Each research project must be conducted jointly by a team of applicants from the Netherlands and Germany. The principal investigators on each side must be eligible to apply to their respective funding organisation: applicants in the Netherlands must meet the eligibility requirements of NWO Open Competition Domain Science – M programme, applicants in Germany must meet the eligibility requirements of the DFG’s Research Grants Programme. Please note that the rules for funding eligibility apply to all applicants from Germany, including the duty to cooperate for non-university researchers. Any duty to cooperate for DFG applicants at non-university research institutions can only be fulfilled through cooperation with a partner at a German university.
This bilateral funding opportunity will be managed via a joint Lead Agency Procedure.
The Lead Agency can be chosen by the team of applicants. The team of applicants selects a coordinating applicant who submits the joint proposal to the respective funding organisation in their country. This organisation acts as the Lead Agency for the proposal. The other applicant/s (co-applicant/s) must submit a copy of the proposal documents to their respective funding agency (the Partner Agency) within seven days. Please note that the Partner Agency may request additional information (for details, please refer to the Partner Agency’s information).
The Lead Agency is responsible for the evaluation process in compliance with its internal rules set out for the respective programme. Following the assessment, the results will be shared with the Partner Agency, which uses the results for its own decision process. Funding recommendations by the Lead Agency will be subject to approval by NWO and DFG decision bodies (for the DFG: involvement of the responsible DFG review board and Joint Committee), taking into account the availability of funds.
Funding of the joint research projects is contingent upon positive assessment and decision by both funding organisations. If granted, each organisation supports the researchers for whom it is responsible. Unilateral funding of only one part of the project is not possible.
