The decision, the final assessment and how you will be informed of this

Suppose you want to apply for a grant from NWO: what must you do, who decides if your proposal shall be awarded funding, when do you find out if you are one of the lucky ones and what can you do if you disagree with the decision? Each year, NWO receives about 4000 funding proposals of which about 20 to 25 percent are awarded.

How is the decision taken?

The decision is taken by an NWO board, Governing Board or divisional board or another competent authority, based on the recommendation of the evaluation committee. This board, that is the decision-taking body, has the competence to award financial resources on behalf of he NWO research programme concerned.

The board takes the decision about the funding proposals based on the advice of the evaluation committee. The board first of all assesses whether the evaluation committee has satisfactorily completed its tasks (the work of the evaluation committee is described in part 3) and then takes a decision. In the majority of cases the board adopts the recommendation, but it may deviate from this. If that happens then reasons for that decision must be given. The members of a decision-taking body are not the same as the members of the evaluation committee who compile the advice. Members of decision-taking bodies may not participate in the decision-making process in a funding round if they are an applicant or co-applicant for one of the proposals concerned. NWO's Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest (see www.nwo.nl/gedragscode) therefore applies to the board as well. NWO has deliberately separated the advisory and decision-taking procedures so as to make the procedure as transparent and objective as possible.

How does this work in practice?

The divisional board or Governing Board takes a decision about the grant during one of its regular board meetings. Usually the policy officer involved is present at this meeting and where necessary he or she can provide an additional explanation about the procedure followed. The board members can have access to all of the necessary information in advance, such as the proposals the referees' reports and the rebuttal, the description of the selection procedure, the membership of the committee, the testing of the Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest, the interviews et cetera. During the meeting, the work of the evaluation committee is not repeated but the board does test how the committee has worked. It is checked whether the evaluation committee has worked in accordance with the prevailing procedures and criteria. The decision-taking body then decides about the advice presented to it. It also considers any suggestions from the committee concerning improvements to the procedure, and is also free to issue such advice itself. The NWO office takes these recommendations into consideration when it prepares a subsequent selection procedure.

How is the applicant informed?

The policy officer of the grant scheme writes the allocation and rejection letters. The NWO auditor checks whether these letters are in agreement with the decision of the board. Carefully writing these letters is often a time-consuming process. Therefore NWO usually informs the applicants of the decision immediately after it has been taken by means of either a phone call or an e-mail.

What is in the allocation or rejection letter?

The letter details the decision along with the reasons for this. In the case that a proposal is awarded, the level of funding granted is stated as well as the conditions that apply to it. Sometimes the applicant needs to make a modified budget or expenditure plan. The rejection letter not only states the reasons for the rejection but often contains information about the chances of the proposal being funded in this funding round and other relevant statistical information. The letters should clearly and carefully inform the applicant about a positive or negative decision.

Is there a ceremony associated with the award?

In some cases there is. That is usually the case for person-specific types of grant that receive special attention, for example in the policy of the Minister for Education, Culture and Science. Examples of this are the Spinoza Prize, the most important scientific prize in the Netherlands, Mosaic, aimed at scientists from ethnic minorities who want to gain a PhD, and Toptalent, which is aimed at exceptionally talented students.

What happens after the letter has been received?

The recipient sometimes needs to provide further information. Once this information has been received, NWO will start with the payment of the grant awarded, usually in annual instalments. During the funding period regular feedback takes place between the researcher and the NWO office. NWO's project administration system contains information about the project and indicates, for example, when a progress report must be submitted.

If the applicant cannot agree with NWO's decision then he or she has the right to lodge an appeal against the decision of the decision-taking body within six weeks of the decision being published.