ICT Call 2025

• ICT25 / Call Facts
• ICT25 / Call Specifications
• ICT25 / Scope of the call
• ICT25 / Submission
• ICT25 / Eligibility of applicants and roles in the project
• ICT25 / Joint Projects with partners in Lower Austria
• ICT25 / Content and structure of the proposal
• ICT25 / Evaluation criteria
• ICT25 / Eligible costs
• ICT25 / Gender aspects in the application phase
• ICT25 / Guidelines for good scientific practice and ethics
• ICT25 / Open Science
• ICT25 / Use of generative AI in the application process
• ICT25 / Selection and decision process
• ICT25 / Funding contract
• ICT25 / Community Building
• ICT25 / Monitoring and reporting
• ICT25 / Submission Guideline / Full Proposal
• ICT25 / Submission Process
• ICT25 / Login and go to your proposal
• ICT25 / Update information about PIs
• ICT25 / Overview of chapters
• ICT25 / Details of chapters
• ICT25 / Signatures
• ICT25 / Proposal submission
• ICT25 / Applicant Response Phase
• ICT25 / Important documents
• ICT25 / Contact

ICT25 / Call Facts

This is a call for cutting-edge research projects that seek to improve understanding of a fundamental question in ICT. 

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Scope of the Call

This call is open to researchers from all areas of ICT. Projects should address fundamental, hypothesis-driven research questions, develop and apply cutting-edge methodology, and present a clearly defined research plan. Project topics may range from theoretical computer science to the intersection of ICT with other domains (e.g. health, energy, industry, transport, finance and other societal issues). Proposals should focus on advancing basic knowledge in ICT while laying the foundations for future high-impact applications. Projects may be focused within a single discipline or be interdisciplinary in nature.

Who can apply?

• Core research team of up to three principal investigators (PIs)
• The coordinating PI must be based at a university or research institute in Vienna
• Co-PIs may be based outside of Vienna (funding limited to 20% of total budget)
• Co-PIs from Lower Austria may apply for up to 49% of the overall budget (Joint Project) 

Project Duration

24-48 months

Funding             

• Call budget: € 8 million

• Project budget: € 500,000 to € 800,000 (Joint Projects up to € 880,000) 

• Personnel and non-personnel costs may be claimed
• Maximum 25% non-personnel costs
• Up to 20% overhead costs 

Timeline

• Short Proposal deadline: February 11, 2025, 2pm CET
• Full Proposal deadline: May 6, 2025, 2pm CET
• Applicant response phase: between August 11 – 24, 2025 (exact dates TBD)
• Expected funding decision: September 2025 

• Project start: latest January 2026 

Process

• Two-stage selection process
• International jury
• International peer review
• Application via WWTF Funding Portal 

ICT25 / Call Specifications

ICT25 / Scope of the call

This call seeks to enable cutting-edge projects that improve the understanding of fundamental research questions in ICT, thus enhancing the international visibility of Vienna’s innovative ICT research landscape, 

This call is open to researchers from all areas of ICT. Projects should address fundamental, hypothesis-driven research questions, develop and apply cutting-edge methodology, and present a clearly defined research plan. Project topics may range from theoretical computer science to the intersection of ICT with other domains (e.g. health, energy, industry, transport, finance and other societal issues). Proposals should focus on advancing basic knowledge in ICT while laying the foundations for future high-impact applications. Projects may be focused within a single discipline or be interdisciplinary in nature.

ICT25 / Submission

To submit a proposal in this call, please go to the WWTF Funding Portal.

Important information for your submission

Proposal deadline: February 11th, 2025, 2pm CET

• All core team members i.e., coordinating PI (PI&C) and co-PIs, may access and edit the proposal.
• Only the PI&C can submit the proposal.
• Signatures of the authorised signatories of each PI&C and co-PI institution are required in the application process.
• All proposals must be submitted in English.

Details on the submission process can be found in this section.

ICT25 / Eligibility of applicants and roles in the project

The general eligibility of applicants is specified in the WWTF Funding Guideline (in German only).

A project’s core team may include up to three Principal Investigators (PIs). This includes a PI&C and up to two co-PIs. 

• Core team members may share equal management and scientific roles in the project.
• The core team must have an excellent scientific track record that demonstrates the ability to conduct the proposed research project.
• WWTF especially encourages young and female scientists to apply as PI.
• Each core team member must submit a CV, which will form part of the evaluation.
• A researcher may appear as a core team member (i.e., PI&C, co-PI) in a maximum of two proposals in this call. In case of three or more proposals with the same PI, WWTF will accept the first two proposals submitted. Involvement in other past / ongoing / granted WWTF projects does not impact upon eligibility to apply in this call.

One PI must be designated as PI&C.

• For legal and administrative reasons (funding contract, reporting), WWTF requires a PI&C to be named. The PI&C will be the contact person for WWTF regarding all aspects of the project.
• The PI&C must have an affiliation at a Viennese research institution, which will serve as a legal contract partner. This also applies to researchers moving to Vienna, who will have a Viennese affiliation in case of funding.
• The PI&C should be an expert in an area relevant to the topic of the proposal. He/she must have an excellent scientific track record and a proven capability to manage projects.

Up to two co-PIs may also be named in the core team.

• WWTF recognizes that co-PIs may have equally significant scientific roles in the project. However, the PI&C will be regarded as the main contact person for the project.
• Co-PIs may be based in Vienna, Lower Austria or elsewhere (in Austria or internationally) in fulfillment of the requirements of regular WWTF projects or Joint Projects (see below).

