Weave Lead Agency Initiative: Cooperation with GACR (Czech Republic) launched
Funding opportunity for bi- to trilateral projects within the Weave Lead Agency Initiative
Funding opportunity for bi- to trilateral projects within the Weave Lead Agency Initiative
The Weave Lead Agency Procedure (Weave) developed by European funding organisations to support excellent collaborative research across borders was launched in December 2020. By means of a single review process, the initiative aims to simplify the submission and selection procedures for closely integrated collaborative research proposals involving researchers from up to three European countries or regions. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) already applies Weave together with FWF (Austria), FNR (Luxembourg) and SNSF (Switzerland). From 22 February 2021 on, the cooperation with GACR (Czech Republic) commences and opens up new collaboration opportunities.
Background information on the Weave Lead Agency Procedure
- Within Weave, researchers from two up to three European countries or regions are able to submit a collaborative research proposal to any of the participating funders.
- To submit a proposal, all applicants must meet the eligibility requirements of their respective Weave signatory organisation.
- The Weave Lead Agency Procedure is applied to existing funding programmes, and the Weave signatory organisations will specify which funding programmes are open to Weave. It is a bottom-up mechanism, with no additional restrictions regarding the thematic focus or subject matter covered by the proposals, other than those provided for by the relevant national and/or regional funding mechanisms.
- Weave is based on the Lead Agency Procedure principle. The team of applicants selects a coordinating applicant, who submits the joint proposal to the respective Weave funding organisation in his/her country. This organisation acts as the Lead Agency for the proposal. The other applicants (co-applicants) must submit a copy of the proposal to their respective funding agencies (the Partner Agency/Agencies) within one week. The Lead Agency is responsible for the evaluation process in compliance with its internal rules set out for the respective programme. Following the assessment, it communicates its funding recommendation to the other funding organisations involved (the Partner Agencies) for approval and budgetary purposes.
- Please note that Weave is not a separate funding programme. Research projects are funded through national or regional research programmes that are managed by Weave signatory organisations. There is no separate budget available for Weave; proposals must compete with all other proposals submitted to the national and regional funding schemes opened to Weave. Funders will only provide funding within their national or regional borders. In the context of Weave, the funding organisations aim to support the top 20 percent of proposals submitted in the respective evaluation.
- The Weave Initiative brings together twelve research funding organisations (see link of the Weave Initiative below). By enabling bilateral as well as trilateral scientific cooperation within Europe, the initiative contributes to the realisation of the European Research Area. Please note that Weave will be rolled out progressively. Therefore, not all configurations for collaboration will be available under Weave immediately upon its launch. Collaboration will be allowed between selected partners and will be enlarged incrementally.
DFG-specific information
The DFG funding scheme open to Weave is the Individual Research Grants Programme (“Sachbeihilfe”). DFG currently applies the new Weave Lead Agency Procedure together with the following funding organisations:
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
- New from 22 February 2021 on: Czech Science Foundation (GACR)
- Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR)
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
For further details on the DFG’s application process, please refer to:
- the DFG website on the Weave Lead Agency Procedure (see link below)
- the supplementary instructions for proposals within the Weave Lead Agency Procedure (DFG-form 54.019; available in German only; see link below)
Proposals with DFG as the Lead Agency can be submitted any time. Please make sure to also consult the websites of the other funding organisations involved in a proposal (see links below) as there may be important information to consider prior to submitting a proposal, e.g. eligibility requirements, deadlines, submission of additional documents, etc.
Planning provides for Weave to be implemented with NCN (Poland) later in 2021. An announcement can prospectively be expected mid-September 2021.
Data protection
Please note the DFG’s data protection notice on research funding (see link below). If necessary, please forward this information to any individuals whose data will be processed by DFG due to their involvement in your project.
Further Information
Information on Weave in German (Antragstellung mit europäischen Kooperationspartnerinnen und -partnern im Weave Lead Agency-Verfahren):
Information on Weave in English:
Supplementary instructions for proposals within the Weave Lead Agency Procedure; currently available in German only: „Ergänzender Leitfaden zur Antragstellung im Rahmen einer grenzüberschreitenden Kooperation im Weave Lead Agency-Verfahren (Weave LAV)“ (DFG-Vordruck 54.019):
DFG’s Electronic Proposal Processing System for Applicants – elan:
DFG’s data protection notice on research funding:
Contact at DFG:
Further information of the partner organisations:
- Austrian Science Fund (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, FWF
- Czech Science Foundation (GACR
- Luxembourg National Research Fund (Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg, FNR
- Swiss National Science Foundation (Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, SNSF
General website of the Weave Initiative: