VRG26 / Details of chapters

Go to “My proposals and roles” in the top menu and click on the incomplete proposal. The proposal is organized in seven chapters (as tabs).

Basic Information

To be filled out by the VRG candidate.

When entering the scientific disciplines, fields will be suggested as you type.

You have to suggest five reviewers and can optionally exclude up to three reviewers (certain persons, not entire institutions / departments).

For the reviewer suggestions, please take care of the following parameters:

• You can exclude and suggest certain persons, not entire institutions or departments.
• Please do not suggest reviewers who have a known conflict of interest with the VRG candidate and/or the proponent.
• Please do not include persons at Austrian institutions, as the proposals will be strictly reviewed internationally only.

The information provided is only visible to WWTF office.

VRG Leader & Proponent

To be filled out by the VRG candidate.

This chapter contains the data of the main applicants of the proposal (i.e. VRG candidate and proponent). The VRG candidate and the proponent can input and edit information. Ideally, information about VRG candidate and proponent have already been entered. 

1. The VRG candidate needs to add the following information on career steps so far and highlights of recent work.

• Career steps to date: provide information on the groups in which the VRG candidate has worked up until now. 
• Highlights of recent work: add highlights here. Include non-scientific career milestones, as WWTF considers unconventional research careers.
• Description of (scientific) leadership potential, including:
  • Relevant experience inside and outside the academic context
  • A vision for leading and managing the prospective group in Vienna
• Provide the candidate’s motivation for applying to this position.

2. Information on the proponent should have ideally already be filled out by the proponent in "my profile" and "my role". 

Host and Partner Institution(s)

To be filled out by the future Viennese host institution and the VRG candidate.

 The future host institution (specific department/group) should be outlined. It should be more than a general description. The motivation of the host institution to bring the proposed VRG Leader to Vienna must be added.

You can add further partner institutions.The criteria for "partner institutions" are the following:

• Partner institutions are different from those of proponent's host institution
• Partner institutions are a substantial part of the project, which means they either receive or give (monetary) contributions.
• By adding a partner institutions, you can allocate budget to this institution in the "budget" chapter, which is particularly relevant in case of a cooperation with a researcher at this institution.

Optional: Insert information about the wider research network here and describe additional institutions with which the VRG candidate intends to collaborate.

Work Programme

To be filled out by the VRG candidate

• Please provide a concise scientific abstract. This will be used in approaching reviewers.
• The work programme must be uploaded as a single PDF file with a maximum of eight pages (including references). Use the template provided from the funding portal, and make sure to stick to the formatting guideline!
  • • It includes the state of the art in the proposed field and scientific challenges in the next years and the research plan
    • Give a concise review of the subject of research, of the state of the art in the proposed scientific field and the scientific challenges the VRG candidate wants to address with their future research group.
    • Formulate the concrete research question(s) you would like to address and specify the objectives to be achieved and the theoretical and methodological approaches.
    • Try to outline your work programme as concretely as possible and give the jury a clear picture that you know which work packages to start with.
    • A clear vision and outline of future research are expected. The file may include figures, charts, etc. Please use the template provided. Make clear how your research fits the call topic.

• Please also upload a GANTT chart outlining your project (1 page).
• Ethical considerations: Please argue why / why not your proposed project contains potential ethical aspects. Please follow the research ethics guidelines of your host institution. If the planned project requires ethical approval, it is the obligation of the potential VRG Leader to acquire it as soon as it is needed. Please describe in the online submission shortly the necessity of an ethical approval, the process of acquiring it and possible challenges.
• Open science statement: Please explain your intentions about providing access to publications and to shareable research data (e.g. sharing, accessibility, metadata, sustainability, ownership). For more information refer to the Open Science Policy.
• Use of generative AI: Please describe if and how genAI has been used in your proposal. For more information refer to this page.
• Gender considerations: Please indicate, where in the proposal you have considered gender relevant aspects. 
• For more information on what gender relevant aspects need to be considere, go to this page. As page numbers are only available in the proposal PDF, you can work around and use the section title of the funding portal tabs or the sub-headings of your work programme where the information can be found. This information should allow the reviewers and jury to evaluate, whether and how gender aspects have been considered in the proposal process. 
• Disclosure of other applications for funding: Applicants agree to provide full information in all related matters. The project cannot be subject to double funding. If you mark the check box “yes”, please also insert more information in the textbox. WWTF reserve its rights to check for double funding with other funding organizations.
• Relevant references: List the key publications representing the state of the art in the respective research area. Please be aware of the maximum of 20 references. Mark the 10 most relevant references by clicking on the check box “Most relevant”. Please note that this is not your personal publication list (your personal publication list should be included in the CV)!
  • The system can import publication data from external databases, e.g., by DOIs. For PubMed: use the number of pubmed.gov. For arXiv, use only the numbers without “arXiv:”
  • Use a uniform reference style. If you import references through the database lookup, please use the style of the imported reference for the references entered manually.

