Guidelines for Project establishment support

Project Owner

This is where you enter information about the Project Owner (institution/company) and the designated project administrator.

Definitions
Project Owner: The institution, company or activity that is responsible vis-à-vis the Research Council for ensuring that the project is carried out in accordance with the contract. In special cases, the Project Owner may be an individual.
Project administrator: The individual who is authorised to represent and assume obligations on behalf of the Project Owner in respect of the Research Council.

It is possible to access relevant information about the Project Owner from the Register of Business Enterprises and automatically enter this into the application form.
• Click on “Find Project Owner”.
• Search for the relevant Project Owner (organisation).
• Select the correct organisation from the list that appears below the search field.

If the organisation you need is not included in the list you may enter the information manually in the application form. Click on “Back” to return to the empty fields on the application form to fill these in manually.

If the information obtained from the Register of Business Enterprises is erroneous or incomplete, you must click on “Clear” in order to fill in the fields manually.

Doctoral and post-doctoral fellowship-holders who will be spending the duration of their fellowship period abroad are exempted from the requirement that an institution or company must serve as Project Owner. The relevant fellowship-holder will serve as the Project Owner him or herself.

Confirmation
The electronic application form software does not support personal signatures, but the submitter must obtain confirmation that the project administrator is willing to assume responsibility for the project on behalf of the Project Owner (institution). Both the designated project administrator and the person who has submitted the application will receive confirmation of receipt by email immediately after the application has been received by the Research Council.
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Project manager

This is where you enter information about the project manager.

Definition
Project manager: the individual who is responsible for the performance of the project on behalf of the Project Owner.

For applications for Researcher Projects, Research Institution-based Strategic Projects and Research Infrastructure: The project manager must be formally qualified for employment at associate professor level, which usually entails a completed doctorate.

Both the designated project administrator and the person who has submitted the application will receive confirmation of receipt by email immediately after the application has been received by the Research Council. Once the official registration process has been completed, the project administrator and the project manager will be notified by email of name of the assigned case officer.
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Project title

Please give your application a short title that describes the planned research activity.

For Project Establishment Support applications: Please give your application a short title that describes the project planned to be established.

Short name: Use this field to designate a short name to enable you to distinguish this grant application from any other applications you may have created.

Are you working with revision of a grant application?
The project title must be provided in two languages (Norwegian and English) in the revised application.
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Primary and secondary objectives of the project

Please provide a specific and verifiable primary objective that describes the results you expect to achieve during the course of the project period. Specify verifiable secondary objectives as separate points.

For Project Establishment Support applications: Please provide a specific and verifiable primary objective that describes the results you expect to achieve during the project establishment phase. Specify verifiable secondary objectives as separate points.
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Project summary

Please provide a brief summary of the project description, emphasising the objectives of the project, the most critical R&D challenges to be faced and the anticipated potential for use of the project findings.

For Project Establishment Support applications: Please provide a brief summary of the purpose of the project to be established and the most critical R&D challenges associated with the establishment of this project.

Please note that the project summary will be made publicly available if the grant application is approved for funding. The text provided should therefore be suitable for public access, and should be comprehensible to professionals and non-professionals alike. For more information about public access, see the established requirements.

The application form will be closed automatically after two hours, without being stored, unless you have actively saved the document yourself or moved on to another section. Applicants are therefore advised to compose their project summary locally and thereafter copy it into the application form.

Are you working with revision of a grant application?
In addition to the project summary, the revised grant application must include a popular science presentation in two languages (Norwegian and English) about the planned project activities. This text is the responsibility of the Project Owner alone. This presentation will be published directly in the Research Council project databank at www.forskningsradet.no.
This text will be:

• published in the project databank on the Research Council’s website as soon as the revised grant application has been approved.
• an integral part of the basis for the Research Council’s report to the government ministries.

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Supplementary information from applicant

This is where you enter the discipline/specialist field to which the grant application belongs and further information about related applications that have been submitted.

The grant application will be processed in relation to the programme/activity to which it has been submitted. If the project is relevant to other programmes/activities with active funding announcements you may specify these here.

