Call for proposals, WOTRO Impact and Innovation Grants, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

WOTRO Science for Global Development

2020

Contents

1	Introduction		1
	1.1	Background	1
	1.2	Available budget	2
	1.3	Validity of the call for proposals	2
2	Aim		2
3	Guidelines for applicants		2
	3.1	Who can apply	2
	3.2	What can be applied for	4
	3.3	When can applications be submitted	5
	3.4	Preparing an application	5
	3.5	Conditions on granting	6
	3.6	Submitting an application	8
4	Assessment procedure		8
	4.1	Procedure	8
	4.2	Assessment Aspects	9
5	Contact details		10
	5.1	Contact	10
6	Annexes:		10
	6.1	Overview eligible programme’s and call for proposals	10
	6.2	Format Letter of Confirmation	12
	6.3	Format Letter of Support	12

1 Introduction

1.1 Background

NWO stimulates excellent, curiosity-driven, disciplinary, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. In doing this, NWO focuses on all scientific disciplines and on the entire knowledge chain.

WOTRO Science for Global Development – a division of NWO – programmes, funds and monitors innovative research on global issues, with a focus on sustainable development and poverty reduction. NWO-WOTRO’s research projects are realised by interdisciplinary teams of researchers from the Global North and Global South and in close collaboration with non-academic stakeholders. These partnerships yield solutions for development challenges and strengthen the bridge between research, policy and practice.

In the past years, NWO-WOTRO has facilitated the research component within the knowledge platforms of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The knowledge platforms form a robust knowledge base on international cooperation by supporting research and the development and exchange of knowledge. NWO-WOTRO has also initiated several other programmes to fund scientific research that have contributed to solving societal issues in lower and middle income countries on topics closely aligned with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ policies on development cooperation.

Because scientific research often follows unpredictable paths, NWO-WOTRO realises that ideas for new research or for the uptake of research results often emerge at the last stages of the research or even after the research project has formally ended. Also, insights about the relevance and impact of research results change over time. Therefore NWO-WOTRO makes available a minimum of 24 Impact and/or Innovation Grants (up to 50,000 euros) for proposals that build on previously funded NWO- WOTRO projects. This can take one of two forms: either proposals that strengthen research uptake and increase the societal impact of previously funded NWO-WOTRO projects or proposals that want to initiate innovative research derived from the findings of previously funded NWO-WOTRO projects.

Proposals will be distributed amongst these two clusters.

Please note: In the I&IG assessment process, applicants are also assessors: applicants will assess one another’s proposals (see Section 4.1 for the assessment procedure).

1.2 Available budget

WOTRO Impact and Innovation Grants (I&IG) is a one-off programme launched by NWO-WOTRO that builds on the results from the programs of recent years. A budget of € 1.2 million euros is available for awarding WOTRO-I&IG grants.

The available budget will be proportionally distributed between the two clusters (cluster Societal Impact Grants and cluster Innovation Seed Grants) based on the number of applications that are submitted within each cluster. The applications within each cluster will then be divided into two groups (1 and 2). The available budget will be proportionally distributed between these two groups (see Section 4.1 for details on the distribution procedure). If a part of the budget of any group remains unused it will not be passed to the other group.

Applications will be assessed and accepted in accordance with the assessment procedure described in Section 4.1.

1.3 Validity of the call for proposals

This call for proposals is valid until the closing date Tuesday 19 January, 2021, 14:00:00 hours CET. Applications must meet the conditions described in Section 3.1.

2 Aim

The WOTRO Impact and Innovation Grants (I&IG) programme offers researchers from (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO projects the opportunity to strengthen the societal impact of the project or to develop an innovative societally relevant research idea derived from the findings of the project. By investing in (both Global North and Global South) innovative ideas and in societal impact, WOTRO-I&IG will help to fulfil the ambitions of the NWO 2019-2022 Strategy. With this call for proposals, NWO-WOTRO aims to strengthen the societal impact of its (previously) funded research projects by stimulating researchers to build upon the research results in order to strengthen research uptake or to develop new societally relevant research ideas.

