Horizon 2020

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

INFORMATION DAY

European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT)Call 2020

Oscar Barreiro

Research Executive Agency European Commission

European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT)

CONTENTS:

-Main features-Proposal evaluation-Completing the Administrative Forms and the Part B-Submitting a proposal in the IT system-Associated events

European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT)

MAIN FEATURES

CONCEPT OF THE NIGHT:• The European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT) takes

place yearly, typically on the last Friday of September (except for cultural reasons)

• It is an occasion for a Europe-wide public and media event for the promotion of research careers, in particular towards young people and their families

• Supported main events can last up to two full days: they can start on Friday and continue the following day. Pre-events can also be organised prior to the main event

• Each project should set up at least one European corner, providing general information about the European Union and how the EU funds science and education cooperation within Europe and beyond

BENEFICIARIES:

• The NIGHT can be organised either by one single beneficiary or by several organisations constituting a partnership at regional, national or international level

• The beneficiaries are signatories of the Grant Agreement. They directly contribute to the implementation of the action

• In the case of participation of more than one beneficiary, one of them takes the role of coordinator. The coordinator is responsible for the management of the action. It coordinates the claiming of the costs, receives funding and distributes it

ELIGIBLE ENTITIES FOR FUNDING:

• Legal entities eligible for EU funding are those established in an EU Member State or Horizon 2020 Associated Country

• The minimum condition is the participation of one legal entity. Third Countries are not eligible for funding

PROJECT DURATION:

The maximum duration of the project will be 12 months from the starting date specified in the Grant Agreement and will cover only the 2020 edition of the NIGHT.

ACTIVITIES:• Activities focus on the general public, addressing and attracting

people regardless of the level of their scientific background, with special focus on pupils and students

• Activities can combine education aspects with entertainment, especially when addressing young audiences

• They can take various forms, e.g. hands-on experiments, science shows, simulations, debates, games, competitions, quizzes, etc.

• To organise those activities, engagement with educational institutions should be sought where appropriate

• Activities should be organised with researchers actively involved and in direct contact with the public

FINANCIAL REGIMEThe financial support for the NIGHT may represent up to 100% of the eligible costs of the action. The eligible costs covered by the contribution are the expenses linked to the NIGHT activities, as referred in the previous slide

COST CATEGORIES

Direct costs:• Direct personnel costs • Direct costs of subcontracting• Other direct costs

Indirect Costs (Overheads):• Indirect costs are deemed to represent 25% of the direct costs

(excluding subcontracting costs and resources set at disposal by third parties outside the premises of the beneficiaries in the consortium)

ELIGIBLE COSTS

• Actually incurred by the beneficiary

• Incurred during the action

• Connected to the action

• Identifiable and verifiable (in the accounting)

• In compliance with national law

• Reasonable, justified, financially sound

10

INELIGIBLE COSTS

• Costs related to return on capital, debt and debt service charges

• Provisions for future losses or debts

• Interest owed, doubtful debts

• Currency exchange losses, bank costs/charges

• Excessive or reckless expenditure

• Deductible VAT

• Costs not related to or needed for the project

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OTHER DIRECT COSTS VS DIRECT COSTS OF SUBCONTRACTING:

CONTRACTSto purchase goods, work or services

SUBCONTRACTS

Do not have to be indicated in the

Annex I of your GA

Must be indicated in the Annex I of

your GA

Contracts do not cover the

implementation of action tasks

Subcontracts relate to the

implementation of specific action

tasks

The cost of contracts must be

declared as Other Direct Costs and

count towards the calculation of the

Indirect Costs

The cost of subcontracts must be

declared as Direct Costs of

Subcontracting and do not count

towards the calculation of the

Indirect Costs

TIMETABLE AND BUDGET FOR THIS CALL:

Budget: EUR 8 million for NIGHT events in 2020

European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT)

PROPOSAL EVALUATION

BEFORE EVALUATION:

• Admissibility and eligibility criteria for each proposal are checked by REA staff.

• To be considered admissible, a proposal/application must be:• submitted in the electronic submission system before the

deadline given in the call conditions or rules of contest;• readable, accessible and printable;• complete (administrative data, proposal description, etc.)

• To be considered eligible will have to meet the following conditions:• Its content corresponds, wholly or in part, to the topic

description for which it is submitted;• It is submitted by at least one legal entity established in an

EU Member State or Horizon 2020 associated country”

EVALUATION PROCESS:

Each proposal will be assessed independently by at least three experts chosen by the REA from the pool of experts taking part in this evaluation. An expert will be designated as the proposal "rapporteur" and will draft the consensus report.

The proposal will be evaluated against the award criteria defined in the Work Programme and applicable to all Coordination and Support Actions

AWARD CRITERIA:Excellence

(1) Clarity and pertinence of the objectives.

