Cooperation ('bilateral agreement') International

The bilateral agreement scheme aims to further international collaborative research. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the United Kingdom and NWO Division for the Social Sciences (NWO-MaGW) in The Netherlands aim scheme to facilitate bilateral collaboration between Dutch social scientists and UK social scientists. For this purpose, ESRC and NWO-MaGW have a adopted a Lead Agency agreement.

Who can apply

Social scientists applying from The Netherlands must hold a PhD degree and have tenure at a Dutch university, NWO or KNAW institute. When applying for a PhD position, the principal investigator in The Netherlands is in general the thesis supervisor. Dutch applicants cannot apply for funds for themselves at NWO-MaGW.

What can be applied for

A bilateral agreement proposal is a joint collaborative research project, carried out in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. For the Dutch part of the research, social scientists can only apply for a PhD-position (max. 4 years fulltime) or a postdoctorate position (max. 3 years full time).

At the start of the project, a benchfee of € 5,000 will be made available to the principal investigator in The Netherlands. This benchfee is intended to cover expenses of the researcher who carries out the research and that are directly related to the research (i.e. conference attendance, the promotion of the PhD student). In addition, a maximum budget of € 4,500 is available for other material costs. For costs relating to internationalisation, a maximum budget of € 3,000 is available. Latter budgets must be specified when submitting the application. Please note that the total budget of the Dutch project cannot exceed 205,000 euros.

For admissible costs on the UK part of the research, please refer to ESRC’s Research Funding Guide Post fEC.

Proposals can be submitted in the complete range of the Social Sciences as specified in the Social sciences list of disciplines (see under Documentation below). If the Dutch part of the project does not fall within the remits of this range, it will be considered not eligible for funding by NWO-MaGW.

When can be applied

Closing date for submitting applications was 30 June 2009.

Extra Information

Applicants in The Netherlands must submit the ‘financial details and additional information’ form to NWO through Iris (see under Documentation below). Full joint proposals must be submitted to the ESRC through the J-eS system by the principal investigator in the UK. The ‘financial details and additional information form’ must be added as an appendix.

Detailed guidance on how to submit a joint application to the ESRC via J-eS is provided on the ESRC website.

Criteria

1. Theoretical and methodological context
2. Research outcomes
3. Research Design
4. Qualifications of the applicants
5. Feasibility of the research
6. Outcomes and impact
7. Value for money (applies to the UK budget only)
8. Value of the collaboration

Procedure

Applications will be processed under the International Common Application Process (ICAP). Please read this document carefully for guidance. Within this framework ESRC and NWO-MaGW have adopted a Lead Agency Agreement, which means that one of the two participating councils will process the applications. In 2009, applications will be processed according to normal ESRC procedures for standard or small grants. Please see the ESRC's Research Funding Guide Post fEC.

Please note the following: the ESRC will ask reviewers to assess the proposal. Principal investigators will only be invited to react to the reviewers’ comments when the combined budget of the collaborative project equals or exceeds 0.5 million pounds. When all reviewers reject the proposal, the comments will not be sent to the principal investigators for a response.

Budget

The Board of the Division for the Social Sciences as set the 2009 budget for Bilateral Agreements at 410,000 euros. This allows funding of up to two proposals.

Contacts

• Mr. J.S. Voskuilen (programme coordinator)
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 09 89, e-mail: j.voskuilen@nwo.nl
• Mw. E.T.W. van Liempt (secretary)
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 09 44, e-mail: e.vanliempt@nwo.nl

ESRC:

• Dr Dimitra Papagianni (Senior Policy Officer)
  phone: +44 (0) 01793 413103, email: dimitra.papagianni@esrc.ac.uk
  
• Ms Stephanie Remola (Policy Officer)
  phone: +44 (0) 01793 413146, email: stephanie.remola@esrc.ac.uk