Within the WOTRO-I&IG programme, funding is made available without prior budget restrictions. I&IG are available to researchers (former PhD students and postdoc researchers) who were financed by research projects that NWO-WOTRO has funded in recent years; see Section 3.1 for an overview of the selected NWO-WOTRO programmes and Annex 1 for an overview of the call for proposals within these programmes. Applicants should at least hold a doctorate degree and have an appointment period with a research organization¹ in the Netherlands or any other country for the entire term of the I&IG project (see for additional requirements Section 3.1).

Applicants should clearly explain that their proposal builds on the results of the research project on which they were funded by NWO-WOTRO in recent years by focusing on strengthening and increasing the societal impact of the research projects or on developing a new and innovative research idea that stems from the findings of the project. This is possible by:

• Attention for the societal impact of research through (innovative) activities that lead to better and broader use of knowledge and/or to upscaling/outscaling the research results by also testing the results for other target groups or areas and adapting them to other circumstances (Cluster Societal Impact Grants);

• Developing a new and innovative societally relevant research idea that stems from one of the findings of the previously funded NWO-WOTRO project (Cluster Innovation Seed Grants). These can, but are not restricted to, address new circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

3 Guidelines for applicants

3.1 Who can apply

Researchers² can submit an application if they:

• Hold a doctorate;

• And are a former PhD or postdoc researcher financed by an eligible (see below) previously funded NWO-WOTRO research project from which they use the research results for their current proposal. This should be confirmed in the letter of confirmation by the former Principal Investigator (and/or main applicant) of the previously funded NWO-WOTRO research project;

• And are employed (i.e. hold a salaried position) at one of the following organisations:

  • Universities established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands;

  • University medical centres;

  • University of applied sciences funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (funded in accordance with Article 1.8 of the law on higher education and scientific research);

  • NWO and KNAW institutes;

  • TO2 institutes;

  • the Netherlands Cancer Institute;

  • the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen;

  • the DUBBLE Beamline at the ESRF in Grenoble;

  • NCB Naturalis;

  • Advanced Research Centre for NanoLithography (ARCNL);

  • Princess Máxima Center;

  • IHE Delft Institute for Water Education.

  If the applicant is affiliated to a research organisation not listed above, the research organisation³

  must meet the following cumulative criteria:

  • I. is a public institute and carries out its research independently;

  • II. receives at least 50% public funding;

  • III. is not-for-profit other than for the purpose of carrying out further research;

  • IV. its researchers enjoy freedom of publication in international scientific journals.

  Please note: All research organisations must be registered as a legal entity.

  If you are employed by a Non-Dutch research organisation these conditions will be assessed by NWO prior to submission of the application. To this end, the applicant must submit the following documents by email to WOTRO-iig@nwo.nl no later than 17 December 2020:

  • a proof of registration of the research organisation as a legal entity;

  • the deed of incorporation, articles of association or other formal document indicating the public task and the non-profit status.

• And have an appointment period at this organisation for at least the duration of the application procedure and the entire duration of the research for which the grant is being applied for⁴. Personnel with a zero-hour appointment is excluded from applying. Applicants do not need to have a permanent position.

Additional conditions:

• There is one applicant per proposal; co-applicants are not permitted.

• Each applicant can only submit one proposal in response to this call.

• The I&IG proposal should build on the results of a research project within a specific NWO-WOTRO research program that was funded by NWO-WOTRO in recent years. Only proposals based on projects which are (or have been) part of the following programmes and have a starting date between 1 January 2007 and 1 January 2018, and with a minimum duration of the project of six months, are eligible (See Annex 1 for a list of Call for Proposals within these programme)⁵:

  • Agriculture beyond food;

  • Assumptions (New Roles of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for Inclusive Development);

  • Conflict and Cooperation over Natural resources in developing countries (COCOON);

  • Cooperation and Conflict in the Management of Climate Change (CCMCC);

  • East Kalimantan Coastal Zone;

  • ERAfrica;

  • Food & Business (Global Challenges Programme (GCP) and Applied Research Fund (ARF));

  • Global Health Policy and Health Systems Research (GHPHSR);

  • Integrated Programmes;

  • Joint MFS II Evaluations of development interventions;

  • NACCAP2;

  • Migration, Development & Conflict;

  • Population, Reproductive Health and Economic Development (PopDev);

  • Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) (only the WOTRO related projects);

  • Research on Inclusive Development in Sub Sahara Africa (RIDSSA);

  • Science for Using Research (SURe);

  • Security and Rule of Law SRoL (Strategic Research Fund (SRF) & Applied Research Fund (ARF – part of the projects⁶));

  • Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR);

  • SANPAD;

  • TASENE;

  • Urbanising Deltas of the World (UDW I and II).