Additional project partners and collaborators are permitted in the research team. They can be added by name in the full proposal stage.

• No industry involvement is required. Industry partners are not eligible for funding, but may partake with in-kind or financial contribution.
• Non-academic collaboration partners (e.g., NGOs) may be part of the research team. However, the core team members and the majority of additional team members in the proposal should have an academic background.

Research partners outside Vienna:

• For regular WWTF projects, project partners outside of Vienna may receive up to 20% of the total requested funding.
• This call operates under the “Joint Projects” agreement with the Province of Lower Austria. 

ICT25 / Joint Projects with partners in Lower Austria

WWTF welcomes Joint Project (JP) applications between Viennese and Lower Austrian universities and research institutions in this call. The aims of this initiative are to promote research cooperation between Lower Austria and Vienna on equal terms and to strengthen cooperation of research institutions in the Vienna region.

• To incentivize the cooperation, the total maximum funding amount for a JP consortium is € 880,000 (i.e., an additional € 80,000 compared to the maximum for a regular WWTF project).
• The PI&C must be affiliated to a Vienna research institution.
•  At least one Co-PI must be affiliated to a research institution in Lower Austria.
• The share of the overall funding allocated to research institutions in Lower Austria must be between 20% and 49%. In case that the share is <20%, the project is considered as a regular WWTF project and is thus not eligible for the higher maximum funding amount.
• The Lower Austrian share is financed by the Province of Lower Austria. Hence, the Lower Austrian project partner must comply with the Lower Austrian Culture Promotion Act 1996 and the directives issued on the basis thereof. Further details will be provided in the funding contract.
• Partners outside Vienna or Lower Austria are also possible and may request up to 20% of the total budget. However, the share of the budget allocated to partner(s) in Vienna must not be lower than 51%.
• Regional branches of Viennese Institutions (e.g., BOKU, VetMed, AIT) located in Lower Austria are considered as Vienna-based in the context of WWTF funding activities.

A conversion between JPs and regular WWTF projects is not possible between the short and full proposal phases.

ICT25 / Content and structure of the proposal

The content and structure of the proposal are defined and specified in the submission guideline. Please register and create a proposal to learn more about the details via our Funding Portal. An overview of the main parts of the short and full proposal is provided below:

Short Proposal	Full proposal
Abstract (EN)	Lay summary and scientific abstract
Project description (about 4-5 pages): outline of the main scientific research idea and approach	Project description (about 12-15 pages): elaboration on the research idea and approach (upload of PDF, template with structure is provided)
Project core team: with CVs and publications lists (upload of PDF, template with structure is provided)	Project team and further collaboration partners: with CVs and publications lists for the core team members (upload of PDF, template with structure is provided)
Budget overview	Detailed budget
Signatures: required from the researchers and the institutions of the core team members	Signatures: required from the researchers and all participating institutes

Please note that the short proposal is intended for a jury panel with expertise covering a range of proposals, while the full proposal is primarily aimed at experts in the specific topics of the proposal.

ICT25 / Evaluation criteria

The following criteria are used in the evaluation.

• Scope: is the project within the scope of the call? Projects that are not within the thematic scope will be immediately rejected by the jury, regardless of scientific quality. 
  

The key criteria in the evaluation of proposals are scientific excellence. In detail, this means:

• Innovative character of the proposed research project: Does the proposed research work meet the highest relevant international quality standards? Does the project show scientific originality and innovative aspects? Are the methods and research approaches appropriate and innovative?
• Scientific excellence and academic potential of the applicant(s): Accomplishments and potential of the applicants to conduct the proposed research (measured by academic age).

Further criteria:

• Team composition and interdisciplinary collaboration: Teams should include an appropriate mix of expertise, bringing together researchers from complementary scientific disciplines if required. A clear description of the roles of the individual partners and a clear project management plan must be presented.
• Relevance and impact: What are the mid- to long-term academic and societal impacts of the advancements expected from the project?
• Feasibility: is the timeframe sufficient for carrying out the project? Are the proposed resources suitable for achieving the goals? Is the budget adequate?
• Consideration of gender aspects: The relevance of potential sex-specific and gender-related aspects of the proposed projects should be considered and explained throughout the proposal.

Other aspects:

• Career breaks such as for parental leave, care duties and longer illnesses will be taken into account in the evaluation of the proposals. Please indicate the time periods to allow them to be considered.  
• For further information on WWTF’s gender guideline, please go to this section

ICT25 / Eligible costs

All costs that are directly attributable to the project and are regarded as commonly required in the respective scientific field are eligible for funding. Please also consider your organization’s internal guidelines for eligible expenses/costs.

Personnel costs

WWTF is dedicated to funding researchers. Hence, the larger share of the project’s budget should be allocated to personnel costs for researchers working on the project.

