ERA CHAIR 2020TWINNING 2020KRISTIN KRAAV

„SPREADING EXCELLENCE AND WIDENING PARTICIPATION“

Call Opens Closes Budget

Twinning WIDESPREAD-05-2020

24 July 2019 14 November2019

69 M €

ERA Chairs WIDESPREAD-06-2020

24 July 2019 14 November 2019

50 M €

WideningFellowships

WF-02-2019WF-03-2020

11 April 20198 April 2020

11 Sept 20199 Sept 2019

6 M €7 M €

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LAST CALLS IN HORIZON 2020

„WIDENING“ COUNTRIES IN H2020

• Composite Indicator of Research Excellence (publications, top institutions, patents and ERC grants) with a corrective threshold of 70% of the EU average

• 15 Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, CzechRepublic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia)

• 12 Associated Countries (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine)

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ALL TOGETHER 27

ERA CHAIRS

WIDESPREAD-06-2020 call

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ERA CHAIRS

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SPECIFIC CHALLENGE

• persistent mobility barriers in Widening countries (availability of research funding, institutional rigidities, access to resources)

• creation of appropriate conditions for the mobility of high quality researchers and managers

• willingness of the institutions to achieve excellence in the chosen scientific domain & modify their R&I landscape

ERA CHAIRS

Support for universities or researchorganisations to hire an outstandingresearcher/research manager and their team

… and in parallel implement structural changesto achieve excellence on a sustainable basis

… in any scientific field closely connected to theERA Chair holder activities and expertise

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SCOPE

ERA CHAIRS

• Based on a SWOT analysis• Aimed at structural change in institution• Putting in place conditions for excellent research• Implement ERA priorities and Charter&Code

• open recruitment policy, gender balance, peer review, and innovative doctoral training

• Describe investments and/or better use of existinginfrastructure

• Induce a positive change in current practices• Describe ERA Chair roles, obligations and remuneration

package• Include provisions for sustainability• New: focus on strengthening research management skills

(separate WP or Task)

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PROPOSAL

ERA CHAIR HOLDER

• Will be appointed through an open, merit based competition• The position must be open to all EU and non-EU nationals at

R3 – Established researcher or R4 – Leading researcher level• The Chair holder will be an excellent researcher and research

manager in the given field, with a proven leadership record• The Chair holder will establish ther own team, fully

integrated in the host• The commitment should be for the whole duration of the

project and full-time• The position should allow the Chair to make resource

allocation decisions, supervise team members, and apply forresearch funding.

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ERA CHAIRS

ELIGIBLE COSTS

Costs related to the Chair holderand their team:• Salaries• Recruitment costs• Administrative costs• Travel costsCosts related to structural changes:• Trainings• Meetings• Publications & IPREquipment and consumables: up to10%

NON-ELIGIBLE COSTS

Infrastructure costs

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2,5 M €6 years

ERA CHAIRS

• institutional changes allowing full participation in ERA

• increased attractiveness of the institution for internationally excellent and mobile researchers (including compliance with ERA priorities)

• increased research excellence of the institution in specific field covered by grant holder illustrated quantitatively and qualitatively through indicators

• improved capability to compete successfully for internationally competitive research funding

• New: describe previous/current ERA Chair grants (if any) and demonstrate clearly added value and impact of the proposal compared to already funded project/s

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EXPECTED IMPACT

ERA CHAIRS

• weaknesses and threats in SWOT analysis are not reflected - SWOT justifies the proposal and structural changes should be motivated by weaknesses and threats

• objectives (main and specific) should be described in detail, must be measurable and address the needs adequately - down to the level of WPs and tasks

• convincing strategic and long-term sustainability vision is missing • ERA Chair: research topic is very broad, team is not defined in

terms of profiles and number • interactions with national/regional authorities, research funders,

research bodies, stakeholders and private sector lack details • RIS3 and compliance with ERA priorities are missing • KPIs are not clearly explained and not defined appropriately

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FREQUENT MISTAKES

Source: NCP_WIDE.Net, Anna Vosečková, CZ

ERA CHAIRS

• no convincing explanation on how attractiveness and international recognition will be achieved

• IPR and data management procedures are insufficiently elaborated though need to have such policy is recognized but only briefly outlined

