the referees and the committee when writing the data management plan.

A project awarded funding can only start after NWO and RISTEKDIKTI have approved all starting documents, as stated in section 3.5. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigators to ensure the required documents, as well as any in-cash financing above € 5.000, are submitted to their respective funding agencies on time so that the project in its entirety can start on time.

3 September 2019	Submission of Letter of Intent by Dutch and Indonesian Principal Investigators
Full proposals
17 September 2019	Submission deadline full proposals
September-November 2019	Referees are consulted
End of November-December 2019	Applicants can submit a rebuttal. Consortia have 5 working days to submit a rebuttal, via the ISAAC account of the Dutch Principal Investigator
End of January/beginning of February 2020	IAC meeting
February 2020	Decision NWO-WOTRO Steering Committee and accredited officials of RISTEKDIKTI
End of February/ beginning of March 2020	NWO and RISTEKDIKTI inform applicant about the decision

While NWO and RISTEKDIKTI strive to meet the above time frame, NWO and RISTEKDIKTI reserve the right to deviate from the indicated dates.

4.2 Criteria

4.2.1 Eligibility criteria

The administrative eligibility will be checked at desk officer level by NWO and RISTEKDIKTI. Applications that are not complete, have not been completed correctly, or have not been submitted on time will not be admitted to the assessment procedure. This also applies if, after receiving the opportunity to correct the application, the Netherlands-based Principal Investigator does not resubmit the application within the given time frame. If correction of an application, or the submission of necessary additional information, is possible, the Principal Investigator will be given the opportunity to correct their application and/or submit the necessary additional information within a given time frame. If the Principal Investigator is unable or unwilling to comply with this request, the application will not be admitted to the assessment procedure.

Eligibility concerns compliance with the conditions set in this call. Formal criteria are:

• Timely received Letter of Intent via email (Indonesia-nl@nwo.nl);

• Timely received application via NWO’s electronic application system ISAAC;

• Application has been submitted by the Dutch Principal Investigator who was mentioned in the Letter of Intent, and meets national eligibility criteria as specified in section 3.1;

• The Indonesian Principal Investigator was mentioned in the Letter of Intent and meets national eligibility criteria as specified in section 3.1;

• Specific conditions (as outlined in Sections 3.1, 3.2, the notes in the application form, and the annexes) have been applied;

• Completed and signed application form, signed by all Principal Investigators, co-applicants, and collaboration partners;

• The project entails research in the realm of this call;

• Composition of consortium complies with the requirements;

• Format, length of text, language (English) is as required;

• Budget conditions are met;

• Completed annexes are added.

The following annexes should be added:

• CVs of Principal Investigators, co-applicants, and collaboration partners mentioned in questions 1b, 1d and 1e of the application form;

• Letters of commitment of all consortium organisations, outlining the availability and commitment of consortium members, signed by heads/directors of the participating department or organisation;

• Draft Consortium Agreement;

• List of literature references;

• Letters of guarantee from parties providing co-financing (if applicable), which are unconditional and do not contain any opt-out clauses;

• A Work Breakdown Structure

• The NWO budget format, uploaded as a separate document.

No additional annexes are allowed. Please include the annexes in your application. Do not upload them as separate documents in ISAAC unless specified.

Applicants will receive written confirmation of receipt within two weeks after the deadline of this call, stating whether or not the application has been accepted into the selection procedure.

4.2.2 Assessment criteria

Applications will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• I. Quality of the research proposal

• II. Quality of the consortium

• III. Potential scientific and/or societal breakthrough

The criteria carry equal weight and each count for one-third of the final assessment. The assessment criteria are further operationalised below:

• I. Quality of the research proposal

  • Scientific importance of the proposed research;

  • Complementarity to other research programmes or (inter)national research agendas;

  • Innovativeness of the research question and approach;

  • Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity; the proposal incorporates the scientific disciplines necessary for addressing the problem, as well as knowledge from outside the scientific community;

  • Clarity of problem statement and rigor of research

  • Suitability and feasibility of the approach and methodology;

• II. Quality of the consortium

  • Quality of the involved research partners;

  • Quality of the Indonesian-Dutch collaboration, including equality in the partnership;

  • potential for long-term knowledge relations;

  • Coherence and complementarity of the consortium, including organisation of the research;

  • Quality of knowledge co-creation, including attention to and involvement of the complete knowledge chain;

• III. Potential scientific and/or societal breakthroughs

  • Relevance for society, including the relevance of the proposed research for the focus of the call;

  • Degree to which the proposal aims for scientific and societal breakthroughs;

  • Quality of stakeholder analysis and involvement of wider public/specific target groups;

  • Quality of the Impact Strategy, Theory of Change and Impact Pathway, including indicators and plans for knowledge transfer, utilisation, and valorisation;

  • Quality of communication plan for knowledge transfer, including outreach to industry, societal partners, and/or other stakeholders.

