Transcript Research Service - Universitat Pompeu Fabra

How to prepare a proposal for
H2020 collaborative projects
UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA
Research Service
May 2014
BEFORE YOU START
Servei de Recerca
Abril 2014
Keys to prepare a proposal
 Having a clear idea of the project
results;
 Verify the level of innovation of the idea
specific objectives and expected
go beyond the state of the art;
 Establish the ideal consortia;
 Obtain support from the institution
UPF Research Service;
 Plan.
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May 2014
Search for calls: Participant Portal
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal//desktop/en/home.html
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May 2014
List of all open calls
Search calls by
key words
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May 2014
Open calls
Filter by type
of project
Pillar to which the
call belongs
Deadline of
the call
Title of call
Official
reference
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May 2014
Information
on call
Topics:
available
research
lines
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May 2014
Buscar convocatòries per paraules clau
Keyword
Research
line within
call
Title of call
Official
reference
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May 2014
Informació d’una convocatòria
Specific
challenge
How they want
the challenge
solved:
budget,
specific
conditions...
What needs to
be achieved
Type of
project
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PREPARING THE
PROPOSAL
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May 2014
How to start
 Ensure that the project fits within the call;
 Prepare a good synthesis of the project (abstract);
 Define the profile of the necessary partners and look for them;
 Plan;
 START!
Contact the Research Service
Research Service
May 2014
The abstract
 Fundamental tool to “sell” your project;
 Encompasses the project and its area;
 How the project fits in the call specificities;
 Mentions the potential impact of the project;
 It can be used to identify which consortium will be needed.
• Search for partners;
• Check with National Contact Points whether
the project fits in the objectives of the call.
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May 2014
The consortium
Items to consider:
 Experience and technical and scientific know-how;
 Entities: universities, research centres, SMEs, NGOs, institutes, government
agencies...
 Geographical distribution: > 3 EU countries should be represented;
 What can each partner provide? Infrastructures, management, knowledge;
Principal consortium
• Core of the project;
• Basic partners to build the
project;
• With previous joint work
experience (preferred).
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Global consortium
• Implements the project;
• It has to comply with all
requirements of call;
• Representative composition of
EU.
May 2014
Search for partners
 Personal and/or professional contacts;
 National Contact Points (experts for each topic);
 CORDIS:
•
Search for partners
•
Partners or coordinators from previous projects
 Infodays;
 Specialised websites for each knowledge area:
•
Social challenge 1 (Health)
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May 2014
Back to the Participant Portal
The full submission is online
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May 2014
Contact the
Research
Service
Deadline of call
Acronym and
summary of
project. They
can be modified
anytime
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May 2014
One proposal, two parts
Part A:
• A1: general information
• A2: information on
partners
• A3: budget (for each
partner and total)
• A4: ethical aspects
Part B1:
• Scientific excellence
• Impact
• Implementation of
project
Part B2:
• Description of
consortium
• Ethical and security
aspects
Part B3 (if applicable):
• Ethical annex
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Part A
For the coordinador and partners, the data must coincide with Part B.
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Part B
Clear description of the project objectives, work plan, expected impacte,
consortium...
 The template that can be found at the Participant Portal must be followed;
 The idicated format must be respected:
•
Size of font: minimum 11;
•
A4 page with 15 mm margins;
•
Limit of pages in each section.
 Put yourself in the evaluator’s shoes:
•
Make an attractive and easy to read proposal: graphs, tables,
diagrams;
•
Write in standard English (evaluators come from all around the EU).
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May 2014
Scientific Excellence
 1.1 Objectives: define scientific objectives based on the expected impact
 1.2 How it relates to the work programme
 1.3 Concept and scientific approach:
•
Describe the global concapt and the most representative ideas;
•
Mention interdisciplinary elements;
•
Define the global strategy, work plan, methodology...
graphs
 1.4 Ambition
•
Detail the state of the art and how the project goes beyond it;
•
Which innovations does the project provide compared to other projects;
•
Mention potential scientific/technological risks related to the project.
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May 2014
Impact
 2.1 Expected impact:
•
Define how the project will achieve impact established in the work
program. The impact must be quantified to the extent possible;
•
Describe obstacles and regulations that could diminish impact.
 2.2 Mesures to maximize impact:
•
Dissemination and result exploitation:
 Establish a dissemination plan and result exploitation during and
at the end of the project: publications, congresses, web,
associations...
 Publications must be in Open Access;
 Management of intellectual property: Consortium Agreement.
•
Communication strategy: it is important that knowledge will be
transferred to non-scientific or academic public.
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Open Access
 It is compulsory that H2020 beneficiaries deposit all scientific
publications within the H2020 financed research in open access
 In the social challenge VI calls, it is compulsory to deposit in open
access all research data produced within the project framework.
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May 2014
Beneficiares of Horizon 2020 grants should:
• Ensure open access of all peer-reviewed
papers accepted for journal publication
• As soon as possible, within 6 months (or 12
months for SSH)
• At an OpenAire complaint institutional
repository 
OA to publications mandate in H2020
1
Submit publication
to journal of choice
• OA = good! (but not
necessary )
• Publishing fees are
considered eligible
grant expense
2
3
Deposit open
access version in
repository
OpenAIRE harvests
publications from
network
• Almost all publishers
allow this!
• Embargo’s are
allowed
• Makes them visible
through OpenAIRE
portal
• Researchers use the
persistent identifier
(handle URL) for
their reports
Before publication
At the paper, ensure the correction of:
- Author’s name
- Affiliation
- Name of the action, acronym and grant number
(Acknowledge / Sponsorship)
Exemple: This work has been supported by the XXXX project,
grant agreement number YYYY, funded by the EC Seventh Framework
Programme theme FP7-ENERGY-XXXX.