• Eligible forms of employment contracts are full-time and part-time contracts as well as marginal employments (“Arbeitsvertrag”). Contracts for services (“Werkvertrag”) are only permitted if the nature of the work means that it cannot be performed through employment contracts.
• All persons employed through a WWTF-funded project should receive a fair employment contract with at least a minimum wage according to the “Kollektivvertrag” (collective agreement) of the Austrian Universities / non-university research institutions. For staff employed at institutions without a collective agreement, the minimum wage should adhere to the standards of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF salary scheme).
• Salaries higher than those stipulated in the collective agreement are possible, subject to the agreement from the host institution and justification based on qualifications of the researcher. 
• Due to projected inflation rates, the budget calculation for salaries in the Funding Portal automatically includes an increase of 3.5% p.a. for the duration of the project (Full proposal budget only).
• Applications for personnel costs must be in one of the following categories:

• Senior Personnel: highly qualified scientists, usually permanently employed
• Post Doc: or equivalent qualification, including Senior Postdocs
• PhD Student: or equivalent qualification level
• Diploma Student: Bachelor or Master students
• Office/Technician: administrative or technicians (proportional funding only)
• Personnel costs cannot be claimed for permanent senior staff who are already fully financed by the institution. Exceptions apply in cases where senior staff must acquire third party funding for co-financing their own position (e.g., non-university research institutions and Universities of Applied Sciences). In these cases, permanently employed senior staff may claim up to 20% of their annual salary from WWTF.

Non-personnel costs

Running costs for basic infrastructure (telephone costs, rents) as well as costs for the acquisition of infrastructure and basic equipment are not eligible for funding, as these should be covered by the category “overhead costs”. Non-personnel should not exceed 25% of the overall budget.

• Equipment:  Smaller equipment can be purchased with funds from the grant. This includes devices up to € 1,500 each, as well as software specific to the projects. General office software is not eligible for funding. Funding by WWTF in project calls is not intended to cover investment in general and larger infrastructure. However, pro rata depreciation rates over the project duration for equipment necessary to the project may be funded.
• Consumables: Costs for project-related expenses like consumables are permitted. WWTF does not fund consumables that are general and not project-specific (e.g., paper, printer toner).
• Travel costs: Costs for travel and accommodation for scientific meetings and conferences, field work, expeditions may be funded. Please also consider the regulations of your organization for travel costs.
• Publication costs: Costs incurred for publication activities, e.g., printing costs, article processing charges (for open science), etc. are allowed. This also includes costs for archiving research data in open repositories. Please also consider the Open Science Policy.
• Workshop/conferences: Costs for organizing events, workshops, and conferences as well as for hosting invited speakers are eligible.
• Other costs: Third-party costs, namely, for external collaboration, consulting, studies, and software development may be funded to a limited extent. In general, individuals should be predominantly funded through employment contracts at the participating institutions and not through other types of employment. Under special conditions, costs for childcare and/or career coaching for female WWTF-funded personnel may be requested to a small degree.

Indirect costs (overheads)

 WWTF pays a maximum of 20% overhead. Overhead is calculated as a percentage of the direct costs of the project (i.e., personnel + non-personnel costs). Please note that WWTF offers the maximum 20% overhead lump sum to compensate for all administration costs. This means that flat fees for payroll or project accounting are not eligible. The total funding volume is calculated as direct plus indirect costs.

Applicants are required to comply with the overhead regulations of the involved institutions.

ICT25 / Gender aspects in the application phase

WWTF’s Gender Strategy and Gender Equality Plan must be considered throughout the application. Please note that WWTF requests jury members and reviewers to take into account both gender and specific roles in research team composition, as well as gender in research content during evaluation processes.

The following questions should be considered during development of the proposal:

Equal opportunities in research

• Please take into consideration gender balance/equality in the project consortium at all levels, including in decision-making positions, e.g., what steps have been taken to approach / achieve it?
• Do working conditions allow all members of staff to combine work and family life in a satisfactory manner?
• Are there mechanisms in place to manage and monitor gender equality aspects, e.g., workforce statistics?

Gender in research content and in the research ideas phase

• If the research involves humans as research objects, has the relevance of gender to the research topic been analysed?
• If the research does not directly involve humans, have potentially differentiated relations of men and women to the research subject (e.g., relevance, impact of findings) been sufficiently considered?
• Have literature and other sources relating to gender differences in the research field been consulted?

Proposal phase

• Does the methodology ensure that (possible) gender differences will be investigated: that sex/ gender differentiated data will be collected and analysed throughout the research cycle and will be part of the final publication?
• Does the proposal explicitly and comprehensively explain how gender issues will be handled?
• If there are no identifiable gender aspects after a detailed review by the applicants, this must be justified, e.g., by providing reasons to demonstrate that no sex, gender, and other relevant differences have been found.

Research phase

• If there are further aspects of the project in which sex/gender could be a factor (e.g., samples, testing groups), are these gender-balanced?
• Are questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, etc. designed to unravel potentially relevant sex and/or gender differences in your data?
• Is data analysed according to the sex variable? Are other relevant variables analysed with respect to sex?

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Further resources

• Gender in Research Toolkit by Yellow Window: https://www.yellowwindow.com/genderinresearch
• Gendered Innovations, Stanford University: http://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/methods-sex-and-gender-analysis.html
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research: https://www.cihr-irsc-igh-isfh.ca/

ICT25 / Guidelines for good scientific practice and ethics

Compliance with the rules for good scientific practice, including the observance of ethical aspects in research, is mandatory. This pertains to the application process and, in case of funding, the research work.

• WWTF is member of the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity (OeAWI) and thus committed to their standards for good scientific practice. Hence, applicants must comply to OeAWI standards 
• In case of suspected scientific misconduct, WWTF will employ the ombudsperson at the applicant’s institution or request OeAWI to investigate the case.
• Based on the outcome of investigations by the ombudsperson or OeAWI, WWTF reserves the right to exclude the applicants and the application from the involved and future calls.

