Life Sciences Call 2025 - Precision Medicine

This repository contains all the necessary information for the Life Sciences Call 2025 in Precision Medicine. Please note that WWTF is currently piloting this way of providing call information to applicants. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any suggestions for improvement.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Key Facts

This call is open to research projects that draw upon precision medicine approaches to improve the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of a human disease.


Scope of the Call

Projects in this call should advance understanding of a clinically relevant research question by contributing to, or utilising, insights based on high-quality datasets from well-defined patient cohorts. Anticipated research outcomes should have clear implications for improving the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of a human disease. Projects should contribute to understanding of disease pathogenesis or treatment-relevant biological processes at a mechanistic level. Research teams must demonstrate interdisciplinarity across clinical, biological, data analysis and/or engineering research fields.

Who can apply?
Project Duration

24-48 months

Funding
Timeline
Process

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

This document specifies the processes, criteria, and instrument of the Life Sciences Call 2025 in Precision Medicine. It is intended for applicants wishing to submit a proposal in this project call.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Scope of the call

This “Precision Medicine” call is issued within the WWTF Life Sciences Programme. This call is open to research projects that draw upon precision medicine approaches to improve prevention, diagnosis or treatment of a human disease.

Please consider the following key requirements regarding scope of projects in this call:

Within the domain of precision medicine, this call is open to projects with diverse aims and methodologies. The following research directions are considered within the scope of this call. Please note that this is not a comprehensive overview and that all projects must demonstrate fulfilment of the above key requirements.

Please note that the following types of projects are deemed to be outside the scope of this call:

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Structure of the Call

This call follows a two-stage selection process, consisting of a short proposal and full proposal phase.

Short proposal deadline: May 6th, 2025, 2pm CET 

Full proposal deadline: October 7th, 2025, 2pm CET

Applicant response phase: February 9th – 20th, 2026 (Applicants invited to submit a full proposal will be notified of exact dates in late January)

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Submission

Applications must be submitted via the WWTF Funding Portal. All application information will be processed via this system.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Eligibility and roles of applicants

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. 

One PI must be designated as PI&C (PI and coordinator).

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

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

Research partners outside Vienna:

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / 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. 

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

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Structure of the proposal

The content and structure of the proposal are defined and specified in the Submission Guideline, which will be made available in March 2025. From March, applicants can also register and create a proposal in the WWTF Funding Portal to find out more details. Applicants invited to submit a full proposal will be provided with an additional Submission Guide-line specifically for the second phase. An overview of the main parts of the short and full proposal is provided below:

Short Proposal

Full proposal

Scientific abstract

Lay summary and scientific abstract

Project description (about 3 pages): outline of the main scientific research idea and approach

Project description (about 12-15 pages): elaboration on the research idea and approach (template is provided)

Project core team: CVs and roles in project (mandatory template is provided)

Project team and further collaboration partners: CVs for all core team members (mandatory template is provided) and roles in project of all team members

Budget overview

Detailed budget

Brief statement regarding ethical aspects

Ethical approval OR detailed description of ethical aspects, including feasibility and timeline for ethical approval

Signatures: from the authorising persons at the institutions of the core team members

Signatures: from the authorising persons at all participating institutions

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.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Evaluation criteria

The following criteria are used in the evaluation.

Projects that do not meet the key requirements regarding scope will be rejected by the jury, regardless of scientific quality. 

The key criteria in the evaluation of proposals are scientific excellence of the project and applicants, and the relevance and impact of the proposed research: 

Further criteria:

Other aspects:

Please note that the short proposal will be evaluated by a jury panel, who will be asked to act as generalists when evaluating proposals. In contrast, the full proposal will additionally be evaluated by reviewers with specific expertise in the topics of the proposal. Thus, an appropriate level of scientific detail should be provided at each stage to allow evaluation of the proposal by the respective audience.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Eligible costs

All costs that are directly attributable to the project and are regarded as commonly required in the respective scientific fields 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.

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”. The following categories of non-personnel costs are eligible for funding:

Non-personnel costs should not exceed 40% of the overall budget.

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.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / 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

Gender in research content and in the research ideas phase

Proposal phase

Research phase


Further resources

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Guidelines for good scientific practice and ethics

Good scientific practice

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.

Ethical aspects

Project proposals may include ethical aspects that require the approval from an ethics committee/institutional review board. Please consider WWTF’s requirements regarding ethical aspects at the different stages of the call and, if applicable, upon the selection of a project for funding.

Please note that the feasibility of obtaining the required ethical approval will be considered during the evaluation of the full proposal. Insufficient demonstration of the ability to obtain ethical approvals within a timely manner may result in the project being excluded by the jury panel.

Please note the following requirements regarding ethical approvals for WWTF-funded projects.

Non-compliance will result in the rejection of the proposal on formal grounds.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Open Science

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

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / 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. 

WWTF does not allow the use of genAI in the evaluation process.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / 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. 

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:

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

Evaluation of full proposals

Eligible full proposals will undergo a review process. 

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

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.

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.

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.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / Funding contract

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

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / 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.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Call Specifications

LS25 / 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. 

LS25 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

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 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

LS25 / Register & Login

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

Registeration
  1. Go to https://fundingportal.wwtf.at/
  2. Go to “Register” in the top menu
  3. Enter your registration data (*indicates mandatory fields)
  4. 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.

Login
  1. Go to https://fundingportal.wwtf.at/
  2. Login with your credentials
LS25 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

LS25 / 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.

  1. Go to “Calls” in the top menu
  2. Under “Running calls”, select the “Life Sciences 2025 – Precision Medicine” call
  3. Click “Create new proposal”.
  4. 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 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

LS25 / 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
  1. Go to the tab “Personnel and Institutions” in the proposal
  2. Invite a “Principal Investigator and Coordinator” by providing their contact information.
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.

  1. Go to “My Profile” in the top menu to fill out or update your profile. This information needs to be entered only once and can then be used for multiple proposals or in future calls.
Step 3: Complete your “Role”
  1. Go to “My Proposal & Roles” in the top menu. Under “My Roles”, click on your role below the title of the proposal.
  2. 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.
  3. Enter data in the respective fields:

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

LS25 / 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"

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:

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

Proposal A and B should have now have different CVs. 

LS25 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

LS25 / 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 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

LS25 / 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:

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.

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.

  1. 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. 
  2. Enter the total non-personnel costs for each institution. For details about eligible costs, please see here.
  3. 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. 

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 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

LS25 / 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.

  1. Enter the name of each authorized person in the online form. This information will be included in the PDF to be signed.
  2. Download the PDF using the link “You can generate the signature sheet here”.
  3. Signatures may be provided in various formats:

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

LS25 Precision Medicine / Submission Guideline / Short Proposal

LS25 / 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.

LS25 Precision Medicine / Important documents

The following documents provide information on general guidelines and processes of the WWTF

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

LS25 Precision Medicine / Contacts

Liu_kleiner.jpg

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Grace Liu

grace.liu@wwtf.at

Tel.: +43 1 402 31 43 12

Petra Steinkogler

petra.steinkogler@wwtf.at

Tel.: +43 1 402 31 43 14