• effective communication channels have not been identified and target groups are not clearly defined

• too many work packages with no interconnection• deliverables are not in in line with tasks and objectives• high travel costs are insufficiently justified, cost of conference

venues and speakers are overestimated• distribution between the scientific and management tasks is not

appropriate as it is excessively biased towards the scientific activities

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MORE MISTAKES

Source: NCP_WIDE.Net, Anna Vosečková, CZ

ERA CHAIRS

• clearly define objectives towards institutional changes

• demonstrate the role and autonomy of the ERA Chair holder

• Work Packages should be consistent and contribute to an overall Action Plan

• management structures need to be well defined and simple

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LESSONS LEARNED

Source: European Commission REA

ERA CHAIR APPLICATIONS

Build on strengths

Identify opportunities

Structural change: haveclear targets and KPIs

Recruitment, both of theERA Chair and the team, isa key issue

Align with national and institutional priorities

Clear description of theERA Chair responsibilities, requirements, and tasks

Address risks and sustainability

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WHAT WORKS?

ERA CHAIRS

• Budget of the call: 50 M €• Duration of the project: up to 6 years• Budget of the project: up to 2,5 M €• Call documents:

• Work programme text for 2020 is still under revision, expectedpublication in June 2019: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-wp1820-sewp_en.pdf

• Proposal template• Various policy documents

• Thematic European and national strategies, white papers, etc.• Principles of Innovative Doctoral Training• The European Charter and Code for researchers• …

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WIDESPREAD-06-2020 CALL

ERA CHAIRS

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RESULTS OF 2014 CALL

Institution Country Proposals per Country in the main list

PT 4

EE 3+1

CY 2

PL 2

HR 1

RO 1

Total 13+1

ERA CHAIRS

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RESULTS OF 2017 CALL

PT PL SI EE CY CZ LT LV RS BG HR MT SK AL BA GE HU LU ME UA

Number of evaluated vs successful proposalsby country

ERA CHAIRS

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RESULTS OF 2019 CALL

Source: NCP_WIDE.Net, Kaspars Kalninš, LVhttp://widening.viaa.gov.lv/

ERA CHAIRS

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ESTONIAN ERA CHAIR PROJECTS 2015-2017

2017

CUDAN – cultural dataanalytics

GasFermTec – gasfermentation technologies

cGEM – genomics, evolution, and medicine

VALORTECH – foodvalorisation

TUTIC-Green (FP7) – green

chemistry

2014

CEITER – educational innovation

COEL – cognitive electronics

SynBioTec – synthetic biology

TransGeno – translational

genomics

Nicholas Gathergood

Tobias Ley

Muhammad Mahtab Alam

Petri-Jaan Lahtvee

Alireza Fazeli

Kaspar Valgepea

Rajeev Bhat

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PROFILES

ERA CHAIR HOLDERS

TWINNING

WIDESPREAD-05-2020 Call

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TWINNING

SPECIFIC CHALLENGE

• enhance networking activities between Widening research institutions and at least 2 internationally-leading counterparts from 2 different MS or AC

• break into the closed clubs of research intensive institutions cooperating among themselves

SCOPE

• enhance S&T capacity of the linked institutions with a principal focus on Widening institution

• help raise the research profile of the Widening institution as well as the research profile of its staff

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TWINNING

• SWOT analysis

• scientific strategy for stimulating scientific excellence and innovation capacity:

• arrangements for formulating joint research projects• enlargement of the scope of research partnership• set of activities (e.g. short-term staff exchange, expert visits, short-term

trainings, workshops, conference attendance, joint summer schools, dissemination and outreach)

• dedicated WP or task targeting early stage researchers (MSCA definition) from coordinating institution

• New: dedicated WP or task for improving research management and administration skills as a concrete deliverable and setting up/upgrading a special unit would be beneficial

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PROPOSAL

TWINNING

• increased research excellence of the coordinating institution in particular field of research

• enhancing reputation, attractiveness and networking channels • improved capability to compete successfully for national, EU

internationally competitive research funding • illustrate quantitatively and qualitatively expected potential impact

based on indicators • contribution of leading partners to providing new research

avenues, creativity, and acting as source for increased mobility • benefits for leading partners should be substantiated • New: describe previous/current TWINNING grants (if any) and

demonstrate clearly added value and impact of the proposal compared to already funded project/s