5 Contact details and other information

5.1 Contact

5.1.1 Specific questions

For specific questions about Cooperation Indonesia-The Netherlands and this call for proposals please contact:

NWO:

Dr Arina Schrier

Coordinator Cooperation Indonesia-The Netherlands Programme

+31 (0) 30 600 1293

Ms. Maaike Spiekerman

Academic Secretary Cooperation Indonesia-The Netherlands Programme

+31 (0)70 349 4094

Indonesia-nl@nwo.nl

RISTEKDIKTI:

Mr. Adhi Indra Hermanu

+62 8788 444 3873

manoe@ristekdikti.go.id

Mr. Hali Aprimadya

+ 62 21 310 23 68

hali@ristekdikti.go.id

5.1.2 Technical questions about the electronic application system ISAAC

For technical questions about the use of ISAAC please contact the ISAAC helpdesk. Please read the manual first before consulting the helpdesk. The ISAAC helpdesk can be contacted from Monday to Friday between 10:00 and 17:00 hours CEST on +31 (0)20 346 71 79. However, you can also submit your question by e-mail to isaac.helpdesk@nwo.nl. You will then receive an answer within two working days.

6 Annexes

Annex 6.1: Letter of Intent

Annex 6.2: Overview NWO budget modules Annex

6.3: Format Letter of Commitment

6.1 Letter of Intent Format

Format Letter of Intent

The Letter of Intent is a mandatory step in the procedure. Proposals that are not preceded by a Letter of Intent are excluded from the competition.

The Letter of Intent should be written in English, and should be submitted on the writing paper of the institute of the Dutch Principal Investigator, using the format below. The Letter of Intent should be signed by the Dutch Principal Investigator and Indonesian Principal Investigator.

Please copy the following on the writing paper and complete:

Subject: Letter of Intent

Call for proposals, 2019 Cooperation Indonesia-The Netherlands Programme

Project title:

Project duration:

Names and affiliation of consortium members: please note that the names of the Dutch Principal Investigator and Indonesian Principal Investigator must be the same as in the final application

Summary of the project: Max. 750 words. including aim / focus / research questions / alignment to the foci of the call

Name and signature Principal Investigators

The Letter of Intent should be submitted in electronic form (PDF format) by e-mail to: Indonesia-nl@nwo.nl.

6.2 Budget Modules NWO grant:

The following modules can be applied for from the NWO grant. Please use the budget format in Annex 6.5 while completing your budget. If you are asked to provide justification, please do so in section 4b. of your proposal.

1. Module Personnel: a) PhD/PDEng/MD PhD; b) Postdoc; c) Non Scientific Personnel; d) Personnel at universities of applied sciences (HBO); e) Research leave; f) Other scientific personnel;

NB: Remunerations for PhD scholarship students at a Dutch university are not eligible for funding from NWO.

• Module 1a) PhD/PDEng/MD PhD

  The guideline is that 1 fte PhD for 48 months or 0.8 fte for 60 months can be applied for. If a different duration of appointment is desired for the realisation of the proposed research, then the guidelines may be deviated from as long as this is well justified (e.g. PDEng 2 years or MD PhD longer than 4 years).

  The salary costs will be remunerated according to the agreements in the 'Agreement for Funding Scientific Research' made with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands and are based on the collective labour agreement of the Dutch universities (for researchers employed by University Medical Centres, the costs are based on the collective labour agreement of the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres).

  In addition to salary costs, the project employee funded by NWO will receive a one-off individual bench fee (€ 5.000) to encourage his or her scientific career. The agreement and the maximum amounts for personnel costs can be found at https://www.nwo.nl/approval-of-funding-for-scientific-research-2008 and https://www.nwo.nl/salarytables.

• Module 1b) Postdoc

  The appointment of a postdoc must be at least 6 months at 1FTE, and maximum 48 months at 1 FTE. The amount of months and FTE can be budgeted for as necessary, but must always be at least 0.5 FTE or for a duration of at least 12 months. The product of FTE x duration of the appointment must always be equal to at least six months at 1 FTE.

  If the applicants wish to deploy expertise for a shorter period of time, then the material credit can be used for this.

  The salary costs will be remunerated according to the 'Agreement for Funding Scientific Research’ made with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (for researchers employed by University Medical Centres, the costs are based on the collective labour agreement of the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres).