• Letter of Confirmation of the former Principal Investigator (and/or main applicant) of the (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO project, stating that the applicant has been involved in and whose salary was paid or received an allowance by the project. Applicants should discuss whether there are any Intellectual property (IP)-related issues with the Principal Investigator (and/or main applicant) whose research results they intend to use for their proposals. NWO expects applicants to take care of any possible IP-related issues prior to applying for funding under this call for proposals.

• Before start of the project: Letter of Support of research organisation⁷ (see format Annex 6.3), start form and data management plan.

3.2 What can be applied for

The subsidy has a minimum amount of 20,000 euros and a maximum amount of 50,000 euros per project. The minimum duration of a project is six months and the maximum duration is two years.

For WOTRO-I&IG there are no requirements or obligations on the type of activities. All activities that strengthen the societal impact of the earlier research results or focus on developing an innovative societally relevant research idea that stems from the findings of the (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO project are eligible for funding. This means that any type of activity suited to execute the proposed project is possible as long as it builds on the research results of the eligible NWO-WOTRO projects. This might include forms of public engagement, forms of communication (from policy briefs to podcast or plays), upscaling activities, seed money for developing an innovative research idea on basis of the results of the (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO project, etc. Applicants are required to draw up a realistic budget and explain why the spending choices are relevant to the project. Please note: you can only request budget for new activities, not for activities that have already been started or executed in the previously funded NWO-WOTRO project.

Project costs

Only project-specific costs can be funded. These can be divided into the following categories:

• I. Personnel costs;

• II. Material costs;

• III. Travel costs.

There are no restrictions on these categories, i.e. any division of the total requested budget amongst these three categories is allowed. Costs that cannot be applied for are: basic facilities within the institution (e.g. desks, accommodation costs, overhead costs, etc.) and maintenance and insurance costs. Co-funding is not allowed within this call.

The proposed spending of the requested budget must be described in the budget table and should be clarified. The proposed spending of the budget should support the proposed project and execution. The applicants/assessors will assess this as one of the assessment aspects (Section 4.2).

If personnel costs are made, the following tariffs must be used for different organisations:

• Personnel from a Dutch university

  For university appointments, the salary costs are funded in accordance with the VSNU salary tables applicable at the moment the grant is awarded (www.nwo.nl/salary-tables).

  For university medical centres, the salary costs are funded in accordance with the NFU salary tables applicable at the moment the grant is awarded (www.nwo.nl/salary-tables).

• Personnel from Dutch universities of applied sciences and other Dutch institutions

  For personnel from Dutch universities of applied sciences and other Dutch institutions, the salary costs are funded on the basis of the collective labour agreement salary scale of the employee concerned, based on the Handleiding Overheidstarieven 2017, table 2.2 (Integrale loonkostentabel), column ‘kostendekkend tarief per uur’.

• Personnel from the Caribbean Netherlands

  For the Caribbean Netherlands, the Dutch government employs civil servants on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba under different conditions than in the European part of the Netherlands. (https://www.rijksdienstcn.com/werken-bij-rijksdienst-caribisch-nederland/arbeidsvoorwaarden)

• Personnel from research organisations outside the Netherlands

  Salaries for personnel should be guided by the organisations’ norms and legal regulations, based on the salary of the candidate (non-commercial full cost rates). NWO reserves the right to ask for the wage specification in the organisation. Note that VAT and all other taxes are included in the grant.

A WOTRO-I&IG project must start no later than three months after the grant has been allocated and will have a duration of a minimum of six months and a maximum of two years. The grant will be provided in the form of a lump sum.

NWO assumes that the applicant’s research organisation has been informed of the grant application and that the research organisation accepts the grant conditions of this programme.

3.3 When can applications be submitted

The deadline for the submission of proposals is Tuesday 19 January, 2021, 14:00:00 hours CET.

When you submit your proposal to ISAAC you will also have to enter additional details online. You should therefore start submitting your proposal at least one day before the deadline of this call for proposals. Proposals submitted after the deadline will not be taken into consideration.

