Call for the support of young university teachers, researchers and PhD students
In accordance with the UGA UMB Statute (REK/687/2023/109-SR), UGA UMB announces a call for projects proposals (furtherly also application) to support young university teachers, researchers, and PhD students.
Call Launch: 15 May 2024
Deadline for Submission of Project Proposals: 21 June 2024
Maximum Project Budget:
- In the PhD scheme, a maximum of EUR 4,000 per grant (excluding VAT and flat rate for indirect costs).
- In the postdoctoral scheme, a maximum of EUR 8,000 per grant (excluding VAT and flat rate for indirect costs).
Provisional Total Amount Allocated for the Call: 154, 080 EUR
Expected Start of the Project: 1 July 2024 at the earliest.
Expected End of the Project: 30 June 2026 at the latest.
1. Purpose of the Project
The purpose of the project is to cover costs associated with the research projects of young university teachers, researchers, and PhD students. It aims to support the improvement of the quality of the university's creative, scientific, and research levels, its priority directions, and the trends of the European Research Area.
2. Formalities Requirements
The project proposals must be submitted by completing the prescribed form (Annex 1) and should include:
- Basic information, such as the duration of the project and a specification of the applicant.
- The title and content of the project, including keywords and project annotation.
- Requested funds broken down into current expenditure and totals for the first and second year (if applicable), along with a detailed breakdown of expenditures (staff, travel, goods and services, other).
- Information on the project team, the principal investigator, and any co-investigators (if relevant).
- A project proposal of no more than 5 A4 pages, focusing on the excellence, impact, and implementation of the project according to the established criteria.
- Confirmation of details and signatures from the principal project investigator and the Head of Department.
- Additional documents, namely a professional CV and an affidavit of veracity.
3. Eligible Applicants for the UMB
UGA applicants may be university teachers or early-career researchers (within 5 years of obtaining the academic degree of PhD), without the academic titles of associate professor or professor, employed at UMB on a full-time basis. Eligible applicants must not have reached the age of 35 years at the date of application and/or be full-time doctoral students at UMB (without age limitations), excluding those in their final year of study.
4. Submission of Applications, Evaluation of Applications, and Publication of the Results of the Call
Applications must be submitted in one hard copy and in electronic form to the Office of the Vice-Rector for Science and Research of UMB, Science and Research Department, by the deadline published in this call for proposals. Applications that fail to meet the required formalities will be excluded from the approval process. Applications can be submitted for either one- or two-year projects. In cases involving multiple investigators, the principal investigator is accountable for the use of funds.
The evaluation of applications will be conducted by the UGA UMB Council within a set time frame. The Council may request a rebuttal from an external evaluator if necessary. Acting as a collective evaluation body, the UGA Council ensures a professional and transparent evaluation process. It also supervises and actively enforces the principle of avoiding conflicts of interest in the evaluation of projects. In their evaluation, the UGA Council of UMB particularly assesses the originality and excellence of the project, the expected impact of the project, the quality and efficiency of the project work plan, the expected results, and the adequacy and justification of the planned financial expenditures for the entire project period (the Evaluation Form for UGA projects is published as Annex 3).
The UGA Council of UMB submits the project funding proposals to the Rector of UMB for approval. Once the grant application is approved, the project is assigned a registration number, which will be sent to the applicant both in hard copy and via email.
The list of approved projects is published on the UMB website, in the Science and Research section. It includes at least the name of the project, the responsible project investigator, the duration of the project, and the amount of funds allocated for the entire project period.
5. Project Implementation and Use of Financial Resources
The financial resources allocated to the UMB UGA project must be used solely for the intended purposes as specified in the approved project budget.
Eligible expenses of the applicant may include:
- Travel expenses of the principal investigator or co-investigators
- Consumables, and other goods and services necessary for the implementation of the project.
- Apparatus and equipment with an entry price of not more than EUR 1,700.
- Software and valuable rights, where the entry price does not exceed EUR 2,400.
- VAT, which is an eligible expenditure if its recovery is not applicable under national VAT legislation.
All publications resulting from projects supported by UGA UMB funds from the University budget must declare this support. Specifically, they must include the registration number of the grant and the name of the support scheme, "University Grant Agency of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica," in the Acknowledgement section. The responsible researcher is accountable for ensuring that funds are used appropriately for the implementation of UGA UMB projects.
6. Submission of the Evaluation Report
The principal investigator must submit an annual written evaluation report on the project, its results, and the use of allocated funds. The report should be submitted in both one hard copy and electronic form for each project year by completing the prescribed form (Annex 2). For two-year projects, interim evaluation reports after the first year should be submitted to the Office of the Vice-Rector for Science and Research of MBU, Science and Research Department, not later than 30 days after the completion of the first year of the project implementation. These interim reports must include copies of published outputs and an accounting of the allocated funds.
The UGA Council of UMB assesses the evaluation reports. The results of these evaluations are considered in the allocation of funds for the following year (in the case of multi-year grants).
The final report must be submitted by the principal investigator to the Office of the Vice-Rector for Science and Research of the UMB, Science and Research Department, not later than 60 days after the completion of the project implementation. The final evaluation report for two-year projects must include two opposing opinions, while those for one-year projects must include one referee’s report. Opponents are appointed by the UGA Council of UMB. The approval of opponents requires the consent of a supermajority of the permanent members of the UGA UMB Council and the consent of a representative from the relevant research area to which the project proposal was submitted.
Completed projects are evaluated in terms of meeting scientific objectives, methodological sophistication, contributions to practice, originality, quality of results and publications, and efficiency in the use of funds. The final report includes copies of the published outputs and an accounting of the funds allocated.
The achievement of project objectives is assessed in three stages:
(a) Excellent,
(b) Pass,
(c) Fail.
After the evaluation of the project results, a project evaluation certificate signed by the President of the UGA UMB Council will be issued to the responsible project investigator.
An unsatisfactory evaluation of the project implementation (c) will result in the exclusion of the researcher from the possibility of applying for a grant under the next call.
Contact person:
Vice-Rector for Science and Research