Project proposals may include ethical aspects that require the approval from an ethics committee/institutional review board.

• If the approval from the ethics committee/institutional review board is required for the planned project this must be clearly stated at the short proposal stage. The approval (“Votum”) must be submitted online with the full proposal.
• Should it not be possible to obtain a final ethical approval before the full proposal deadline due to reasons which are beyond the control of the applicant, the applicant must explain the reasons in the application and send the preliminary approval to the responsible call manager before the jury meeting.
• The approval by the ethics committee should be specific for the planned WWTF project; therefore, the title of the project should be the same as on the approval (minor deviations are possible). If the title of the approved research differs significantly from the proposed project, a statement must be provided (in the online Funding Portal), confirming that the approval will cover the planned research.
• If the main applicant for the ethical approval is not a core team member (i.e., PI&C or co-PI) of the WWTF proposal, a clear statement must be included in the proposal, in which a core team member confirms that he/she is authorized to conduct the planned research within this ethical approval.
• If the planned research is covered by an existing approval, the applicants must submit the extension of the approval (“Verlängerung der Gültigkeit des Votums”). The above also applies for extensions.
• Non-compliance will result in the rejection of the proposal on formal grounds.

ICT25 / Open Science

WWTF requires compliance with its Open Science Policy. This document outlines the rights, roles and responsibilities of WWTF, researchers, and research organizations.

ICT25 / Use of generative AI in the application process

WWTF recognizes that the use of genAI tools is pervasive and can facilitate proposal writing, for example in relation to improving written language. However, substantial use of genAI must be declared as such for the sake of transparency. 

“Substantial use” is defined in line with the European Commission’s definition: “[…] using generative AI as a basic author support tool is not a substantial use. However, interpreting data analysis, carrying out a literature review, identifying research gaps, formulating research aims, developing hypotheses, etc. could have a substantial impact.” (EC 2024: Living Guidelines on the responsible use of generative AI in research.)  

This mainly concerns critical parts of scientific relevance, such as hypothesis formulation and the scientific project plan. Applicants will be required to provide statements on the use of generative AIs at both the short and full proposal stages. WWTF emphasizes the importance of human responsibility for the content submitted at all stages of the application process. 

For your information, WWTF does not allow the use of genAI in the evaluation process.

ICT25 / Selection and decision process

Applications must be submitted via the online Funding Portal in the specified timeframes. Submissions after the deadline will not be considered.

The core element of WWTF’s decision-making processes is an international jury mandated to make a funding recommendation to the WWTF boards. 

• Depending on the call (size, scope etc) the jury is comprised of 6-12 outstanding international experts who have no current affiliation to an Austrian institution.
• Jury members are selected by WWTF according to their expertise in the call topic. They have no known conflict of interest prior to the submission deadline. For details, see section on evaluation below.
• The names of jury members will be published on the WWTF website after the WWTF Board of Directors finalize the formal funding decision.   
• Please note that WWTF does not allow the opportunity for rebuttals to either recommendations by the jury panel or decisions by the WWTF Board of Directors

Formal eligibility check by WWTF

WWTF office will conduct a formal eligibility check of the proposal based on the criteria outlined in the WWTF Funding Guideline, and this document. This includes:

• All required signatures from the appropriate persons are uploaded.
• All projects will be checked for plagiarism with software.
• Submission of the same or highly similar research ideas to other funding organizations, which must be explicitly declared in the full proposal. Application for funding at other organizations is permitted and will not impact the evaluation. In case of funding, applicants will be asked by which organization they wish to be funded, as double funding is not permitted by WWTF.

Substantial deficiencies and missing sections in the application will lead to the exclusion of the application from further evaluation and rejection on formal grounds. The strict timeline of the call does not allow for proposals to be sent back to the applicants for amendments.

Evaluation of short proposals

• Each proposal is independently assessed by at least two jury members based on the evaluation criteria.
• The jury decides in a meeting (on-site or online) if a short proposal should be invited to the full proposal stage. This usually takes place 1-2 months after the short proposal submission deadline. 
• All applicants will be promptly informed about the decision. Unsuccessful applicants will be provided with a short jury statement explaining the decision. Successful applicants will be informed that they are invited to submit a full-length proposal.

Evaluation of full proposals

• All duly submitted full proposals are checked again for formal aspects. Proposals which do not meet the formal requirements will be rejected at this stage.
• The information provided in the full proposal must be consistent with the short proposal and extend it by providing more information and details. Major deviations to the short proposal must be justified explicitly. If major deviations cannot be satisfactorily explained, it may be rejected by the jury at this stage. 

Eligible full proposals will undergo a review process. 

• WWTF will obtain a minimum of two (usually 3-4) written reviews for each proposal.
• Reviewers are international experts in the topic(s) of the proposals. WWTF does not contact reviewers based in Austria. WWTF aims for diversity in the cohort of reviewers for a call (gender, age, countries).
• All reviewers will be checked by the WWTF office for potential conflicts of interests with the applicants. As a rule, reviewers should not have close professional relations to any of the applicants in the project team. Practically, this excludes reviewers that have published with the applicants within the last five years or have had a collaboration in a research project in this timeframe. In case of very close cooperation with the applicant(s) over a longer period of time, the reviewer will also be excluded. Joint publications in an edited volumes/proceeding, “community papers” with more than 30 authors or common attendances in workshops and conferences do not qualify as conflict of interest. Additionally, reviewers are asked to disclose any potential conflict of interest.
• Reviewers will be asked to provide their assessment of the proposal through a standardised online questionnaire.
• The expert reviewers remain anonymous to the applicants.
• Jury members nominate reviewers. In addition, in the full proposal submissions, applicants are asked to suggest 5 experts whom they deem qualified to review the proposal. WWTF office will check the reviewers for potential conflict of interests. WWTF office is free to choose/not to choose any of the suggested experts.
• Applicants may also exclude up to 3 persons without stating any reasons. Reviewers on the negative list will not be contacted. 