Choosing a journal
Devon Greyson, University of British Columbia
26
How to achieve open access
University of Essex
http://www.essex.ac.uk/reo/research_community/university_of
_essex_research_repository/open_access/
Logistics of OA for Authors
1. Identifying Gold/Green journals
1. Sherpa/Romeo
2. Journal websites (“for authors” section)
3. Ask the library
2. Navigating Copyright
Ask about options, most publishers will grant some
rights (via APCs payments)
3. Deposit at institutional repository
Send your postprint to [email protected]
http://repositori.upf.edu/
Publication version
Submitted
Accepted
Published
• Preprint
• Before
peer-review
• Postprint
• After peerreview
• PDF
• Editor
version

It’s very important that you keep a copy of your work
• Pay attention to the publisher’s
agreements
• Use SHERPA/RoMEO website to know
about publishers policies
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/
• Save a copy of your pre-prints and postprints
• License your works with
when
possible
• Ask the library!
More information:
• EC Guidelines on Open Access in H2020
https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/sites/horizon2020/files/F
actSheet_Open_Access.pdf
• Open Access Guidelines for researchers funded by
the ERC
http://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/ERC_Open_Access
_Guidelines-revised_2013.pdf
• Open Access in Horizon 2020 https://www.openaire.eu/openaccess-in-horizon-2020
[email protected]
Implementation
 3.1 Work plan:
•
Global strategy of the work plan;
•
Work packages (WP), tasks, deliverables, milestones and Gantt chart;
•
Exhaustive description of each WP following the template;
•
Interrelation of different components through a Perth diagram.
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May 2014
Work Package
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Work Packages
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Work Package
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Implementation
 3.2 Administration:
•
Describe the consortium and the decision making system: Consortium
Agreement;
•
Risk analysis and contingency plans.
 3.3 The consortium:
•
Describe the global consortium, how the common work will be carried
out, control and management mechanisms...
•
Capacity of the consortium to achieve objectives;
•
Complementarity among participants.
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Consortium description
 Each partner of the consortium describes what they contribute with and
that their presence is essential:
•
Description of the institution and the main tasks that will carry out,
detailing how these relate to their profile;
•
Detail the profit that the project generates the scientific team;
•
Curriculum Vitae or description of the main members of the team;
•
A maximum of 5 publications related to the project objective;
•
A maximum of 5 participations in other projects related with this one;
•
Detail available infrastructure that might be essential for the
objectives.
 There is no page limit.
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Consortium description
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Implementation
 3.4 Resources:
•
Detail the work and capital effort
contact with the R.S.
ALWAYS contact the Research Service to prepare the
budget, both for partners and coordinators.
 Calculate the budget based in total costs.
 Always check that:
• The resources have to fit the real needs of the project;
• Personnel costs (work and capital) reflect the task distribution by
partner;
• The cost breakdown has to be well structured for activities and
participants;
• The equipment acquisition and subcontracting must be justified;
• The inclusion of every partner in the project is well justified.
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May 2014
Budget
 Which expenses are eligible?
•
Own and contracted personnel (PI + team);
•
Equipment;
•
Travel, research stays, assistance to congresses, conferences...
•
Organization of conferences, congresses...
•
Publications (Open Access)
 Compulsory expense: whenever the EC funds over 325.000€ there must
be a financial audit. Its cost is paid by the project;
 Proposals with an “inflated” budget will be poorly evaluated.
ALWAYS contact the Research Service
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Ethics
 Mention any ethical aspect that there might be:
•
Use of personal data, either collected within the project or re-using
previous data;
•
Studies involving children;
•
Animal research;
•
Participation of countries outside the EU;
•
Military potential;
•
Others.
 There is no page limit.
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THE EVALUATION
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Evaluation criteria
 Excellence:
• Clarity of objectives;
• Soundness of concepts, bearing in mind the interdisciplinary nature;
• Credibility of approach;
• Go beyond the state of the art.
 Impact:
• The expected impact for each topic, depending on the work program;
• Improvement of the innovation capacity and integration of new
knowledge;
• Efficacy of proposals and dissemination of the project and results
exploitation.
 Quality and efficiency of implementation
• Coherence and efficacy of the work plan, including the distribution of
tasks and resources;
• Quality, experience and complementarity among participants and of
global consortium;
• Quality of management of the project and risk control.
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IMPORTANT!!
 Proposals are evaluated by at least 3 experts, although in most cases
there will be more than 5.
 Experts have strict guidelines:
•
Ignore pages beyond the limit;
•
Evaluate the proposal as is presented, without considering the
potential it might have if some small changes were made.
 In H2020 there will not be a lot of margin for evaluators to make
recommendations to improve the proposals, even regarding the budget.
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ONCE THE PROJECT HAS
BEEN SUBMITTED...
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The outcome...
 Notification of the result of the evaluation: up to 5 months after the
call closure;
 Negotiation with the EC: up to 3 more months;
 Beginning of the project: up to 12 months after the signature of the
contract.
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May 2014
Conclusions
 The objectives must be described clearly and understandably;
 The objectives must fit within the topic;
 The consortium must be strong and balanced;
 The work plan must be realistic and complete;
 Try to quantify the expected impact;
 A realistic and feasible result exploitation strategy must be included;
 Use clear and simple language;
 Use visual tools (graphs, diagrams...) to facilitate the evaluators’ work;
 Plan your work: the elaboration of a proposal takes time!
 The abstract is the essence of the project: it must attract the evaluator;
 Use the Research Service and the National Contact Points.
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Thank you for your attention
WE ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL!
UPF RESEARCH SERVICE
[email protected]
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May 2014