At FSS we agreed to allocate starter and incentive grants to achieve specific goals. Our criteria focus on employee well-being, creating a supportive environment for ambitions, and valuing Team Science, Open Science, diversified career paths, and academic and societal impact.
Here are the key principles we use for allocating these grants:
- Reduce work pressure and increase research time.
- Encourage internal collaboration.
- Promote individual career development by seeking external research funding.
- Ensure equitable, transparent, and regularly reviewed distribution mechanisms.
Our faculty, FSS, will receive approximately €25 million over 10 years (about €2.5 million per year). The allocation process considers the full period because grants can be used for several years, different from when they're initially allocated. We've established principles for allocating incentive grants:
- Ex-post Grant: The Ex-Post grant is designed to alleviate application pressure by enhancing the success rate of applications. This is achieved by awarding grants to scholars who have applied for external funding, received favorable evaluations from their peers, yet did not secure financial support (this behavior is termed grant seeking ex-post). The selection of the grant holders will be done by our Research Assessment Board based on the criteria developed by the Heads of Departments. The focus is on excellence and the content of the application rather than numerical rankings or other outcome metrics in grant proposals.
- R&I Labs and Internationalization Network Grant: To provide scholars with time and resources for application development, this grant supports collaborative efforts within our Research and Innovation labs. Our commitment to global collaboration is also reflected in this grant, which funds small projects inviting esteemed international scholars to visit our campus. This initiative enhances our academic community and fosters international partnerships. Lab directors create plans detailing collaborative projects (2G, 3G, and 4G applications) to secure funding.
- Top-Up Grant: We have reserved a portion of our funding to facilitate collaborations among starter grant recipients. When these recipients decide to work together, they can receive additional support through this top-up grant.