LS25 Precision Medicine / Short Proposal / Submission Guideline

This section is a guide to using WWTF’s Funding Portal. It is intended for applicants who wish to submit a short proposal in the Life Sciences Call 2025.

LS25 / Short Proposal / Register & Login
LS25 / Short Proposal / Creating a new proposal
LS25 / Short Proposal / Information about PIs
LS25 / Short Proposal / CV and List of Publications
LS25 / Short Proposal / Overview of chapters
LS25 / Short Proposal / Details of chapters
LS25 / Short Proposal / Signatures
LS25 / Short Proposal / Proposal submission

LS25 / Short Proposal / Register & Login

All proposals must be submitted electronically via the WWTF’s Funding Portal.

Registeration

Go to https://fundingportal.wwtf.at/
Go to “Register” in the top menu
Enter your registration data (*indicates mandatory fields)
You will receive an email to confirm registration

If you are a PI, please register and complete your profile as early as possible because your profile information is used in the other parts of the proposals (e.g., your institution).

Please note that the person who initially registers must not necessarily be the PI&C of the project. The PI&C and co-PIs can be invited to the proposal at a later time.

Administrative staff (e.g., institutional grants office, project assistants) can also create a proposal and invite PIs. Only in this case can a proposal be edited by both PIs and administrative staff (i.e., administrative staff cannot be invited to an existing proposal). This allows research support and admin personnel to first check the requirements for submitting a proposal.

Go to https://fundingportal.wwtf.at/
Login with your credentials

LS25 / Short Proposal / Creating a new proposal

The Funding Portal will save your entries and changes automatically. You can pause data entry at any time. All information will be available again upon your next login.

Go to “Calls” in the top menu
Under “Running calls”, select the “Life Sciences 2025 – Precision Medicine” call
Click “Create new proposal”.
Once created, you will find all your proposals under “My Proposals & Roles” in the top menu.

You can create multiple proposals. However, please note that each researcher may participate as PI&C or co-PI in a maximum of two proposals. You can also delete proposals at any time. Proposals that are not submitted will be deleted automatically after the submission deadline.

LS25 / Short Proposal / Information about PIs

In the short proposal, WWTF requires information only about the researchers in the project’s core team (i.e., the PI&C and up to two co-PIs). Further researchers beyond the core team may also take part in the project, either funded by WWTF or with in-kind contribution. Information about these further researchers will be required in the full proposal.

Step 1: Invite the PI&C and co-PIs

Go to the tab “Personnel and Institutions” in the proposal
Invite a “Principal Investigator and Coordinator” by providing their contact information.

- In case you are the PI&C, please click “I am the Principal Investigator”. You can then invite further co-PIs to this proposal.
- In case you are not the PI&C, you will need to invite them to the proposal. The invited PI will receive an email to accept the invitation. The invited person can login with an existing account or register as a new user. You and the PI&C can then invite further co-PIs to the proposal.

Step 2: Complete your “Profile”

The PI&C and all co-PIs must complete “My Profile”. If you are creating a project on behalf of others and are not part of the Core Team, you do not need to provide this information.

- Please upload or update your CV based on the template "wwtf_cvtemplate_project.docx".
- Should you have multiple affiliations, these can be added in your profile. Different affiliations may then be used for different proposals.

Step 3: Complete your “Role”

Go to “My Proposal & Roles” in the top menu. Under “My Roles”, click on your role below the title of the proposal.
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 (key words)
  - Specific competencies for the project (500 characters)
  - Role and responsibilities within 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 requires different subsets of your expertise, please tailor the information according to the project.

Select the affiliation with which you want to apply for the proposal. Please note that an authorization signature will be required from this institute for the proposal.
Check the box under “Affirmation” to confirm acknowledgement of and compliance with guidelines from WWTF and additional relevant organisations.

As the Funding Portal automatically relays entered information about the PI&C and co-PIs into subsequent parts of the proposal, we recommend that the core team members fill out these sections early (e.g., institutions of the core team members are automatically added to the budget).

LS25 / Short Proposal / CV and List of Publications

The CV template provided in the Funding Portal must be used. 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.

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

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 (e.g., publications specific to the proposals).

In case you wish to provide two different CVs for two proposal, the following procedure is recommended:

Under "My Profile", upload the CV for Proposal A
Go to "My Proposals and Roles"
In the 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"

This imports the CV from your profile to Proposal A, and only to Proposal A.

Go back to "My Profile" and delete the existing CV.
Upload the new CV for Proposal B
Go to "My Proposals and Roles"
In the 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"

Proposal A and B should have now have different CVs.

LS25 / Short Proposal / Overview of chapters

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

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.

LS25 / Short Proposal / Details of chapters

Please note that the inclusion of figures and tables is not possible in the short proposal. These elements can be included in the full proposal phase.

Basic Information

This chapter contains basic information about the 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:

Scientific Disciplines: Fields will be suggested as you type. WWTF uses the ÖFOS classification system of Statistik Austria.
Joint Project: Please indicate if this proposal is a Joint Project, i.e. includes partners from Lower Austria with a higher share possible from the overall project budget. For details regarding team composition and budget distribution, please see here.

Personnel and Institutions

This chapter contains information about the main parties in the project. Ideally, information about the PI&C and co-PIs have already been entered. However, this information can be changed at any time.

Co-PIs can be added to the project. Please note the maximum of three PIs in the core team.
Additional partner institutions beyond those of the core team members can be added under “Further Partner Institutions”. (The institutions of the PI&C and co-PIs are automatically added by the system.) Entering an additional institution provides the option of allocating budget to this institution in the “Budget” chapter. This may be important in case of collaboration with researchers at institutes other than those of the core team members
A maximum of five different institutions may be involved in the proposal. This includes the institutions of the PI&C and co-PI(s).