3.4 Preparing an application

• Download the application form, the basic details form (including questions about data management) and the format for the letter of confirmation (see also Annex 6.2 for the letter format) from the electronic application system ISAAC or from NWO’s website;

• Complete the application form and the basic details form (including questions about data management), following the instructions. It must be filled out in English;

• Complete the letter of confirmation, following the instructions (see below the requirements for the letter). It must be filled out in English;

• Save the completed application form as a PDF file and upload it to ISAAC;

• Please upload the basic details form and the letter of confirmation as separate PDF documents in ISAAC;

• Please note: If you are employed by a Non-Dutch organisation you are requested to deliver proof (preferable in English) of this research registration⁸ as a legal entity and a formal document (the deed of incorporation, articles of association or another formal document) indicating the public task and the non-profit status of this organisation. These documents must be submitted by email to WOTRO-iig@nwo.nl no later than 17 December 2020.

Requirements letter of confirmation of the principal investigator (and/or main applicant) of the (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO project (as specified in Section 3.1):

• Please use the provided format (see Annex 6.2, it could also be downloaded from NWO’s website);

• It should be addressed to the applicant of the I&IG;

• It should confirm that the I&IG-applicant is a former PhD or postdoc financed by the (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO project as specified in Section 3.1;

• It must be signed by the principal investigator (and/or main applicant) of the (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO project.

Please consider the following points when submitting your application:

• Applicants for an Impact and Innovation grant agree to assess proposals from other applicants in this round. If NWO-WOTRO does not receive the assessment reports before the set deadline, the assessor’s own proposal will be excluded from the procedure. See Section 4.1 for the procedure;

• The proposal will be assessed anonymously⁹. You will only insert your name in the online submission system ISAAC and on the basic detail form, but not on the application form. In this way NWO will know to whom a proposal belongs. This information however will not be provided to the assessors. Take notice not to include your name, gender, your research organisation, an obvious reference to your research group or any references to yourself on the application form;

• Applicants/assessors should be aware of the fact that proposals will be assessed by a broad audience and they conduct assessments for proposals of researchers from other scientific disciplines. Therefore, your proposal should be written with a broad audience in mind. The proposal should thus be readable and understandable for persons outside your own area of expertise.

3.5 Conditions on granting

Applicants assess one another

In this call, applicants will assess the proposals of other applicants for this grant. By submitting a proposal, you agree to assess other proposals. At various moments in the assessment process, applicants will have to fulfil different tasks.

If the given deadlines for these tasks will not be met by an applicant, the proposal of that applicant will be removed from the assessment procedure. The tasks are:

• Reacting to the eligibility check of your own proposal. This only applies if the proposal is not directly declared eligible.

• Submitting personal (conflicts of) interest regarding other proposals.

• Assessing other proposals and sending in the assessment reports within the specified timeline. For the full procedure, see Section 4.1.

Start of the project

Funded projects should start no later than three months after the decision of the WOTRO Steering Committee. The project can start if the following documents have been received and approved by NWO- WOTRO:

• A start form;

• A data management plan;

• A letter of support of the applicant’s research organisation.

Please note: the applicant’s research organisation should provide a letter of support (see format Annex 6.3) before the start of the project. The requirements for the letter of support of the research organisation are:

• It should be addressed to the applicant of the I&IG.

• It should confirm the current appointment (including the amount of time in fte) of the I&IG- applicant at the research organisation.

• It should be signed by the Dean of the faculty or director of the organisation and be printed on the letterhead of the research organisation.

Sharing results

NWO-WOTRO finds it important that the results of I&IG projects are shared, including those projects that do not produce the anticipated results. For every project, a public summary will be published online. Within two months after project completion, the main applicant will be asked to write a short summary of project proceedings, including a clear overview of the (positive and/or negative) results.

Research Integrity and Research ethics

All research funded by NWO must be carried out in accordance with nationally and internationally accepted standards of scientific practice as laid down in the ‘Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity’ (2018). In order to guide research activities in – and with partners from – developing countries, consortia funded in this call also have to adhere to the ‘Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings’. In case research is conducted in fragile states, it is advised to consult the ‘Security Guidelines for field research in complex, remote and hazardous places’.

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 the respective developing countries must be adhered to if required and applicable. Applicants must subscribe to and comply with the prevailing codes.

For complex questions related to ethical issues, NWO reserves the right to consult an external adviser. If after consulting the applicant, NWO is 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.

