Adminstrative procedures

Preliminary administrative review

Once the applications have been received, the Research Council conducts a preliminary administrative review. Applications that do not meet the formal requirements may be rejected.

Panel assessment

Assessment by a panel forms the core of the application processing procedure. The following applications are assessed by a joint set of international referee panels:

• Researcher Project for Scientific Renewal
• Researcher Project for Young Talents
• Three-year Researcher Project with International Mobility
• Large-scale Interdisciplinary Researcher Project

We sort the applications to panels based on the research content of the project. Your application will be assessed once, by referees in one panel, regardless of whether you select one or more topics for the application.

The proposed research should be presented clearly, using language that is also understandable to individuals with a general scientific understanding of the field. Please note that the referees in the panel where your application is reviewed do not necessarily work in precisely the same area as you.

This film will provide more information about how we assign the applications to the correct panel. You will also hear experienced referees explain how they work before and during the panel meeting and what they emphasise when assessing your application. 

The referees individually assess each application prior to the panel meeting and award a mark for each of the assessment criteria excellence, impact and implementation, and for overall assessment.

The referees reach consensus on the final mark for the assessment criteria during the panel meeting. The mark awarded for the overall assessment is based on a discretionary overall assessment where the criteria are approximately equally weighted, and in light of the overall objective of a Researcher Project for Scientific Renewal, Researcher Project for Young Talents, Three-year Researcher Project with International Mobility and Large-scale Interdisciplinary Researcher Project, respectively. The panel prepares consensus-based written grounds for the assessment.

Assessment of relevance

When the joint-panel assessment has been completed, we assess the applications in relation to the topics described in the calls for proposals.

Applications above a threshold value for the overall assessment mark are assessed by the Research Council for relevance in light of the topic/topics the applicant has selected for the application. The application is assessed independently for relevance to each topic the applicant has selected. Applications that target the topic Ground-breaking Research (FRIPRO) are not assessed for relevance for this topic.

The assessment of relevance is based on the priorities described under the topic in the calls for proposals. For this purpose we use the project description, the referee panel’s assessment of the application and the appendix Relevance to the topic.

Portfolio assessment

The last phase of the administrative procedures involves preparing a recommendation for the portfolio board, which has the authority to grant funding. When we prioritise between applications for the recommendation to the portfolio boards, the portfolio assessment takes the following into account:  

• The applications’ assigned marks based on the assessments. The panel's overall mark will be given more weight than the mark awarded for relevance.
• A good distribution of projects in relation to priorities set out for the specific topic.
• The relative volume and quality of grant applications within the same topic under other calls in 2021.
• Any changes in the financial or scientific framework set by the ministries. 
• Priority will be given to projects led by women project managers when the applications are otherwise considered to be on a par.

The portfolio assessment results in alternative lists of applications recommended for funding. We often present alternative lists to the portfolio board making it easier for the board to select what it should place emphasis on within its available budget and given the priorities stated in the call. Applications targeting more than one topic can be included on several lists of recommendations given to different portfolio boards, but will nonetheless only receive funding once.