Scope of the call

This special call is issued within the WWTF instrument “supplementing measures” (“Ergänzende Instrumente”) specified in the WWTF Funding Guideline.  

Main goals of the call

Leveraging potential in the academic research data landscape: While there have been some substantial investments in digitalization and data infrastructures in the last years (e.g. by the science and research ministry or through calls of FFG), there are often resources forthe human resources missing to fully capitalize on these investments. Good ideas cannot be realized because money and attention is missing. Furthermore, most universities and research institutions have developed digitalization and data strategies which need to be operationalizedimplement via concrete projects and undertakings. This call, thus, also aims to support institutions in their strategic capacity. In this context, it is crucial that applications developed are not one-offs, but need to be maintained and developed beyond the project itself. 

What is the purpose of the applications developed?

The purpose of the tools should be direted towards supporting research activities in broad sense.

What should be the output of the project?

The output should be concrete applications in the form of use cases, best practices, data sandboxes etc. and should include code, models, application prototypes and alike.

Activities that do not count as output:

• The preparation of concrete data sets for secondary / further use
• The creation of a network as a sole output
• Training and education acitivities as the sole output
• The installation of hardware 
• Research that produces data
• Purely text-based outputs such as stategy papers

Defining potential user group

Projects need to define potential user groups of the application developed. Projects should have benefits for wider user groups beyond the context of the project. These user groups can located in the own institution, across institutions as well as for scientific communities.

Sustainability and impact

Proposals need to define how the applications developed can be maintained and further developed beyond the lifespan of the project itself. 

Dissemination and exploitation strategies

Proposals should define in what ways their outputs should be shared, be it either open or in form of licensing (monetarisation). Keep in mind that WWTF prefers open science / open data approaches,approaches according to the FAIR principles, however, monetarisation strategies might be justified in the context of specific projects.    

This call invites researchers from the biomedical, computer and clinical sciences to submit small interdisciplinary research proposals that advance knowledge of the etiopathogenesis, diagnostics and/or therapy of post-acute infectious diseases like ME/CFS. Projects investigating overlapping features from other diseases showing clinical post-exertional malaise are also eligible. This is a special call for exploratory projects that seek to generate preliminary data.

Goals of the call

1. Introduction and State-of-the-art
   
2. Innovativeness and original contribution
3. Research questions, objectives and/or hypotheses
4. Methodological approaches and workplan
5. Expected outcomes and potential next research steps
6. Project team and interdisciplinary collaboration
7. References

Research Data and Data Management

“Research data” in the context of WWTF funded projects include, but are not limited to: study protocols, observations and measurements, results of experiments, metadata, software codes, hyperparameters, images. All research data produced in the context of WWTF-funded projects (i.e., owned by the involved researcher) should be made accessible according to the FAIR principles[6] via a repository to facilitate the reproduction of results. WWTF requires applicants to reflect on data management in the application process.