• Module 1c) Non-scientific personnel

  For the appointment of non-scientific personnel, specifically needed for the research project which funding is applied for, a maximum of € 100,000 can be requested with this module. This can concern personnel such as student assistants, programmers, technical assistants, analysts, et cetera. This module can only be applied for in combination with modules 1a and/or 1b.

  The amount of months and FTE can be budgeted for as necessary, but must always be at least 0.5 FTE or for a duration of at least 12 months. The product of FTE x duration of the appointment must always be equal to at least six months at 1 FTE. If the applicants wish to deploy expertise for a shorter period of time, then the material credit can be used for this.

  Salary costs are dependent on the level and are remunerated in accordance with the agreements in the most recent 'Agreement for Funding Scientific Research' made with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands and are based on the collective labour agreement of the Dutch universities. The agreement and the maximum amounts for personnel costs can be found at https://www.nwo.nl/approval-of-funding-for-scientific-research-2008 and https://www.nwo.nl/salarytables.

• Module 1d) Personnel at universities of applied sciences

  For the appointment of personnel at universities of applied sciences the system of the Handleiding Overheidstarieven (HOT) has been applicable since 1 January 2018, in particular the column ‘cost covering rates per hour’ (table 2.2, Integrale loonkosten). This cost covering rate per hour is based on the collective labour agreement for universities of applied sciences, and with respect to the salary scale of the employee concerned. The rates in the HOT are maximum values. For students, only the actual amounts paid to students can be entered as costs within the project. A maximum hourly rate of € 25.00 always applies to students.

• Module 1e) Research leave

  In this module, the replacement costs for the main applicant and/or co-applicants can be applied for, so that they can be released from educational, administrative and management tasks. The research leave grant can only be used in combination with and for the purposes of the projects or programmes applied for. For the research leave grant, a maximum size of 5 months per project applies based on 1 fte at the level of the postdoc employee as described in module 1b, with the hourly rates according to the agreement with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands. This budget is intended for the release of the applicants from educational and supervisory tasks so that they can work on the research for which funding has been requested. The employer can use the research leave grant to cover the costs of the replacement for the non-research tasks of the applicant(s) such as education, administrative and management tasks. These tasks must be specified in the proposal.

• Module 1f) Other scientific personnel

  Budget for other scientific personnel such as university graduates, graduate physicians and graduate physicians training to be specialists that are needed for the research project that funding is requested for. This module can only be applied for in combination with module 1a and/or 1b. A maximum of € 100,000 can be requested for this. The size of the appointment must be a minimum of 6 months at 1FTE and a maximum of 48 months at 1 FTE. The size of the appointment can be adjusted as necessary, but should always be at least 0.5 FTE or for a duration of at least 12 months. The product of FTE x duration of the appointment should always be equivalent to at least 6 months at 1 FTE.

2. Module Material credit

A maximum of € 15,000 per year per full-time scientific position (modules 1a, 1b and/or 1d) can be applied for, specified according to the three categories stated below:

Project-related goods/services

• consumables (glassware, chemicals, cryogenic fluids, etc.);

• equipment and/or software (e.g. lasers, specialist computers or computer programs, etc.);

• For these small items of equipment and/or software, the amount may not amount to more than € 160,000 per application.

• measurement and calculation time (e.g. supercomputer access, etc.);

• costs for acquiring or using data collections (e.g. from Statistics Netherlands);

• access to large national and international facilities (e.g. cleanrooms, synchrotrons, datasets, etc.);

• work by third parties (e.g. laboratory analyses, data collection, etc.);

• personnel costs smaller in size than those offered in module 1.

Travel and accommodation costs (for the employees for which a personnel grant was requested in modules 1a and 1b)

• travel and accommodation costs (national and international);

• congress visits (max. 2 per year);

• fieldwork;

• work visits.

Implementation costs

• national symposium/conference/workshop organised by the project;

• costs of open access publishing;

• data management costs;

• recruitment costs (incl. advertisement costs);

• costs involved in applying for licences (e.g. for animal experiments);

• audit costs (only for institutions not subject to the Education Auditors Protocl of the Dutch Ministry for Education, Culture and Science): maximum € 5,000 per project; maximum € 2,500 per project for projects of three years or less.

Costs that cannot be applied for are:

• basic facilities within the institution (e.g. laptops, desks, et cetera);

• maintenance and insurance costs.

If the maximum amount of € 15,000 per year per full-time scientific position is not sufficient for realising the research, then it may be deviated from if a clear justification is provided in the proposal. The only exception to this is the amount for small equipment (€ 160,000).

4. Module Valorisation/Impact: a) Knowledge Utilisation

Module 4a) The aim of this module is to facilitate the use of the knowledge¹⁰ that emerges from the research. The contribution requested may be no more than 20% of the total grant requested from NWO and must be specified.

