Eligibility, procedures and evaluation

ONLY PROPOSALS SUBMITTED BY A UNIT OF THE FOUNDATION NETWORK ARE ELIGIBLE, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED IN THE ToR OF THE ACTION.

Regardless of the process that led to its funding, the projects supported by the Foundation must meet the following conditions:

• Consistency with the objectives of the Foundation: promoting scientific excellence, innovation, the structuring role, interdisciplinarity, the consolidation of international partnerships, and the relevance of socio-economic and sustainable development issues;
• Bring added value with regard to the founding organisations and existing funding agencies.

Particular attention is given to the proposals:

• Involving several units of the network and external partners;
• And /or focused on an issue or a strategic topic likely to increase the international visibility of the network;
• And /or exploratory, both risky and innovative.

Either in the context of a Call for Proposals or a commissioned procedure, the Terms of Reference of the action indicate whether the evaluation is carried out in one or two stages. The two-step process starts with the submission of a Concept Note (CN). Proponents of selected CNs are then asked to submit a full proposal which is reviewed by external evaluators and members of the Foundation’s Science Council.

Between 2011 and 2020, the success rates for calls for projects and one-off supports were 37% and 60% respectively, giving an average success rate of 43% for all calls.

Evaluation criteria
The quality of proposals is determined according to the following criteria:

• Scientific quality: originality, innovative nature, feasibility
• Structural role: interactions between the scientific fields defined by the Foundation; interactions between disciplines and, more specifically, between the social sciences, the engineering sciences and the biological sciences; comparison of temperate, Mediterranean and tropical issues; consolidation of partnerships, especially in the global South and the Mediterranean
• Contribution to international attractiveness and visibility
• Relevance for socio-economic and sustainable development issues
• Added value of funding: the added value of financial support from the Foundation compared to other sources of funding; the “leverage” effect expected and the mobilisation of other sources of funding.

Additional criteria may be included depending on the Call for Proposal.

Grants are provided either through a Call for Proposals (CfP) or a commissioned procedure. In the case of a CfP, actions are implemented in line with the provisions of the Foundation’s funding framework, subject, where necessary, to any specific provisions set out in the Partnership Agreement, such as those concerning arrangements between partners on the selection of projects to be funded. In the case of commissioned procedures, the Science Council is informed of the general partnership framework prior to its approval by the Board, and is subsequently involved in the scientific monitoring of actions supported in the context of this partnership.