Applicants will have the opportunity to respond in writing to the external reviews.

• The purpose of the applicant response step is to allow correction of any factual errors or misunderstandings, or to respond directly to questions raised in the external reviews.
• The length of the applicant response will be limited to the equivalent of one A4 page of text. The response must be entered as text in the Funding Portal. Pictures, graphs, or other documents cannot be inserted or attached.
• Applicants will be given 7 calendar days to view and respond to the peer reviews. While the exact dates for the applicant response step are not fixed, an indicative time period is provided.
• All core team members will receive an email notification when the applicant response step is open in the Funding Portal.
• Submission of a response to reviews is not compulsory. However, the jury panel will be informed that all teams were provided with the opportunity to respond to reviews.
• More details about the scope and process of the applicant response phase will be available to core teams invited to submit a full proposal.

Full Proposal Jury meeting

The jury will convene about 3-4 months after the submission deadline of the full proposals to select full proposals to recommend for funding. The jury may be extended by additional members in case supplementary expertise is needed to cover the topics of the proposals. At least two jury members are assigned to each proposal and act as rapporteurs for the proposals.

• The basis for the evaluation by the jury are the full proposals, the external reviews, and the applicant’s response to reviews. The arguments brought forward in the review reports will be carefully balanced with the jury’s own expertise.
• The result is a recommendation for each project: “to be funded” or “not to be funded”.

Formal funding decision

The jury recommendation will be formally confirmed first by the WWTF Advisory Board and then approved by the WWTF Board of Directors.

• Applicants will be promptly informed about the decision.
• The decision may include budget cuts as well as additional conditions and recommendations.
• Unsuccessful applicants will receive a short statement by the jury explaining the main reasons why the project was not selected for funding.

ICT25 / Funding contract

In case of funding, WWTF office will contact the PI&C to draw up the funding contract. 

• Projects should start within 2 months – and no later than 4 months – after the formal funding decision by the WWTF Board of Directors. To facilitate a timely project start, WWTF will provide rapid assistance with the contracting process.
• The PI&C will be provided with the necessary documents for the contracts.

• The formal funding contract will be signed between WWTF and the host institution of the PI&C. In Joint Projects, the host institution of the co-PI in Lower Austria is an additional contract partner.

• For universities, this is a project according to §27 of the Universities Act 2002. The institution then authorizes the respective PI to sign for the full scientific and financial responsibility of the project.

ICT25 / Community Building

WWTF is highly committed to supporting the growing ICT community in Vienna. To this end, several community building activities will be offered throughout the funding cycle. Funded teams will be invited to participate in these activities to foster collaborations between and beyond WWTF funded projects. 

ICT25 / Monitoring and reporting

Funded teams commit themselves to delivering reports and participating in evaluation and monitoring. WWTF offers the possibility to adapt the work plan according to project needs. For details, see the Reporting and Accounting Guideline.

ICT25 / Submission Guideline / Full Proposal

ICT25 / Submission Process

About the Submission Process 

• As projects undergo assessment by international reviewers, all proposals must be written in English.
• The length of the proposal is determined by character counts and page limits in case of uploads in the Funding Portal.
• Character counts include spaces.
• Please write precisely and address the required criteria, while also providing sufficient detail to allow an evaluation by international peers.
• The proposal will be reviewed by 3-4 external international reviewers very specific to the topic of your proposal. Please keep in mind that you are writing the proposal for both the expert reviewers and a comprehensive interdisciplinary jury

Submission of full proposals -> External written reviews -> Applicant response -> Jury meeting to select projects for funding -> Funding Decision via WWTF Board of Directors (early October 2025).

ICT25 / Login and go to your proposal

About the Funding Portal

• All entries are saved automatically. In case a “Save” button is not visible, please be assured that your data will have automatically been saved. 
• The system constantly validates and saves data in background. If it appears that your entries have not been accepted, please refresh the website. This should resolve the problem and might help when encountering other issues with the system
• WWTF aims to expand the system’s features in due time to streamline the online application process. We ask for your patience if not all potential features are ready at this point in time.
• All core team members (i.e., coordinating PI and co-PIs) can contribute to and edit the proposal before its submission. However, only one person can edit the proposal in the Funding Portal at any time.

Please note that only the coordinating PI (PI&C) can submit the proposal.

Login and go to your proposal

1. Go to https://fundingportal.wwtf.at/
2. Login with your credentials
3. You will see an overview of your proposal(s) and role(s) under the menu “My Proposals & Roles"

• A Click on “Short Proposal” to download a PDF of your submitted short proposal in case you need to return to the information in the short proposal.
• B Click on the project title to edit the full proposal
• C Click on your role to edit your specific role in this proposal 

ICT25 / Update information about PIs

Contact details, CV, and information about your role in the project have been automatically transferred from the short proposal to the full proposal. Please ensure your contact details are up-to-date. To update your CV, delete the previous document and upload a new CV as PDF.

