Selection and decision process

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

• The jury is comprised of 4-6 outstanding international experts selected by WWTF that have no current affiliation to an Austrian institution (names of jury members will be published after the WWTF Board of Directors finalize the formal funding decision)
• Please note that the proposals are intended for a jury panel with expertise covering a range of proposals.

• Please note that there is no 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 conducts a formal eligibility check of the proposal based on the criteria outlined in the WWTF Funding Guideline. 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 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 proposal should be recommended for funding.  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.

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