If the application is related to other grant applications submitted to or ongoing projects funded by the Research Council, please indicate this and provide further information in the text field provided for this purpose.

If the application concerns additional funding for a project already granted funding, please specify the project number of the main project.
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Progress plan

Here you are to fill in the planned project period as well as the main activities of the project and milestones to be achieved during the whole of this period.

Definition
The project period is normally the period of time for which the Research Council will be contributing funding.

Please make sure that the start-up date and duration of the project period conform to the requirements set out in the call for proposals.

Please use key-words to indicate the main activities, milestones and deliverables with anticipated use of resources for the project. Select the year and quarter in which the individual activities are expected to be initiated and completed. All main activities, milestones and deliverables must be scheduled within the project period.

A more detailed progress plan may be provided in the project description.
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Cost plan

The cost plan indicates how costs will be distributed over the project period. Here you are to specify the total costs associated with implementation of the project, not just those costs for which funding from the Research Council is being sought. All amounts should be given in NOK 1,000.

Payroll and indirect expenses
This is where the payroll and indirect expenses accruing to the Project Owner for participation of its own internal R&D personnel in the project should be entered. R&D personnel as used here means the project manager as well as scientific and technical staff, plus any internal fellowship-holders.

Payroll and indirect expenses encompass salary and social security costs for R&D personnel taking part in the project and indirect costs related to the performance of the R&D activities, such as rent, administrative support functions, ICT, etc.

If there are any internal fellowship-holders at the Project Owner who will be funded under the project, please specify them in the field for “Person for whom a fellowship/position is being sought” below. Does not apply application types Project Establishment Support, Pre-project, Other Support and Support for Events.

To calculate payroll and indirect expenses, see Payroll expenses and rates.

Procurement of R&D services
The procurement of R&D services from other Norwegian universities, university colleges and research institutes, including costs related to any fellowships at institutions other than the applicant institution, should be entered here. If there are any such fellowship-holders involved in the project, please use the field for specification below and the “Person for whom a fellowship/position is being sought”. Does not apply application types Project Establishment Support, Pre-project, Other Support and Support for Events. The purchase of R&D services from other organisations/companies, including suppliers abroad, should be entered under “Other operating expenses”.

Equipment
Depreciation costs for research infrastructure that is to be used in the project but was not obtained using funding from the Research Council should be entered here. Good accounting practice and existing guidelines for write-offs and accounting must be employed.

A full write-off may only be claimed for research infrastructure whose capacity is entirely devoted to the project, and is thus not accessible for other projects. If the same infrastructure is being used in several projects, the depreciation costs are to be distributed between these according to the percentage of the infrastructure’s overall utilisation that the individual project requires. Only the percentage for the project relevant to this grant application may be entered.

If the research infrastructure to be used consists of more than one item of equipment, the depreciation costs for the individual items are to be provided in the field for specification.

Other operating expenses
All direct project-related costs, i.e. costs for goods and services related to the project that do not belong under the other categories, should be entered here, Costs for project-specific equipment that is not entered with depreciation costs under “Equipment”, are also to be entered here, as is the purchase of R&D services not included under “Procurement of R&D services”. Individual items of more than NOK 50,000 should be explained in the field for specification.

Specification
Use this field to provide further specification of individual items in the cost plan.
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Cost codes

This section is used to indicate the sector in which expenses are incurred. The project costs (as shown in the cost plan) are to be distributed among the sectors according to where the various project participants belong. All amounts should be given in NOK 1,000.

The total amount for each budget year must be identical to the total in the cost plan. Please use the “check page” function to make sure this is the case.
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Funding plan

The funding plan shows how the financing of the project will be distributed between funding from the Research Council, funding from other sources, and any internal funding from the applicant. The financing may encompass support both from cash contributions and from in-kind resources made available to the project (personnel, research infrastructure, materials, etc.). All amounts should be given in NOK 1,000.

Please make sure that the amount sought from the Research Council conforms to requirements about minimum/maximum funding amount sought set out in the call for proposals.