Update “Roles and responsibilities within project” and “Specific competencies for the project” only if relevant. Please describe convincingly your expertise to accomplish the work in the project. Make sure that the information provided here is in accordance with the according chapter of the Work Programme upload. 

Step 1: Update your “Profile” if relevant

Upon login, go to “My Profile” in the top menu to update your profile. Please upload or update your CV based on the template provided. 

Please use the CV template provided in the Funding Portal. Please use the following template:"All other calls: wwtf_cvtemplate_project.docx"

• List all items in reverse chronological order.
• For each of the selected publications (max. 10), provide 1-2 sentences outlining the relevance of the publication for the proposal.
• If possible, please also provide a link to a more detailed list of your publications. This may be your institutional website, personal website, an ORCID profile, Google Scholar profile, etc.
• Describe additional qualifications or skills that are relevant for the success of the project. These may extend beyond scientific skills to experience in leadership, supervision, Open Science, etc.

Different CVs in case of the submission of two proposals

 

Applicants have the possibility to submit two proposals. This may necessitate slightly different versions of the CV (publications specific to the proposals). In this case, the following procedure is recommended:

• Upload the CV for Proposal A in "PROFILE" (top menu)
• Go to "MY PROPOSALS & ROLES" (top menu)
• On this page in section "My roles" click on "Principal Investigator and Coordinator" of Proposal A
• In the page that opens click on the green button "Refresh from Profile"

Now, the CV is imported from your profile to Proposal A, and only to Proposal A! 

• Again, go to "PROFILE" (top menu), delete the existing CV and upload the new CV for Proposal B
• Go to "MY PROPOSALS & ROLES" (top menu)
• On this page in section "My roles" click on "Principal Investigator and Coordinator" of Proposal B
• In the page that opens click on the green button "Refresh from Profile"

As a result, Proposal A and B should have different CVs. 

Do not exceed 2 pages for the CV, as the system will not accept the upload of documents longer than 2 pages.

Step 2: Update your “Role” if relevant

Go to “My Proposal & Roles” in the top menu. Under “My Roles”, click on your role below the title of the proposal.

• • You can update the personal information by clicking on “Refresh from profile”. The system will check if there is new information in “My Profile” and update this section accordingly. 

  • Enter data in the respective fields:

    • Scientific expertise

    • Role and responsibilities within the project (500 characters)

    • Specific competencies for the project (500 characters)

Please note that the information entered here should be specific to the project. If you are participating in multiple proposals that require different subsets of your expertise, please tailor the information according to the project.

ICT25 / Overview of chapters

The proposal is comprised of six chapters, each under a separated tab:

• Basic Information
• Personnel and Institutions
• Project
  
• Budget
• Signatures

A chapter with a red alert symbol indicates that it is incomplete. Within the marked chapter, click on the red symbol(s) beside individual sections to highlight the fields requiring attention.  A green checkmark symbol indicates that the information in the chapter is complete.

Please note that the symbols might not refresh immediately even if the information in the chapter is complete. Changing to another chapter and going back to the other will refresh the symbol. 

ICT25 / Details of chapters

Basic Information

This chapter contains basic information about the full proposal, including title, scientific disciplines involved, keywords, duration, and type of project (i.e., regular WWTF Project or Joint Project). Fill out fields as required.

Please note:

• The project title, acronym, nominated scientific disciplines and type of project (regular WWTF Project or Joint Project) can no longer be changed.
• Please note that you cannot change the duration of the project.
  • In case that it is absolutely necessary to change the duration, please contact the programme manager. Please also note that the duration of the project can still be changed when concluding the contract. WWTF also allows for the cost neutral prolongation of the project once it is running for up to one year without any justification. 
• Keywords: Keywords may still be edited or added. These will help the WWTF identify appropriate reviewers for your proposal.
• Suggested peer reviewers: Applicants must suggest five international peers whom they deem qualified to review the proposal. To enable the selection of a balanced set of reviewers, please provide keywords or phrases to describe the reviewers’ fields of expertise. Suggested reviewers must be based outside of Austria and have no conflict of interests with project applicants (complete team and collaborators). Persons with whom the project applicants have worked together (joint publications, research cooperations, etc.) in the last five years will not be considered. Please note that the WWTF will decide if suggested peers will be contacted for reviewing, and WWTF may take different reviewers to those you suggested. As a rule, WWTF will include a maximum of two reviewers suggested by the applicants. The other reviewers are suggested by the jury and/or WWTF office to avoid bias.
• Excluded peer reviewers: Applicants may, without stating any reasons, exclude up to three individuals from reviewing their proposal. 

In order to suggest eligible and unique reviewers, the jury will be informed about the reviewers suggested and excluded by the applicants. The reviewers nominated by the applicants will be not be disclosed to the reviewers themselves. Each proposal is generally reviewed by four (and no less than three) reviewers.

Personnel and Institutions

Please note that the addition, removal, or substitution of core team members (PI&C, co-PIs) are not permitted at this stage. WWTF may make exceptions in well-argued circumstances (e.g., a co-PI moving to an institution abroad or leaving the academic field). Please contact WWTF in such a case. WWTF reserves the right to exclude projects from further evaluation in cases in which PIs can no longer be part of the project team. 