Project

This chapter contains the bulk of the scientific information regarding the project.

Please note that the character limit includes spaces

Abstract (max. 1,500 characters)

Provide an overall summary of the project. Clearly state the research questions and aims of the team. Summarise the most innovative aspects of the research, and its potential impact and contribution.

Proposal

Introduction, background and state of the art (max. 2,000 characters)
Provide a broad scientific introduction to the topic of the project. Describe the state of the art in this research field.

Research questions, objectives, and/or hypotheses (max. 2,000 characters)

Specify the research question(s) to be addressed in the context of the state of the art. Outline how the research objectives align with precision medicine approaches.

Methodology (max. 3,500 characters)

Describe the methods to be used to address the research questions. Provide sufficient information about the innovation, interdisciplinarity, suitability and feasibility of these approaches with respect to the project’s objectives. Specify how the proposed work contributes to, or utilises, patient cohort datasets.

Scientific impact and contribution (max. 2,500 characters)

Outline the project’s anticipated contribution to precision medicine. Describe how the proposed work will advance the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of a disease. Specify how the project aims to contribute to understanding of disease pathogenesis or treatment-relevant biological mechanisms. Briefly explain how the data, resources and/or technology developed in the project will be managed and shared with the research community.

Interdisciplinary collaboration (max. 1,000 characters)

Describe how the project team brings the necessary interdisciplinary expertise to pursue the proposed research. Outline the plans for collaboration, communication and, if applicable, training across expertise fields.

Project Schedule / Overview

Upload a 1-page visual representation (e.g., table, Gantt chart, flow chart) to provide an overview of the milestones to be achieved during the project. Indicate the time periods and specify the respective PIs responsible for each milestone.

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 here). These should be briefly described where appropriate in the relevant sections. Further details will be required in the full proposal phase.

Ethical considerations (min. 100 characters, max. 800 characters)

Outline the potential ethical aspects of your proposed project. These may include, but are not restricted to human participants, human tissue, human embryonic tissue, personal data, animals, environmental safety, and artificial intelligence.

Please indicate if a formal ethical approval is necessary to conduct your research project in your institution. We advise reaching out to your institutional ethics boards prior to submitting your proposal. More detailed information regarding the ethical aspects of your proposed work and the timelines for ethical approval are required in the full proposal. Should your proposal be selected for funding, the submission of the required ethics votum for carrying out the work is a prerequisite for the funding contract. Further details about ethical requirements are available here.

If no ethical aspects are identified, please also provide an explanation. Note that only providing a cursory statement (e.g., "no ethical aspects") will not be regarded as sufficient consideration of ethical aspects by the applicants.

Use of generative AI (max. 800 characters)

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

References

In this chapter, up to 15 key references relevant for the project can be added. Please use a continuous reference style.

Please note that these references should focus on the content of the proposal and is not your personal publication list. The latter should be included in the CVs of the core team members.

Budget

The short proposal requires only an overview budget for each participating institution. All institutions added in the chapter “Personnel and Institutions” will be automatically listed in the budget table.

Enter the sum for personnel costs at each institution. Please consider that, in the full proposal, you will be required to enter the annual gross costs (employer and employee costs = gross costs / “Brutto-Brutto-Jahresgehalt”) of all individual researchers. If you are unsure about the annual gross costs, please consult your institutional research service. Due to projected inflation rates, the full proposal system will automatically calculate a 3.5% p.a. increase in salaries over the lifetime of the project.
Enter the total non-personnel costs for each institution. For details about eligible costs, please see here.
Enter the overhead costs for each institution. Note that up to 20% overhead costs may be claimed. Please consult your institutional research service also in this regard.

The system will automatically calculate sums and ratios of the budget.

Based on the information provided, the share of the budget allocated to the regions “Vienna” and “Other” will be shown for WWTF projects and to the regions “Vienna”, “Lower Austria” and “Other” for Joint Projects.
For “regular” WWTF projects, at least 80% (i.e., ≥80%) of the requested funding must be allocated to the region “Vienna”. Up to 20% (i.e., <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 ≥50%. The share of the budget allocated to the region “Lower Austria” must be between 20–50% (i.e., >20% and <50%). Maximum 20% (i.e., £ 20%) may be allocated to further partner(s) located in other regions (“Other”).
The proportions of the budget allocated to personnel and non-personnel costs are also shown. Please note that, in this call, non-personnel costs should not exceed 40% of the total budget.
The system will display an alert if the inserted amounts exceed the permitted funding distribution across regions or cost types.
Please note that changing the proposal between “WWTF Project” and “Joint Project” types will reset the budget table due to differing budget distribution requirements.

Explanation of Cost Planning (max. 750 characters)

Outline details about the planned allocation of resource allocation as requested in the budget.

In the case of an invitation to submit a full proposal, there should not be significant changes in the requested budget compared to the short proposal. Exceptions are permitted but require justification.

LS25 / Short Proposal / 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”). Please consult your institutional research services regarding the person mandated to sign the proposals and plan sufficient time to obtain their signatures.

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:

- Scanned or physical signature
- Electronic signature (e.g., A-Trust, Handysignatur). Please note that electronically signed PDFs cannot be merged into a single document.

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

LS25 / Short Proposal / Proposal submission

Once all symbols in all chapters are marked by green checkmarks, the proposal can be submitted. The “Submit” 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 and deleted shortly after the submission deadline.