Integration of the Proposed Group Leader

To be filled out mainly by the future Viennese host institution

• Please describe the selection process for the VRG candidate (search process, principles of selection and criteria applied). If there was a search committee, briefly describe its role, the persons involved, and the search criteria applied. Please include gender mainstreaming measures / affirmative actions here.
  • Female scientists in Austria are clearly underrepresented in leading positions which is, among other reasons, due to gender biases in selection procedures. It is a goal of WWTF and of the Austrian scientific community to overcome these biases. What measures were applied to attract women as potential group leaders? Please describe your institution’s policy to avoid gender biases.
• As stated in the Call Specifications, active recruitment procedures with the aim of finding VRG candidates of the Viennese university/research institution are mandatory. Please indicate via the check box if this has been done. Please indicate in what journal(s) the ad has been published, and which further channels have been used. Upload one job announcement (as PDF) as an example. The uploaded file is for WWTF office only.
• Describe the contractual relationship with the VRG candidates and her/ his status within the host institution during the whole funding period, as well as the concrete steps leading to a tenured position. Refer to the Call Specifications for further details.
• The host institution is obligated to conduct an interim evaluation of the VRG Leader. Refer to the Call Specifications for further details.
• WWTF is convinced that long-term perspectives for researchers are a prerequisite to hire excellent researchers. What is the long-term career perspective of the VRG candidate (e.g., path to full professor) after the funding period? Please describe the host institution’s structures and policies for achieving this. What is the host institution’s strategy for a long-term perspective/tenure track? What is the prospective development of the group after the funding period?
• What measures are taken for the integration of the VRG candidate into the institute/department of the host institution and between other partners like universities/facilities/departments/institutes? What support will the VRG candidate receive upon arrival (administration, housing, onboarding, …)? How will the access to administrative resources be organized?

Budget

To be filled out mainly by the VRG candidate.

For details about eligible costs, indirect costs and in-kind contributions, please refer to the Call Specifications.

• All institutions added in the chapter “VRG Leader & Proponent” will be listed automatically in the budget table.
• All figures are in € and in full numbers!
• At least 80% of the requested funding must be allocated to the region “Vienna”. Up to 20% may be allocated to other partner(s).
• Non-personnel costs should not exceed 30% of the overall budget. If non-personnel costs exceed 30% of the total budget, a justification must be included in the budget. 

Planning of personnel costs

• The VRG candidate will be inserted automatically.
• Before you can start the calculations about personnel, you must add a row for every person by clicking “Additional persons”.
• Please click the funding source (WWTF, in-kind, WWTF & in-kind) and then add the average yearly time commitment for each project year. The column with the years (“Y1, Y2, …”) will be automatically updated as soon as you have entered the project duration in “Basic Information”. Finally, for those persons where WWTF funding is requested, fill in the salary corresponding to a 100% employment in the first project year. This is the “Brutto-brutto-Jahresgehalt”, i.e., gross yearly salary including all expenses for the host institution as well. Please be aware of the Austrian labour cost system.
• The total funding applied for each person will then automatically be calculated including a 3,5% annual salary increase (accounting for inflation/..). At the bottom right you will see the total personnel costs applied for from WWTF.
  
• If you want to include a pay raise of the VRG candidate, you have to add another row to depict the pay raise.

For the VRG candidate: please ask your future host institution what your actual salary will be beforehand!

Note: Please be aware that the wage for “Studentische Mitarbeiter*in” (i.e. Diploma student etc.) is calculated by FWF with 20 hours and a “Doktorand*in” (i.e. PhD student) with 30 hours per week.

Planning of non-personnel costs

Please provide a concise description of costs per cost category/institution as well as the funding applied for. Click “add another row” to include another cost factor. Please be as specific as possible (e.g., list devices etc.)! You can use the same categories multiple times. The sums will be automatically calculated and provided in the table “Cost overview” and “Budget per region”. 

Furthermore, please fill in the text boxes:

• Please shortly describe the envisioned group: How will the group be set up? Which positions/qualifications are needed and when, to conduct the research?
• Briefly describe the equipment and consumables needed to successfully perform the group’s research. Describe the availability and accessibility of the infrastructure and equipment. What will be funded by WWTF, what will be provided by the host institution?
• Please indicate by clicking the check box that you are aware of the host institution’s overhead policy (max. 20%).
• Please describe the monetary and in-kind contributions in detail. Please be aware that the monetary and in-kind contributions are the contributions from the host institution only and must exceed the minimum requirements stated in the Call Specifications. 

Uploads

• Upload a photo of the VRG candidate. For internal use only during hearing preparation.
• Optional: reference letter(s) for the VRG candidate.
  • You can invite up to three experts to upload a Letter of Reference for your VRG proposal.
  • Max. 2 pages per LoR, no experts from the future host institution.
  • The letter will not be accessible to the VRG candidate, they will only get a notification in case a letter has been submitted.
• If relevant, you may upload further information (e.g., patents, LoIs) as PDFs. Please note that a maximum of 5 documents are permitted, with a maximum of 3 pages per document.

The reference letters have to be submitted together with the proposal on the application deadline date. Reference letters will not be considered otherwise.