Information session UHasselt FWO: Call Pegasus Dr. Hans Willems Director Research Policy 7 december 2011

On the agenda 1.Mission and key facts 2.Selection procedure and how to apply 3.Funding schemes of the FWO  Pre-doctoral fellowships (a.o. Aspiranten)  Postdoctoral fellows  Pegasus  Research and travel grants 4.Varia 2

1.MISSION AND KEY FACTS 3

Mission and key facts  Mission of the FWO  Funds fundamental scientific research (“frontier research”)  Bottom-up funding in all disciplines  Strong selection based on scientific excellence and interuniversity competition (Flemisch universities and, to a lesser extent, research performing organisations)  Transparent and equal opportunities 4

Mission and key facts  Mission of the FWO  Label awarded in december 2010  Implementation of Charter & Code  Focus on transparent recruitment procedures and gender- friendly measures 5

Mission and key facts  Target groups of the FWO  Young researchers  Postdoctoral researchers  Established researchers  Research teams  Top-researchers and high-potential researchers  Equal opportunities: no discirimination with respect to nationality, gender, disciplines,…  flexible regulations to support and stimulate female researchers in their academic career. 6

Mission and key facts  Funding schemes of the FWO  Funding for individual researchers Pre- and postdoctoral fellowships, bench fees and grants  Funding for research teams Research projects, Big Science, Bilateral agreements, …  Supporting mobility, international contacts and collaborations Travel grants, Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowships, Sabbatical leaves, Scientific research communities, Organisation of conferences in Belgium, Internationald coordination acties, collaboration agreements, …  Attracting excellent researchers, active abroad, to Flanders Odysseus, Pegasus  Awarding scientific prizes 7

Mission and key facts  Budget 2011: ± 200 million euro, of which ca. 80% from the Flemish Government 8

Mission and key facts Allocation 2010 Allocation over different research domains 2010 Biological Sciences Humanities Social Sciences Medical Sciences Exact and applied sciences Interdisciplinary 9

Mission and key facts  Evolution of number of researchers in function 10

Mission and key facts  Gender balance Strong increase in number of female researchers on pre-doctoral level: in % of the research fellows in function were women. The amount of female researchers has also risen on postdoctoral level, yet, despite implementing family friendly regulations, the percentage of female researchers stays below 40%. 11

Mission and key facts  % foreign researchers 12 Continuous increase in number of foreign researchers in function: In 2010, ca. 12% of the researchers had a non-Belgian nationality. N.B.: this does not include researchers employed on FWO research projects

Mission and key facts  Evolution of succes rates pre-doctoral fellowships: Downward trend reversed in

Mission and key facts  Evolution of success rates postdoctoral fellowships: Downward trend reversed in

Mission and key facts 15 Events

2.SELECTION PROCEDURE AND HOW TO APPLY 16

Selection procedure and how to apply 17 Call Submission/ eligibility check Expert Panels (29+1) CIS (Pegasus) Board of Trustees External referees (online) 1 February 1 April February/March April/May 2x / year meeting in Brussel 20 June 14 November Duration workflow fellowships: < 5 months Duration workflow projects: < 7 months

Selection procedure and how to apply  Online: FWO E-Portal (register at least 24 hours in advance) 18

Funding schemes of the FWO  Predoctoral fellowships  PhD Fellowships  Special PhD Fellowships  Clinical PhD Fellowships  Postdoctoral fellowships  Postdoctoral Fellowships  Senior Clinical Investigator  Pegasus  Research and travel grants 19

Postdoctoral fellow  What?  3 years, 1x renewable (no longer 2nd renewal)  Full time research  Postdoctoral level (obtained PhD < 1/6/2012)  First step in academic career  No nationality requirements  No formal age limit:  ≤ six years after obtaining PhD (1/10/2012)  One extra year for each pragnancy or parental leave (not applicable when < 36 (1/10/2012)) 20

Postdoctoral fellow  In practice  Employment contract, 3 years  Once renewable Apply before 1 February of the last year  Salary is at the same level of doctor-assistant of a Flemish university  Anciennity is taken into account  Disciplinary dependant of the host institution 21

Funding schemes of the FWO  Predoctoral fellowships  PhD Fellowships  Special PhD Fellowships  Clinical PhD Fellowships  Postdoctoral fellowships  Postdoctoral Fellowships  Senior Clinical Investigator  Pegasus  Research and travel grants 22

Pegasus 23

Pegasus  Background  International mobility, income and outcome are important  Until now FWO instruments are focussing on outward mobility  Odysseus programme for very high-level researchers, in general not for young postdocs 24

