JTC2021 Call announcement

** Last updated on April 14 2021

FLAG-ERA gathers National and Regional Funding Organisations (NRFOs) in Europe and beyond with the goal of supporting, together with the European Commission, the FET Flagship initiatives, i.e., the Graphene Flagship and the Human Brain Project (HBP) Flagship. One of its main aims is to allow researchers to complement the current Flagship projects and to collaborate towards the achievement of their vision using existing or dedicated transnational, national and regional calls. In particular, FLAG-ERA aims at launching dedicated JTCs allowing researchers from several countries to jointly contribute to the Flagship goals. Note that researchers interested to work in the framework of the Flagships can also do so using other sources of funding in combination with the Flagship association mechanisms (Graphene Flagship, Human Brain Project).

The FLAG-ERA Joint Transnational Call (JTC) 2021 supports research projects in synergy with the two FET Flagships, the Graphene Flagship and the Human Brain Project. It is designed to expand the current Flagships with new research contributing to the Flagship objectives in selected areas. New researchers and researchers already in the Flagships are equally eligible. Selected projects are expected to be integrated in the Flagships as Partnering Projects.

The official FLAG-ERA JTC2021 Call Announcement and other relevant documents are available at the bottom of this page. A summary of the main call features is provided below.

Research areas

The FLAG-ERA JTC 2021 comprises two topics, one for each Flagship. Each topic covers a specific list of research areas listed below and described in the following pages. The Graphene sub-call is sub-divided into two parts, one for basic research and one for applied research and innovation. Contact points for each area are provided below (links to relevant documents).

*GRMs = Graphene Related Materials

* While preparing the proposals, consortia are encouraged to contact EBRAINS High-Level Support Team (HLST) (flag-era2021@ebrains.eu) if it is of their interest to explore whether the services developed by EBRAINS (https://ebrains.eu/) offer potentially valuable solutions to fulfil their aim. For relevant EBRAINS services related to this call for proposals please refer to section II.

Participating NRFOs

The following funding organisations are foreseen to participate in the three sub-calls dedicated to the two Flagships:
• Graphene (Basic research): BE (F.R.S.-FNRS), BE (FWO), BG (BNSF), DE (DFG), ES (AEI), ES (IDEPA), FR (ANR), HU (NKFIH), IL (Innov Auth), LT (LMT), LV (VIAA), SE (VR), SI (MIZS), SK (SAS), TR (TUBITAK)
• Graphene (Applied research and innovation): BE (FWO), BG (BNSF), ES (AEI), ES (IDEPA), FR (ANR), HU (NKFIH), IL (Innov Auth), LT (LMT), LV (VIAA), RO (UEFISCDI), SI (MIZS), SK (SAS), TR (TUBITAK)
• HBP (Basic and applied research: BE (F.R.S.-FNRS), BE (FWO), BG (BNSF), ES (AEI), ES (ISCIII), FR (ANR), HU (NKFIH), IL (Innov Auth), LT (LMT), LV (VIAA), NL (ZonMW/NWO), RO (UEFISCDI), SI (MIZS), SK (SAS), TR (TUBITAK)

Eligibility

Consortia must be international. They must involve at least:

• 3 partners requesting funding from 3 participating countries

or

• 2 partners requesting funding from 2 participating countries and a partner from another country securing its own funding as a Flagship Core Project partner

In both cases, partners requesting funding may be Flagship Core Project members.

In any case, the consortium coordinator must be a partner requesting funding (and be eligible for funding) from an organisation participating in the call.

Consortium including a partner from a participating widening country will be highly appreciated and will be taken into account during funding discussion

Consortium with gender balance will be highly appreciated and will be taken into account during funding discussion

Consortia must be balanced. The maximum requested funding allowed per country in a proposal is 60% of the total requested funding of the proposal, except if only partners from 2 countries apply for funding, in which case this figure is raised to 75%.

Research groups who are not eligible to receive funding by an organisation participating in the call but are willing to collaborate and contribute to the proposed project may be part of a consortium if they are able to secure their own funding. Third-party funding is not considered for the application of the above-mentioned balance rule.

The eligibility criteria for partners are specific to their respective NRFO. In order not to jeopardize the whole consortium, each partner in the consortium should ensure that no doubts exist about the eligibility of their institution (university, academic institutions, industry), the eligibility of their PI (permanent staff, position secured for the duration of the project, etc.), and their eligible costs. It is important to note that some NRFOs require that eligibility of partners is checked with them prior to applying. It is also important to be aware that some NRFOs request the submission of an application at the national level in parallel to the transnational submission, and that failing to submit the national application makes the partner ineligible. It is the responsibility of the coordinator to ensure that all necessary checks have been done before submitting.

Evaluation & Selection

JTC 2021 follows a 1-stage evaluation and selection process. The evaluation and selection processes are independent of the Flagship Core Projects. Proposals are assessed and ranked by independent international Scientific Evaluation Panels (SEPs). There are three different SEPs, one for each sub‐call for the Graphene topic (‘basic research’ and ‘applied research and innovation’) and one for the HBP topic (‘basic and applied research’).

The evaluation criteria are the following:

• Excellence:  Scientific and/or technological quality (to the extent that it is relevant to the call topics

• • Soundness of the concept, and quality and pertinence of the objectives
  • Quality and effectiveness of the methodology
  • Expected progress beyond the state-of-the-art
  • Originality and novelty of ideas

• Implementation:  Quality and efficiency of the implementation and management

1. • Quality of the work plan, appropriateness of allocation and justification of requested resources (staff, equipment…)
   • Appropriateness of the management structure and procedures
   • Quality and relevant experience of individual participants
   • Quality and added value of the consortium (complementarity, balance, etc.)
   • Identification of risks and mitigation plan

• Impact:  Potential impact through the development, dissemination and exploitation of results

• • Potential industrial and economic impact at the European and/or international level
  • Societal and scientific importance
  • Appropriateness of measures for the dissemination and/or exploitation of project results, and management of intellectual property

Each criterion is scored between 0 and 5. Proposals that do not reach a score of 3 in each of the above criterion are rejected.

The total score for a proposal is weighted average of the scores for the three individual criteria. The weights are as follows:

	Graphene		HBP
	Basic research	Applied research and innovation	Basic and applied research
Excellence	50%	30%	40%
Implementation	30%	30%	30%
Impact	20%	40%	30%

Association to the Flagships

Projects recommended for funding are invited to proceed with the formal association to the Flagship, using the Flagship standard association procedure (Graphene Flagship partnering mechanism, HBP partnering mechanism). Any issue at this stage is treated through classical project risk management.

JTC2021 Timeline

Links to relevant documents

To learn more on the topics, eligibility criteria and the submission of proposals to the JTC2021, please consult the FLAG-ERA JTC2021 Call Announcement. * Last updated on April 14, 2021

In order to facilitate contacts with the relevant parts of the Flagships,  contact information is provided for the Graphene Flagship and the HBP.

A JTC 2021-Partner(s) Search Tool for submitting Expressions of Interest (EoI) is currently open. Consult all the JTC 2021 EoI.

FLAG-ERA JTC2021 information Webinar:

• FLAG-ERA JTC2021 presentation
• Graphene Flagship presentation
• HBP and e-Brains presentation

To prepare your pre-proposal, use the FLAG-ERA JTC2021 Proposal Form and the Flagship partnership proposal form for either Graphene or HBP.

To help you through the submission process, please consult the FLAG-ERA JTC 2021 Submission Guidelines.

The links to the submission web sites are:

• Graphene – Basic Research
• Graphene – Applied Research and Innovation
• HBP – Basic and Applied Research