Open Access

As a signatory to the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003), NWO is committed to making the results of scientific research funded by NWO freely available in open access on the internet. In doing so, NWO is implementing the ambitions of the Dutch government to make all publicly funded research openly available. All scientific publications of research funded on the basis of this call for proposals should therefore be available in open access immediately (at the time of publication). NWO accepts various routes:

• publication in a full open access journal,

• deposit a version of the article in a repository or

• publication in a hybrid journal covered by one of the agreements between the VSNU and publishers. See www.openaccess.nl.

Any costs for publication in full open access journals can be incurred in the project budget. NWO does not reimburse costs for publications in hybrid journals. These conditions apply to all

forms of scholarly publications arising from grants awarded on the basis of this call for proposals. Also academic monographs, edited volumes, proceedings and book chapters. For more information on the NWO's open access policy, see: https://www.nwo.nl/en/policies/open+science.

Data management

The results of scientific research must be replicable, verifiable and falsifiable. In the digital age this means that, in addition to publications, research data must also be freely accessible. As much as possible, NWO expects that research data resulting from NWO-funded projects will be made publicly available for reuse by other researchers. “As open as possible, as closed as necessary” is the guiding principle in this respect. As a minimum, NWO requires that the data underpinning research papers should be made available in an appropriate format at the time of the article’s publication. The costs for doing so are eligible for funding and can be included in the project budget. In the data management section, and in the data management template if the project is awarded funding, researchers explain how they plan to manage the data expected to be generated by the project.

• 1. Data management section

  The data management section is part of the research proposal (for this call it is included in the basic details form). Researchers are asked to prospectively consider how they will manage the data the project will generate and plan for which data will be preserved and be made publicly available. Measures will often need to be taken during the production and analysis of the data to make their later storage and dissemination possible. If not all data from the project can be made publicly available, the reasons for not doing so must be explained in the data management section. Due consideration is given to aspects such as privacy, public security, ethical limitations, property rights and commercial interests.

• 2. Data management plan

  After a proposal has been awarded funding, the researcher should elaborate the data management section into a data management plan. In this plan, the researcher describes whether use will be made of existing data, whether new data will collected or generated, and how the data will be made FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. The data management plan must be completed in consultation with a data steward or equivalent research data management support staff at the home institution of the project leader. The plan should be submitted to NWO via ISAAC within three months after the proposal has been awarded funding. NWO will approve the plan as quickly as possible. 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 on the NWO data management protocol can be found at www.nwo.nl/datamanagement-en.

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 assumes that researchers will take all necessary actions with respect to the Nagoya Protocol.

3.6 Submitting an application

An application can only be submitted to NWO via the online application system ISAAC. Applications not submitted via ISAAC will not be taken into consideration.

An applicant must submit his/her application via his/her own ISAAC account. If the applicant does not have an ISAAC account yet, then this should be created at least one day (but preferably at least five working days) before the application is submitted to ensure that any registration problems can be resolved on time. If the applicant already has an NWO-account, then he/she does not need to create a new account to submit an application.

When submitting your proposal in ISAAC, you also need to enter information online. Therefore start submitting your proposals at least one day before the deadline of the call. Proposals not submitted via ISAAC will not be taken into consideration.

Please note: If you work for an organisation that is not part of the ISAAC database, please send an e- mail to relatiebeheer@nwo.nl. We will add your organisation to the database. As this can take a few days, report the organisation missing at least five working days before the submission deadline.

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

4 Assessment procedure

4.1 Procedure

The NWO Code for Dealing with Personal Interests (Conflict of Interest) applies to all persons and NWO staff involved in the assessment and/or decision-making process. See also: www.nwo.nl/en/code.

Timetable

19 January 2021, 14:00:00 hours CET	Deadline for applications
19 January – 29 January 2021	Eligibility check Identification of possible personal (conflict of) interest
4 February 2021	Send applications to assessors
4 February – 4 March 2021	Assessment of applications
4 March 2021	NWO-WOTRO receives assessment reports
Second half of March 2021	Decision by WOTRO Steering Committee
Second half of March 2021	NWO informs applicant about the decision
No later than 3 months after decision date	Project start date
Maximum 2 years after start date	Project end date

Eligibility

The first step in the assessment procedure is to test whether the application is eligible for consideration. The NWO-WOTRO office will assess the application for completeness on behalf of the WOTRO Steering Committee. Only applications that meet the conditions described in Chapter 3 will be considered.