Pegasus  Aims of the programme  To increase incoming mobility into the Flemish research community  To provide selected fellows with optimal career development opportunities (i.c.w. universities) and thus contribute to ERA  To serve as a pioneering initiative for ongoing evolutions within FWO (HR strategy, e-government, etc.) 25

Pegasus  PEGASUS-long (30): 3 year-fellowship with employment contract  PEGASUS-short (59): 1 year-fellowships, employment contracts or stipends 26

Pegasus  General overview: calls 27 Call deadlineAvailable fellowships 01/02/ long + 10 short 01/05/ short 01/02/ short 01/05/ short 01/02/ short 01/05/20149 short

Pegasus  Who can apply?  PhD no longer than 6 years ago for Pegasus-long or 10 years for Pegasus-short on the start of the fellowship (if < 36 years)  At least 2 of the 3 previous years active abroad (Belgian nationals not excluded)  After receiving the grant: affiliated to one of the universities of the Flemish Community (collaboration with other RPO’s is possible) 28

Pegasus  Selection procedure: remote referees  Remote referees (cfr. Postdoc)  Regular Expert Panel evaluation (cfr. Postdoc)  General panel: CIS: Committee for International Collaboration Multidisciplinary, majority of foreign members 29

Pegasus  What the regular Expert panels do…  Discussion of all the Pegagsus applications submitted to it, on the basis od preliminary reports by at least 2 panel members  Ranking of all suitable Pegasus applications (independently from other fellowships)  What the CIS panel does …  Discussion of the ranked proposals on the basis of all available information  Global ranking of Pegasus applications (ranking cannot overrule sub-ranking by panels) 30

Postdoctoral fellow  Selection procedure referees:  Applicant suggests 10 potential referees  APPLICANT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ELIGIBILITY OF THE REFEREES. IN CASE OF ANY MISCONDUCT EACH APPLICATION WILL IMMEDIATELY BE INELIGIBLE  FWO-administration selects at random referees till at least 2 reports are available 31

Postdoctoral fellow  Not eligible as referee are:  Members of the Board of FWO;  Members of an expert panel of FWO;  Those who are appointed at a Belgian university, research institution or whatever other organization;  Those who are professionally appointed at an institution where the applicant(s) during the last three years has/have been enrolled as a student or professionally has/have been appointed;  Co-authors of the applicant(s) of a publication that has been submitted or published within the last three years prior to the final submission date for applications;  Partners of the applicant (s) in a research project that has been applied for or ongoing within the last three years prior to the final submission date for applications 32

Pegasus  Selection criteria (1)  Quality of the applicant Research capability and potential such as: –Publications in peer review journals as well as other elements of the candidate’s CV –Patents, teaching, advanced courses, etc., taking into account the level of experience Research skills and methodology Scientific independence (independent thinking, management experience and leadership qualities) Scientific background of the candidate Mobility of the applicant (previous trans-national and/or inter- sectoral mobility experience 33

Pegasus  Selection criteria (2)  Quality of the proposal Originality and innovative nature of the project (progress beyond the state of the art) Feasibility of the project Focus of the project Relevance of the project Coherence of the project 34

Pegasus  Selection criteria (3)  Quality of the context of employment Quality of the research environment of the host group (researchers, infrastructure, etc.) Quality of the supervision and training support of the host group Potential to acquire new scientific (disciplinary and interdisciplinary) and non-scientific skills (“soft skills”, e.g. project management, IPR, grant writing, communication, ethics, etc.) 35

Pegasus  Interim and ex-post evaluation  PEGASUS-long: annual progress report expected from the candidate  PEGASUS-short: final report within three months after the end of the fellowship  Reports are examined and marked by the CIS panel 36

Funding schemes of the FWO  Predoctoral fellowships  PhD Fellowships  Special PhD Fellowships  Clinical PhD Fellowships  Postdoctoral fellowships  Postdoctoral Fellowships  Senior Clinical Investigator  Pegasus  Research and travel grants 37

Research and travel grants  Research grants  Personal research budget between € and €  Grant for 1 year  Krediet Fernand De Waele (Civil Construction/Cancer): €  Krediet Rimaux-Bartier (Incurable Disease): €  Krediet Effel (Cancer and Leukemia): €  Krediet “Fortis Bank & Mees Pierson ” (Economy): €

Research and travel grants  Travel grants  Bottom-up: free choice of destination and research topic  Types of grants: Attendance of international conferences / workshops Short and long stays abroad 39

4.VARIA 40

For more information on the FWO  Website of the FWO:  Information on strategy, regulations, scientific prizes, calls, …  Free to download publications  Module 80 year FWO: 41