Further partner institutions: Collaborating institutions beyond those of the core team members can be added in this stage. Please note that every person involved in the project must be linked to an institution in order to allow indication of time commitment and salary in the “Budget” section. A signature will be required from the authorizing persons at the core team members’ institutions and at all further partner institutions. A maximum of five different institutions (including those of the core team members) is permitted. Should a project be funded, the addition of further collaborations will be possible.

Project

This chapter contains the scientific work programme. Fill out the following fields:

Please note that the character limit includes spaces

Lay summary (1,000 characters)

Please provide a description of your proposed research that is suitable for the general public. This will primarily be used by WWTF for communicating your work to non-experts for fundraising and public relations purposes. 

Scientific abstract (2,000 characters) 

Please provide a concise scientific abstract of the project. This will be used in approaching reviewers. 

Work programme: Please use the template provided for download in the WWTF Funding Portal. The headings in bold are mandatory (details and guiding questions can be found in the template). Upload the completed document as PDF (max. 15 pages including figures)

1. Introduction and background

• • • Subject of the research

    • State of the art and key scientific challenges (including own scientific work / past and currently running projects relevant to the proposed project)

2. Hypotheses and objectives 

• • • Research questions and hypotheses
    • Objectives of the project

3. Innovativeness and expected results

• • • Novelty of the proposed research
    • Expected results and relevance to field of ICT

4. Methodological approach 

• • • Research methods
    • Research plan (including Gantt chart)
    • Feasibility and risk mitigation
      

5. Mid- to long-term academic and societal impacts

6. Project team 

• • • Roles and expertise of personnel

    • Collaborative elements of project, including interdisciplinary aspects

    • Project management and supervision

7. Key references 

Please note that potential sex/gender aspects of the research topic and gender balance in the research team should be considered throughout the application (see this section). These should be briefly described where appropriate in the relevant sections.

Ethical considerations (500 characters)

Indicate if ethical approval of an ethics committee or institutional review board is required for the project. If so, please describe the potential ethical aspects and upload the ethical approval(s) as a single PDF. There is no page limit for the approvals, but the document may not exceed 10 MB. If no ethical aspects are identified, please also provide a brief statement.

Data Management (500 characters) 

In case of funding, a detailed data management plan must be submitted at the start of the project. At the full proposal stage, we encourage applicants to consider and briefly address the following points as appropriate:

• What kind of accompanying metadata and documentation will help others identify, discover, reuse, and/or reproduce the research data?
• How will data for sharing and preservation be selected?
• When will data be shared?
• In which repositories will data be archived? How long will data be retained?
• What persistent identifiers (e.g., DOI) and usage licenses (e.g., CC BY) will be used?

Use of generative AI (800 characters)

Please describe if and how GenAI has been used in developing your research proposal. Please see further details here.

Budget

Please note the following guidelines for the budget:

• Maximum 15% difference between the budgets of the short and full proposals is permitted.
• For personnel costs, an annual 3.5% p.a. increase in salary over the lifetime of the project has been pre-programmed. This is intended to assist with planning only, and actual salaries should be paid according to institutional or collective agreements. Please use baseline salaries according to the date you expect to start the project. (The project should start the latest January 2026.) Please contact your institutional research support services in this matter.
• Non-personnel costs should not exceed 25% of the total requested budget.

Personnel costs

• Core team members of the short proposal are automatically listed in the respective table.
• Click “Additional person” to individually add all persons who will work on the project. Please provide their name or select “is N.N.” if the role is to be filled (e.g., PhD candidate, Post Doc). Indicate the affiliation and staff category of each person using the dropdown menu. If an affiliation is not listed, return to the section “Personnel and Institutions” and add the respective institution. Each person must be assigned to an institution.
• Specify if the person will be financed by WWTF or contribute on an in-kind basis, and indicate their yearly time commitment to the project for each year (full time equivalents). A mixture of WWTF and in-kind financing is permitted.
• For persons financed by WWTF, enter the annual salary that corresponds to 100% employment in the first year of the project (keep that in mind in particular for PhD candidates whose position is often cal-culated on a 0.75 basis). The total funding requested for each person will be automatically calculated.

Non-personnel costs

• Add rows to provide a concise overview of all non-personnel costs directly related to the project. Please select the institution and cost category from the dropdown menus. If an affiliation is not listed, return to the section “Personnel and Institutions” and add the respective institution.
• Costs for basic infrastructure (rent, telephone) are not permitted. Costs for larger equipment essential for the project may only be requested on a pro rata basis that also takes into consideration the propor-tion of time that the equipment will be used for this project.
• WWTF strongly encourages open access publications. Costs for Article Processing Charges (APCs) may be requested.
• Costs for data management purposes (e.g., curation, storage) are eligible.

Budget per region

• The share of the budget allocated to the regions “Vienna” and “Other” will automatically be shown for WWTF projects, and to the regions “Vienna”, “Lower Austria” and “Other” for Joint Projects.
• For regular WWTF projects, at least 80% of the requested funding must be allocated to the region “Vienna”. Up to 20% may be allocated to other partner(s), including partners in Lower Austria.
• For Joint Projects, the budget allocated to the region “Vienna” must be at least 51%. The share of the budget allocated to the region “Lower Austria” may range from 21% to 49%. Up to 20% may be allo-cated to any further partner(s) located in other regions (“Other”).