If the application needs to be corrected to meet the conditions, the applicant will be given the opportunity to do so within 48 hours. Applications that are not corrected within the 48-hour deadline will not be processed. If approved, the corrected application will be included in the procedure.

Assessments by applicants

NWO is seeking new assessment methods and already has experience with the method that applicants are also assessors; applicants will assess one another’s proposals: the procedure has been piloted in the call for proposals ‘NWO Open Competition Domain Science – XS’.

For the proposals that have passed the eligibility check, the following assessment procedure will be used:

• The applications will be divided into two clusters (cluster Societal Impact Grants and cluster Innovation Seed Grants) on the basis of the cluster indicated by the applicants on the application forms. The available budget will be proportionally distributed between the two clusters on basis of the number of applications that are submitted within each cluster.

• Within each of the two clusters, two groups will be made that assess each other (for example, within cluster Societal Impact Grants, group Impact1 and group Impact2). The available budget will be proportionally distributed between these two groups.

• For each cluster the personal (conflict of) interests will be requested in the following manner: each applicant/assessor will receive the list of names and organisations of all proposals in that cluster, without project titles or file numbers. The proposals will never be assigned to someone who has a personal interest with that application. In addition, when for example applicant A has a personal interest with the application of applicant B, the application of applicant B will never be assigned to applicant A and vice versa.

• The applications in group 1 are assessed by the applicants in group 2 and the applications in group 2 are assessed by the applicants in group 1. To this end, the applications in group 1 are randomly assigned to the applicants in group 2 and the applications in group 2 are randomly assigned to the applicants in group 1. This means that every assessing applicant (hereinafter ‘assessor’) will receive a number of applications from the part of the set that does not include his/her own application. The applications are distributed over the assessors randomly, i.e. the subject matter of the applications and expertise of the assessors are not taken into account. For the distribution, the NWO Code for Dealing with Personal Interests will be applied and if possible, all applications will be assessed by the same number of assessors (6-10).

• All applications are prepared anonymously. Thus, the applicant’s name, gender, an obvious reference to research group/organisation and any references to the applicant self are not mentioned in the proposal to ensure the assessor can make an unbiased assessment of the quality of the proposal.

The assessment report

Each assessor will rank the applications he/she needs to assess based on the assessment aspects described in Section 4.2, whereby the applications must all be allocated a different rank. The assessor writes a report for each application, giving the rank and a short written explanation.

Assessors will receive detailed instructions as well as a set of questions for the assessment.

Assessors must submit their reports within four weeks. If an assessor fails to do so, the assessor’s own application will be withdrawn from the procedure.

Decision-making

The assessors/applicants will not and may not meet to discuss their findings. The NWO-WOTRO office will decide on the overall ranking of the applications per group based on the rankings submitted by the assessors. Two rankings will be established per cluster; one for group 1 and one for group 2. There will be no opportunity for a rebuttal.

The NWO-WOTRO Steering Committee will decide whether to grant or refuse an application based on the results of the four rankings and the available financial means. Applicants will be informed of the results once the NWO-WOTRO Steering Committee has completed the decision-making process. In addition to the final ranking, the applicants will also receive the assessment reports of their proposal: this includes the rank and the explanation provided by each assessor.

General

Tight rankings

In case of a tight ranking of two or more applications, the following principles will apply in this order:

• an application by a female applicant will have preference;

• the application with the highest number of high rankings will have preference.

Data management

Researchers whose proposals have been awarded must submit a data management plan. The project can start as soon as the data management plan and other requested documents (see Section 3.5) has been approved by NWO.

4.2 Assessment Aspects

To make the ranking, the assessor looks at all assessment aspects for the specific cluster as listed below. The assessor looks at the assessment aspects to judge the proposal and makes the ranking based on them.

Proposals are anonymous to ensure that the judgement is solely based on quality of the project.

Assessment Aspects – Cluster Societal Impact Grants Potential societal impact

• The applicant shows how the proposed project uses and builds upon the results of the previous or ongoing NWO-WOTRO research project;

• The proposed project shows potential for societal impact (e.g. addresses an important societal challenge and/or has a clear and realistic strategy for achieving societal impact);

• Relevant target group(s) have been clearly identified, an appropriate way to reach out to this group(s) is specified, and also the potential benefits for this group(s).