The cost plan, cost codes and funding plan represent different methods of categorising the use of funds within the project budget. The total amount for each budget year must therefore be identical for all three tables. Please use the “check page” function to make sure this is the case.

Own financing
Resources to be provided by the applicant for the implementation of the project should be entered here. This may encompass cash financing and/or in-kind resources such as personnel, research infrastructure, materials, etc.

International funding
Anticipated project funding from international sources (such as from the EU’s research programmes) should be entered here. Please include funds that have been applied for as well as funds that have been granted.

Other public-sector funding
Funding from the public sector and contributions from public sources other than the Research Council should be entered here. This may comprise direct support from government ministries, grants from Innovation Norway, regional support schemes, funding under agricultural or fisheries agreements, etc.

Other private funding
Private funding from cooperating companies, industrial organisations, private funds, etc., should be entered here. This may comprise cash financing, personnel, research infrastructure, goods, etc.

From Research Council
The amount of funding being sought from the Research Council by the Project Owner should be entered here.

Specification
The current status (applied for, granted, etc.) and any other important information relating to the funding specified in the funding plan should be described in more detail here.
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Partners

All institutions/companies (partners) that will be under obligation to contribute to the project by performing R&D activities and/or providing funding, and/or that will be granted rights to the project, should be entered in the application form. These must each sign a collaboration agreement with the Project Owner, bilaterally or jointly, that sets out their obligations. A contact person must be provided for each institution/company.

To enter information about a partner:
• Click on “New partner” or “Change partner”.
• Search for the relevant partner (organisation) in the Register of Business Enterprises.
• Select the correct institution/company from the list that appears below the search field.

If the organisation is not included in the list you may enter the information manually in the application form. Click on “Back” to return to the empty fields on the application form to fill these in manually.

If the information obtained from the Register of Business Enterprises is erroneous or incomplete, you must click on “Clear” in order to fill in the fields manually. To remove a partner, click on the “X” at the top right of the partner field.

If you are unable to find the enterprise identity number, leave this field blank.

Use the dropdown menu under “Partner’s role” to indicate whether each partner will provide financing, research activity or both. “Research activity” indicates that the partner will be carrying out R&D activities under the project. “Financing” means that the partner will be providing cash financing and/or in-kind resources. A financing partner that is not also involved as a research activity partner may only contribute cash financing.

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Project Description

The project description must satisfy the requirements indicated for the individual application type. Please note that it is not possible to upload a file that exceeds the page total stipulated in the description of application type or call for proposals.

Uploading attachments
All attachments to grant proposals must be submitted in pdf-format. Click here to find out why and where to access conversion software. Please note that the file must have a valid filename. Certain characters and letters may not be used in filenames. An error message will be generated if you attempt to submit files bearing names that contain illegal characters and letters. Attachments larger than 40Mb are not accepted.

How to upload a file:
• Click on “Browse” to locate and select the file you wish to upload.
• Click the “Upload” button to upload the file selected.
• Wait until the file upload is complete. This may take several minutes, depending on the speed of your Internet connection and the size of the document.
• The filename will appear in the field “Uploaded file” when the uploading process is complete.

How to delete a file:
• Click on the X to the right of the field “Uploaded file”.

How to update or replace a file:
• You must delete the previously uploaded file before you can upload a new version.

How to upload more than one file
There are some attachment types for which more than one file may be uploaded. Click on the button “Add new line” to upload more than one file. Max 20 files for each attachment type.

Decreasing file size
In order to minimise file size, please refrain from using overly high resolution in the graphics contained in the attachments.

Important for users of Adobe Acrobat
The Research Council needs to be able to copy the contents of the attachment file. Therefore, please note that attachments in pdf-format must not be password-protected under the “Security Settings” of Adobe Acrobat in a manner that would prevent this. If you normally use “Security Settings”, please make sure to tick the box marked “Enable copying of text, images and other content”.
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Other items

Only items that are stipulated in the call for proposals should be attached to the grant application. Types of attachments that have not been requested will not be included in the application review process.

Uploading attachments
Please refer to the instructions given in the guidelines under “Project description”.
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