Cost overview

• Enter the overhead rate for each institution. WWTF permits a maximum of 20% overheads costs. Please consult each institutions’ research services to ensure compliance with all institutions’ internal regulations.

Explanation of Cost Planning (2500 characters) 

• Please provide an explanation of cost planning principles, also indicating access to resources that are already available.

Disclosure of other applications for funding (750 characters) 

• If you have applied for funding for this project (or parts thereof) at other organisations, please indicate this here. This will not impact the evaluation of this proposal.
• The WWTF policy on simultaneous submissions to other funding organisations does not allow double funding. If both of your proposals are funded, we will ask you to decide which funding you will accept.
• Double funding will be reviewed by the FWF. This means that the FWF will receive the list of projects and check whether a similar project has already been submitted to the FWF.

ICT25 / Signatures

Submission of the proposal requires the signatures of the authorized person(s) at the host institutions of each of the PI&C and co-PIs (“Authorization”) and all partner institutions. 

• Please consult your institutional research services regarding the person mandated to sign the proposals and plan sufficient time to obtain their signatures
• Make sure that you have added all participating institutions in the “Personnel and Institutions” section before downloading the signatures sheet, as these institutions will be included in the signatures sheet. Otherwise, the sheet might be incomplete.
• Enter the name of each authorized person in the online form. This information will be included in the PDF to be signed.
• Download the PDF using the link “You can generate the signature sheet here”.
• Signatures may be provided in various formats
  • Add a scanned or physical signature, and upload the form; or
  • Insert an electronic signature (e.g., A-Trust, Handysignatur) and upload the form. Please note that electronically signed PDFs cannot be merged into a single document
  • You will find the signed signature pages in the Project PDF only as a link

Please ensure signatures are dated. Undated signatures and re-use of signatures from the short proposal will not be accepted.

Unlike proposals in the previous Submission System, signatures from the core team are no longer required in the new Funding Portal.

ICT25 / Proposal submission

Once all symbols in all chapters are marked by green checkmarks, the proposal can be submitted. The “Submit proposal” button is at the bottom of the “Signatures” chapter. 

The PI&C will receive an automatic confirmation email when the Funding Portal receives the completed submission. Please check your emails after hitting the submit button. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please get in touch with the Call Manager.

You can access your submitted proposal as PDF on the page “My Proposals and Roles”. 

No changes are possible after the project has been submitted. After the indicated deadline, submission is no longer possible. Unsubmitted proposals will be excluded from the ensuing evaluation process.

ICT25 / Applicant Response Phase

Applicant Response Phase (22nd - 29th of August 2025, 2pm (CET))

The purpose of the applicant response step is to allow the core team to correct any factual errors or conceptual misunderstandings in the external peer reviews. The applicants should respond directly to reviewer comments in a constructive manner.

Scope of applicant response

As much as possible, the applicant response should refer to parts of the full proposal where the reviewer’s concerns are already addressed. Only where necessary and appropriate, should references to peer-reviewed publications in order to correct any factual inaccuracies in the reviews be provided. In addition to providing the DOI, applicants should clearly specify the section (figure, data, text) of the publication that supports their response. Pictures, graphs, or other documents themselves cannot be inserted or attached.

• New information, including new research results and methods, should not be provided.
• Applicant responses should not include references to any new awards, appointments, or publications that may have occurred since the submission of the full proposal.
• Both the scientific workplan and CVs are assessed as at the time of the full proposal submission, and therefore no updates should be provided. Such additional information will not be considered by the jury members.
• Response should be clearly presented, objective and concise. The limit of 3,000 characters (with spaces) applies for all teams. Thus, only include information that clearly addresses the points of the reviewer.

Process for applicants

• Applicants will be given 7 calendar days to respond to the peer reviews (22nd - 29th of August 2025, 2pm (CET)).
• All core team members will receive an email notification from the Funding Portal when the applicant response phase is open.
• Core team members are therefore strongly advised to regularly check their provided email address during the indicative time period.
• All core team members will have access to the anonymized reviews for their proposal and have the opportunity to edit the response.
• Only the PI&C can submit the final applicant response. Please note that this must be submitted by the specified time and date.

What will happen to the applicant response?

• The applicant’s response will be provided to the panel after the panel has received all external reviews and prior to the panel meeting to determine funding.
• Applicant’s responses will not be viewed by the external reviewers.
• The jury panel will be briefed about the scope of permitted responses and informed to ignore responses that fail to observe these guidelines. Panel members will consider how well applicants have addressed any concerns raised by the reviewers and will consider additional valid evidence provided within the response.
  
• Please note that, depending on its content and quality, the applicant response can potentially have positive and/or negative effects on the evaluation of the proposal by the jury panel. 

Submission of a response to reviews is not compulsory. However, the jury panel will be informed that all teams were provided with the opportunity to respond to reviews.  

ICT25 / Important documents

WWTF Funding Guideline	General Guideline for WWTF funding activities
Guideline for Good Scientific Practice	Guidelines by the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity
Open Science Policy	Open Science Policy of WWTF
Gender Equality Strategy & Plan	Gender Equality Strategy & Plan of WWTF
Reporting and Accounting Guideline	Specifies reporting and accounting for funded projects

ICT25 / Contact

 

Benjamin Missbach | benjamin.missbach@wwtf.at | Tel.: +43 1 402 31 43 19

Michael Strassnig | michael.strassnig@wwtf.at | Tel.: +43 1 402 31 43 15