Feasibility of the project plan

• The proposed project is designed in such a way that it can be effectively executed within the proposed timeframe;

• The proposed project is ambitious yet realistic;

• The proposed project budget is realistic and supports the design of the project.

Assessment Aspects – Cluster Innovation Seed Grants Societal relevance

• The applicant shows how the proposed project uses and builds upon the results of the previous or ongoing NWO-WOTRO research project;

• The proposed project has clear societal relevance.

Innovativeness

• The proposed project is creative and innovative (e.g. elaboration of novel concepts and/or approaches, development across disciplines).

Feasibility of the project plan

• The proposed project is designed in such a way that it can be effectively executed within the proposed timeframe;

• The proposed project is ambitious yet realistic;

• The proposed project budget is realistic and supports the design of the project.

5 Contact details

5.1 Contact

5.1.1 Specific questions

For specific questions about WOTRO Impact and Innovation Grants (I&IG) and this call for proposals please contact:

Petra Griffioen MSc

Email: WOTRO-iig@nwo.nl

Phone: + 31 (0)70-344 09 76

We recommend that you first read the list with frequently asked questions (FAQ) on the funding page.

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 CE(S)T 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:

6.1 Overview eligible programme’s and call for proposals

Previously funded programme by NWO-WOTRO	If applicable: Specification eligible Call for proposals[1]
Agriculture beyond food
Assumptions(New Roles of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for Inclusive Development)	Supporting the Political Role of Civil Society Organisations for Inclusive Development – 2017 (1st call)
Conflict and Cooperation over Natural resources in developing countries(COCOON)
Cooperation and Conflict in the Management of Climate Change(CCMCC)
East Kalimantan Coastal Zone	• First call – Berau[2] • Second call – Mahakam[2]
ERAfrica
Food & Business Research(Global Challenges Programme (GCP) and Applied Research Fund (ARF))	Food & Business Global Challenges Programme (GCP) • Enhancing Food Security through Research Partnerships – 1st Call GCP – 2013 • Inclusive Business and Regional Trade for Food Security 2014 – 2nd call for proposals – Integrated Projects and Fast Track Research • Transformation of food systems with a focus on sustainability and urbanization – 3rd call for Proposals, 2015 – Integrated Projects and Fast Track Research • Scaling up Climate Smart Agriculture – 2017 4th call Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF) • 1st call for proposals (2013-2014) • Second Call for Proposals 2014/2015 • Third Call for Proposals 2016
Global Health Policy and Health Systems Research(GHPHSR)	• First call • Second call • Third call
Integrated Programmes	• Integrated Programmes 2007 • Integrated Programmes 2008 • Integrated Programmes 2009
	• Integrated Programmes 2010
Joint MFS II Evaluations of development interventions	• Evaluations at country level (for Bangladesh, DR Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Pakistan and Uganda). • Synthesis of evaluations at country level. • Evaluation of international lobbying & advocacy.
NACCAP2	NACCAP-2 call
Migration, Development & Conflict
Population, Reproductive Health and Economic Development(PopDev)	Population, reproductive health and economic development “PopDev” (only NWO-WOTRO funded projects) The impacts of reproductive health and population dynamics on poverty and economic growth. • Call 1[2] • Call 2[2]
Antimicrobial Resistance(AMR)	• Call Priority Medicines AMR, 2013 (only the WOTRO related projects)[2]
Research for Inclusive Development in Sub Sahara Africa(RIDSSA)	• Productive Employment – Research for Inclusive Development in Sub-Saharan Africa – 2013 • Strategic Actors for Inclusive Development – Research for Inclusive Development in Sub-Saharan Africa – 2014 • Social protection – Research for Inclusive Development in Sub-Saharan Africa – 2014
Science for Using Research(SURe)
Security and Rule of Law in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings(SRoL) (Strategic Research Fund (SRF) and Applied Research Fund (ARF))	Strategic Research Fund • Call for proposals for Strategic Research on Employment for Stability (SRF1) – 2014 • Call for proposals on Comprehensive Approaches to Human Security in Fragile and Conflict Affected Settings: Transnational Dimensions (SRF3) – 2015 Applied Research Fund • Call for proposals for Applied Research on Embedding Justice in Power and Politics (ARF1) – 2014 • Open Call for evidence-based policy advice and tools (ARF2) – 2015 • Call for applied research on the influence of transnational challenges in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings (ARF4) – 2015 • Call for applied research on addressing mixed migration flows (ARF5) – 2016 • Call for Applied Research on the Political Dilemma of Legitimate Stability (ARF6) – 2018
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights(SRHR)	• Call for proposals on SRHR research in Bangladesh & Burundi – 2014 • Call for proposals on SRHR research in Bangladesh – reopening of 1st call – 2015 • Call for proposals on SRHR Research in Jordan – 2016
SANPAD	projects with a starting date between 1 January 2007 and 1 January 2018[2]
TASENE
Urbanising Deltas of the World(UDW I and II)	• Call for proposals on Urbanising Deltas of the World (UDW I) – 2013 • Call for proposals on Urbanising Deltas of the World – 2nd Call for proposals (UDW II) – 2015