(2) Soundness of the concept and credibility of the proposed methodology

(3) Quality of the proposed coordination and/or support measures

Those aspects will be taken into account, to the extent that the proposed work corresponds to the topic description in the work programme.

AWARD CRITERIA:Impact

(1) The extent to which the outputs of the project would contribute to each of the expected impacts mentioned in the work programme under the relevant topic, namely:

o Increased awareness among the general public of the importance of research and innovation and more favourable general attitude towards its public funding;

o Better understanding of the key benefits that research brings to society;

o Reduction in the stereotypes about researchers and their profession; o Increase, in the long term, of people taking up research careers;o Better understanding of the European Union among the general

public.

(2) Quality of the proposed measures to:o Exploit and disseminate the project results (including management

of IPR), and to manage research data when relevant;o Communicate the project activities to different target audiences.

AWARD CRITERIA:Quality and efficiency of the implementation

(1) Quality and effectiveness of the work plan, including extent to which the resources assigned to work packages are in line with their objectives and deliverables;

(2) Appropriateness of the management structures and procedures, including risk and innovation management;

(3) Complementarity of the participants and extent to which the consortium as a whole brings together the necessary expertise; *

(4) Appropriateness of the allocation of tasks, ensuring that all participants have a valid role and adequate resources in the project to fulfil that role. *

*Not applicable to proposals with one single beneficiary.

EVALUATION SCORES:Evaluation scores will be awarded for the 3 criteria just mentioned, and not for the different sub-criteria in each criteria.Each criterion will be scored out of 5. The threshold for individual criteria will be 3. The total score will be subject to an overall threshold of 10.

The scoring table is the following:

European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT)

COMPLETING THE ADMINSTRATIVE FORMS AND

THE PART B

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE ADMINISTRATIVE FORMS "PART A" OF THE PROPOSAL:

In Part A the applicant will be asked for administrative details and information that will be used in the evaluation and further processing of the proposal. Part A constitutes an integral part of the proposal.

The electronic submission service provides guidance on how to complete the Part A for a NIGHT proposal.

BudgetThe overall budget of the proposal will be mentioned in the relevant table, including one separate line for each beneficiary.

Figures provided in Part A have to be the same as those included in Part B of the proposal.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR DRAFTING "PART B" OF THE PROPOSAL:

Part B of the proposal contains the details of the proposed action along with the practical arrangements planned to implement it. They will be used by the independent experts to undertake their assessment.

A maximum length of 30 pages is applicable to Part B (Section 1 to 3) of the proposal. You must keep your proposal within these limits. Expert evaluators will be instructed to disregard any excess pages.

The minimum font size allowed is 11 points (8 for the tables). The page size is A4, and all margins (top, bottom, left, right) should be at least 15 mm (not including any footers or headers). Ensure that the font chosen is clearly readable (e.g. Arial or Times New Roman).

Please make sure that Part B of your proposal carries as a header to each page the proposal acronym and the scheme to which you are applying (NIGHT). All pages should also be numbered in a single series on the footer of the page to prevent errors during handling. It is recommended that the numbering format “Part B - Page X of Y” is used.

European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT)

SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL IN THE IT SYSTEM

The Proposals for this call must be submitted electronically, using the electronic submission service of the European Commission, accessible from the Funding & Tender Opportunities website

This is the link to the NIGHT 2020 Call Funding and tender opportunities - European Researchers´ Night 2020

In “Topic Conditions and Documents, at point 8”you have link to the Guide for Applicants and Work Programme as well as other relevant information:

Below are the links for your convenience:

Work Programme 2018-2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions

Guide for Applicants - European Reserachers´ Night 2020

Scrool down…

Click on Start Submission

Templates:

- Template Part B Section 1-3, has a limit of 30 pages, see below, excess pages will be watermarked and experts will be instructed to disregard them.

- Template Part B Section 4, no page limit.

You must use exclusively PDF “Portable Document Format”, compatible with Adobe version 3 or higher.

European Researchers’ Night (NIGHT)

ASSOCIATED EVENTS

ASSOCIATED EVENTS:

Coordinators of projects that passed the evaluation thresholds but were not retained for funding due to lack of financial resources will receive an information letter indicating that they may request their event to be associated to the European Researchers' Night.

No funding will be provided for associated events.

The country where the project is going to be undertaken, the title of the project, and its link to the website will be advertised on the European Researchers' Night website in the "events" section.

FURTHER INFORMATION AND HELP:

Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal:Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal

General sources of support:The Commission's Horizon 2020 Enquiry Service:http://ec.europa.eu/research/enquiries

National Contact Points:http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/support/national_contact_points.html

How to register your organisation:https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/how-to-participate/participant-register

Specialised and Technical Assistance:Submission Service Help Desk:DIGIT-EFP7-SEP-SUPPORT@ec.europa.euhttp://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/api/contact/index.html

I THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION!