TOP Grants

TOP Grants are intended for established research groups within the earth and life sciences. The subsidies offer these groups the opportunity and freedom to strengthen and/or further extend excellent, challenging and innovative lines of research.

Who can apply

Professors and senior lecturers as leaders of research groups within the earth and life sciences at a Dutch university or a research institute recognized by NWO.

Several limiting conditions apply to the submission:

• Researchers who satisfy, or may in the future satisfy, the conditions for submission under the Innovative Research Incentives Scheme (Veni, Vidi, Vici) cannot submit a proposal for a TOP Grant;
• Laureates whose Vici project is not completed at the submission deadline can not apply;
• Research groups who have already been awarded a TOP Grant during the past three years by one of the NWO divisions cannot apply for a TOP Grant;
• Researchers may only file one application.

What can be applied for

TOP Grants amount to a maximum of 750,000 euro.

A subsidy can be requested to cover all reasonable, non-infrastructural costs that must be made for the research, such as the appointment of temporary personnel, materials (equipment, consumables) fieldwork and travel costs. No subsidy can be requested for tenured staff, student assistants, overhead, general laboratory equipment, maintenance and insurance costs, congress visits and publication costs.

When can be applied

• Closing date for submitting proposals was 1 March 2011, 23:59 hrs

Extra Information

Further information about the conditions for submission can be found in the brochure.

Criteria

The assessment criteria are: the scientific quality of the research proposal, the innovative character of the proposed research and the past performance of the research group.

Procedure

Preselection

In the event that the number of applications exceeds four times the number of budgetted grants, the divisional board can ask the evaluation committee to prioritize the applications using the abovementioned criteria and to treat only that limited number of applications in the rest of the evaluation procedure.

Evaluation

The (selected) applications will be assessed in a peer-review procedure by international reviewers and will be prioritized by the committee.

Decision

The Earth and Life Sciences divisional board will make a decision about the awarded grants in the fall of 2011 based on the committee advice. The divisional board may include policy and financial considerations in its decision.

Committees

An evaluation committee has been appointed. Every effort has been taken to ensure that the expertise and participating research institutes represented are as diverse as possible.

Budget

A budget of 4.5 million euro is available for the TOP Grants. About six TOP Grants can be awarded.

Financiers

NWO Division for the Earth and Life Sciences.

Contacts

• Mw. Dr. B. Pauw
  phone: 070-344 07 34, fax: +31 (0)70 381 90 33, e-mail: b.pauw@nwo.nl
• Mr. dr M.R. de Jonge
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 06 28, fax: +31 (0)70 381 90 33, e-mail: mr.dejonge@nwo.nl