As knowledge utilisation can assume very different forms in the various scientific disciplines, it is up to the applicant to specify which costs are needed, for example for producing an educational package or realising a feasibility study into application possibilities, or the costs of submitting a patent application.

For further information about knowledge utilisation, please see https://www.nwo.nl/en/about-nwo/organisation/nwo-domains/wotro/Impact+toolkit/Impact+toolkit+-+Research+Uptake.

NB: Please keep in mind the requirements regarding impact in the Call.

5. Module Internationalisation: a) Internationalisation; b) Money follows Cooperation

• Module 5a) Internationalisation

  The aim of this module is to encourage international collaboration. The contribution requested may be no more than 20% of the total requested budget from NWO. The amount requested must be specified. If the maximum amount is not sufficient for realising the research, then it may be deviated from if a clear justification is provided in the proposal.

  Funding can be requested for:

  • travel and accommodation costs insofar as these are direct research costs that emerge from the international collaboration and for additional costs that are not covered in a different manner, for example from the bench fee. For an overview of the fixed maximum prices per country, see the listings of the Dutch government (https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/besluiten/2018/09/26/tarieflijst-dienstreizen-buitenland-per-1-oktober-2018).

  • travel and accommodation costs for foreign guest researchers

  • costs for the organisation of international workshops/symposia/scientific meetings.

• Module 5b) Money follows Cooperation (MfC)

  The module Money follows Cooperation offers the possibility to conduct part of the research project at a knowledge institute with a public task outside of the Netherlands.

The applicant must convincingly justify that the researcher from the foreign knowledge institute contributes specific expertise to the project which is not available in the Netherlands at the level required for the project.

This condition is not applicable if NWO has concluded a bilateral agreement regarding Money follows Cooperation with the national research funding agency of the country in which the foreign knowledge institute is located.

The requested budget within this module must be less than 50% of the total budget requested from NWO.

A researcher at a foreign knowledge institute must meet the requirements for co-applicants in paragraph 3.1, with the exception the requirement that he or she must be located within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The applicant receives the grant from NWO, and is responsible for transferring the MfC part of the grant to the foreign knowledge institute, as well as for accounting for this part of the grant towards NWO. The risks associated with the exchange rate are the responsibility of the applicant. Therefore, costs and benefits that result from exchange rates cannot be subsidised. The applicant is responsible for:

• the financial accounting of all costs in both euros and the local currency, in which the utilised exchanged rate should be visible;

• a reasonable fixing of the exchange rate. The applicant must be able to give a description of this reasonable fixing at any time if so requested by NWO.

NWO does not award subsidy to co-applicants abroad who fall under (inter)national sanction laws. The EU Sanctions map (https://www.sanctionsmap.eu) serves as a guideline in this matter.

6.3 Format Letter of Commitment

[Template letter of commitment for consortium organisation]
[The letter should be printed on the stationery of the consortium organisation concerned]
[address main applicant]
Concerns: Letter of Commitment
		[Location], [date]
Dear [name principal investigator],
Through this letter, I confirm that [name consortium organisation] is available and committed to participate in the proposed project, entitled ‘[proposal title]’ which was submitted to the ‘[Title of Call]’.
[outline the availability and commitment of the consortium organisation]
[if applicable, indicate the consortium organisation’s total contribution in cash, or quantify the in kind contribution. This amount should be the same as indicated in the application form.]
Yours sincerely,
[signed by the head of the organisation/department]
Location: [..]	...... [signature]
Date: [..]	[NAME + POSITION]

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1 The Merian Fund is initiated by NWO, and was founded to stimulate long-term collaboration with important (emerging) science nations and increase the contribution and mutual exchange of Dutch knowledge abroad. The Merian Fund focuses on broad scientific themes of societal importance that require a mission-oriented approach. For more information see www.nwo.nl/merianfund

2 See: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals

3 https://www.government.nl/topics/environment/biofuels

4 Research outcome relates to the changes in behaviour, relationships, actions and activities of stakeholders in the business and policy environment, resulting from exchange of knowledge and the uptake of research output.

5 Research output relates to the direct and immediate insights obtained by a research project or programme

6 http://simlitabmas.ristekdikti.go.id

7 https://www.nwo.nl/en/funding/funding+process+explained/salary+tables

8 A format can be found here: https://www.nwo.nl/en/documents/wotro/wotro---format-consortium-agreement

9 For a format, see https://www.nwo.nl/en/documents/wotro/wotro---format-consortium-agreement

10 For the purposes of this module, the definition for “knowledge transfer” as set out in the Framework for State aid for research and development and innovation (OJ 2014, C 198) applies.