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EXPECTED IMPACT

TWINNING

• Proposal lacks proper SWOT analysis• Objectives are too generic/vague• Clear scientific strategy is missing• Roles of the leading research institutes are not clear• Interactions with stakeholders not well described• Expected impacts replaced by actions and outputs• No measurable indicators• IPR management missing• WPs not in line with objectives• Management responsibilities not specified• Complementarity of partners not described• Tasks are not adequately distributed to partners

See also Anna Vosečková’s article on NCP_WIDE.Net website

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FREQUENT MISTAKES

TWINNING

• clear definition of the scientific strategy towards excellence in the relevant research field

• better illustration of the scientific qualities of "advanced" partners and their added value to the project

• outline the expected impact of the twinning exercise on the institution in the Widening country (and even at the national/regional level) based on specific indicators

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LESSONS LEARNED

Source: European Commission REA

TWINNING

ELIGIBLE COSTS

Administration

Coordination

Training

Networking

Management

Travel

New: Equipment and consumables: up to 10%

NON-ELIGIBLE COSTS

Infrastructure

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TWINNING

• Budget of the call: 69 M €• Duration of the project: up to 3 years• Budget of the project: up to 0,9 M €• Call documents:

• Work programme text for 2020 is still under revision, expectedpublication in June 2019: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-wp1820-sewp_en.pdf

• Proposal template• Various policy documents

• Thematic European and national strategies, white papers, etc.• Principles of Innovative Doctoral Training• The European Charter and Code for researchers• …

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WIDESPREAD-05-2020 CALL

TWINNING RESULTS

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2015Proposals evaluated: country of coordinator

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

PT PL CZ RO EE SK RS CY HR LV SI BG HU LT TR MD UA BA MT AL LU MK ME FO

77

62

5653

3228 27 26 26

23 22 21 21 20 18

6 6 5 5 3 3 3 2 1

Total proposals submitted: 552Total proposals evaluated: 546

Funded: 65 projectsSuccess rate: 12%

https://edukad.etag.ee/?t=H2020-TWINN-2015&p=H2020

TWINNING RESULTS

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2017

PT PL RO CZ SK LT RS CY HR TR EE LV HU BG UA SI TN AM AL GE ME MK MT BA MD LU

Evaluated vs successful proposals by country of Coordinator

Proposals

received: 482

inadmissible: 1

ineligible: 4

evaluated: 477

Main list: 30(success rate: 6.3%)

Reserve: 2

No money: 280

Below thresh.: 165

Above Threshold70%

Below Threshold

30% Mainlist37 Reserve

59%

Evaluation Outcome

Above Threshold Below Threshold Mainlist Reserve

TWINNING RESULTS

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2018 Proposals received: 460

Evaluated: 456

Selected: 37

Success rate: 8%

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

PT EE CZ PL

RS

MT

AM LV TN SI CY

HR TR UA SK RO LU AL

HU LB ME LT MK

MD

BA

BG

0,00 €

0,50 €

1,00 €

1,50 €

2,00 €

2,50 €

3,00 €

Nu

mb

er o

f P

rop

osa

ls in

th

e M

ain

Lis

t

Mill

ion

s

Coordinators in Main List by Widening Country

Sum of Req_Fund_Mainlist Sum of COO_Mainlist

TWINNING RESULTS

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2019

Estonia Submitted: 20Funded: 5Success rate 25%

WIDENING FELLOWSHIPS

2019 and 2020 MSCA Individual Fellowship Calls

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NEW!WIDENING FELLOWSHIPS

• Aim: to combat brain drain and support researchers toundertake their fellowship in a Widening country

• All non-funded European Fellowship applications that pass all evaluation thresholds (70%) will be automatically passed on to the Widening Fellowships call (NB! no applications will besubmitted directly to this call)

• A single multidisciplinary ranking list will be formed; ca. 35 top-ranking proposals will be funded

• Conditions of the MSCA EF will apply (same funding, sameGrant Agreement)

• Budget: 6 M€ (7 M€ 2020)

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NEW INITIATIVE

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+ 8 % overall proposals, + 27% proposals from widening countries

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Kristin Kraav

kristin.kraav@etag.ee

730 0337

skype: kristinkraav

www.etag.ee

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