1 See overview of NWO-WOTRO funded project on the NWO-WOTRO programme webpage (you can use the links to the programme pages that are included in this annex)

2 See NWO programme webpage for eligible project(s)

6.2 Format Letter of Confirmation

[address main applicant]

Concerns: Letter of Confirmation

[Location], [date]

Dear [name main applicant],

Through this letter, I confirm that you, [name main applicant] from [name research organisation], are a (former) [ of which I am the (former) [select: PhD or Postdoc] financed by the (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO project (specified below) of which I am the (former) [Principal Investigator and/or main applicant].

The proposed project is entitled ‘[proposal title]’, and is submitted to the ‘Impact and Innovation Grants’. The proposed project builds on the previously funded NWO-WOTRO project ‘[project title]’ part of the NWO- WOTRO programme ‘[title programme]’.

Yours sincerely,

[signed by the former Principal investigator and/or main applicant of (previously) funded NWO-WOTRO project]

Location: [...]

Date: [...]

[signature]

[NAME Principial investigator and/or main applicant]

6.3 Format Letter of Support

The letter should be printed on the stationary (letterhead_ of the research organisation concerned]

[address main applicant] Concerns: Support letter

[Location], [date]

Dear [name main applicant],

Through this letter, I confirm that you, [name main applicant], have an appointment of [amount of time in fte] fte at [name research organisation] for the entire duration of the proposed project (expected end date of project: [month and year]) which was submitted to the ‘Impact and Innovation Grants’ of NWO-WOTRO. Furthermore, I confirm that you are available and committed to participate in the proposed project, entitled ‘[proposal title]’.

Yours sincerely,

[signed by the Dean of the faculty or head/director of the organisation]

Location: [...]

Date: [...]

[signature]

[NAME + POSITION]

[NAME RESEARCH ORGANISATION]

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1 For a list and definition of ‘research organisation’, see Section 3.1.

2 In this Call for Proposals, the word ‘researcher’ covers both men and women.

3 If you have any questions about whether your organisation meets the requirements of ‘researh organisation’ as defined in this call, please contact the NWO-WOTRO office (see Section 5.1). Furthermore, NWO-WOTRO reserves the right to request relevant documents as proof that the organisation meets the requirements of a research organisation as defined in this call.

4 If you use the budget to cover your own salary you are allowed to apply if you have a salaried employment contract with an end date on or after the decision date of the grant. If awarded, you can then use the I&IG budget to extend your contract – conditional to an agreement of your organisation outlined in the letter of support (see Annex 6.3).

5 If you have any questions about whether the previously funded NWO-WOTRO project on which you were financed meets the requirements of this call, please contact the NWO-WOTRO office (see Section 5.1).

6 Proposals based on projects funded within the SRoL ‘Call for Applied Research on the Political Dilemma of Legitimate

Stability’ (ARF6) are also eligible. Proposals based on projects funded within the SRoL ‘Call for evidence-informed ideas: Responses of the international community towards new threats and challenges’ (ARF3) are not eligible.

7 Please note: NWO assumes that the applicant’s research organisation has been informed of the grant application and that the research organisation accepts the grant conditions of this programme.

8 For a definition of ‘research organisation’, see Section 3.1

9 The applicant’s name and gender are not mentioned in the proposal to ensure the assessor can make an unbiased assessment of the proposal based on the quality of the proposed project.