Anticipated announcement of results of the 21th Round of GAUK: 19. 3. 2024.

All proposers will receive an email.

Details regarding the GA UK competition can be found in Principles of Activities of the Grant Agency of Charles University and Grant Rules of Charles University. This translation is for informative purpose only. The legally binding regulations are those in Czech registered by the Ministry.

Principles of Activities of the Grant Agency of Charles University (CZ)

Call for the 21th round of applications of the Grant Agency of Charles University (2024) (CZ)

Grant Rules (ENG)

Information on submitting an application for new projects (ENG)

1. 7. 2023

Call for the 21th round of applications of the Grant Agency of Charles University (2024)

*New project applications may be filed on a continuous basis as of 2 October 2023.

*The deadline for the filing of new project applications at the Research Support Office of the Rectorate (electronically en bloc for the faculty) is set as 13 November 2023.

*Applications to continue projects may be filed on a continuous basis as of 2 October 2023.

*The deadline for the filing of applications to continue projects at the Research Support Office of the Rectorate (electronically en bloc for the faculty) is set as 29 January 2024.

*Final reports of projects may be filed on a continuous basis as of 2 October 2023.

*The deadline for the filing of final reports at the Research Support Office of the Rectorate (electronically en bloc for the faculty) is set as 17 April 2024.

There are binding faculty deadlines for submitting applications to individual faculties, which are generally a number of days earlier than the deadlines for the rectorate (information about faculty deadlines is published by each faculty, as set by faculty deans).

Information for researchers

We managed to obtain the opinion of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports that time of project suspension will not count in total project time (this is a maximum of 3 years).

The GAUK project can be suspended for the following reasons: maternity and

parental leave; long-term health reasons; concurrence with the START project

(applies only to already running GAUK projects). Request to UK Grant Council for

suspension of the project is possible only for the whole calendar year, if suspension is needed for two years, it is necessary to send the application again after first year.

Please address requests for suspension of the project to the Chairman of Grant Council

of the University Professor Vladimír Komárek through the office of GAUK.

Information for researchers with regard to the crisis situation (COVID-19):

1/ Using finances from item "Travel costs"

At its meeting on 16 April 2020, the University Grant Council decided that it is possible to transfer funds from the “Travel costs” item to any other item for 17th round (year 2020), even in full and without additional request. The condition is that the changes are effective, economical, efficient and related to the crisis situation (COVID-19). The change must be recorded and commented in the annual report and the condition should be compliant according to all GAUK rules and limits. If the above conditions of change cannot be ensured, the funds can be returned to GAUK.

Note: According to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the funds are intended for a calendar year and they cannot be transferred to the next year.

In the annual reports, must be recorded, how the situation about COVID-19 affected the solution of the project.

Also applies to the 19th round (2021)

As of 1/1/2023, the possibility to transfer travel costs in any amount without request due to COVID-19 has been cancelled!

(the University Grand Council 30. 9. 2022)

The GA UK Competition

The GA UK is funded by particular university research resources. It differentiates between student research (grant) projects and student academic conferences. While in the SVV Competition, both of these project types are possible, GA UK ’s resources can only support research (grant) projects.

Details regarding the GA UK competition can be found in Principles of Activities of the Grant Agency of Charles University and Grant Rules of Charles University.

The process for grant allocation for each new round of the grant competition begins at the latest at the beginning of the academic year and is announced by the rector. Applications for new projects are submitted exclusively through the GA UK app, accessible at www.is.cuni.cz/webapps approximately from October to November. What the application looks like: The Grant Proposal Look The rector sets specific deadlines annually. Faculty representatives must submit applications to the rectorate collectively on behalf of the faculty within these deadlines. Applicants submit applications according to faculty deadlines, which are generally several days earlier than those set by the rector (information about these deadlines is given by the project applicant’s faculty). We recommend working closely with the faculty department for research prior to submitting the application - the Faculty Department organizes informational meetings for its students prior to the start of the competition.

Grant projects may last one to three years. The application (or application for continuing support of an existing grant project) may be submitted by any student enrolled at the university and studying in the doctoral or masters programs in standard length of study. The student’s studies must be uninterrupted. The application must also contain the names of and additional information about the proposed members of the research team. All individuals must be listed as members of the team in order to get paid a salary/award/scholarship from the grant. Bachelors students may not be awarded scholarships according to the MŠMT regulations. The applicant’s advisor, or, if the student is not in a doctoral program, a different academic employee who is generally the head of whatever thesis work the student has been given, is always a member of the research team. The number of doctoral or masters students in the research team must be at least equal to the number of the other members in the team.

A student can begin work on the project while studying in the masters program and continue as a doctoral student. In the period between finishing their masters studies and beginning doctoral studies (approximately 3 months), the student may not, concurrently with the project, be engaged in any other factual, for example, financial, operations. As soon as they become a doctoral student at CU, they can continue with the project in its full scope.

Basic Conditions of the Competition

The two basic pieces of information, without which the student is unable to access the app, are the student’s 8-digit ID number and their password.

• The student number: it is the responsibility of each CU student to ensure they have their Charles University student ID. The ID is a chip card with the student’s personal information, a barcode, photograph, and signing strip and is valid throughout the student’s uninterrupted study at Charles University. IDs are given to students by individual issuing centers. Complete information on student IDs is available on the independent webpage for CU IDs.

• When the student is given their ID, they are also given a password. If they forget their password, they must follow the instructions published on the webpage Central authorization of CU services.

The project applicant must know the ID numbers of the other members of the research team - team members use their ID numbers to enter the GA UK app.

The applicant may submit the application either in Czech (Slovak) or in English - the applicant will use the corresponding version of the form as well (it is not possible to submit the project proposal in English with a Czech form or vice versa; the text of the application must also be in one language). CVs in English version must be in English only.

The applicant may submit only one application as the principal investigator in the given application term.

A student acting as principal investigator may work on only one project at a time. The student may contribute to up to three projects at a time and they may be named in up to three project applications at a time. If the student contributes to one project, they may be named on up to two project applications; if they contribute to two projects, they may only be named on one project application; and if they contribute to three projects, they may not be names on any project applications.

Students (in the doctoral program or in a combined form of study) may, in the context of the item “financial claims” request a scholarship for research, which is governed by the CU Scholarship Regulations.

The application must include the applicant’s program of study and the project workplace. The applicant must categorize the project into the appropriate Section of the Department Board. They must also indicate whether the project is interdisciplinary or not (interdisciplinarity has to do with sections - A/B/C, not various groups within one section, for example, A-PP/A-FGM). These projects are in no way advantaged over others - the application is submitted into the main section, but the project reporter chooses one of the project reviewers from other sections.

If the applicant has submitted a project proposal in the past, they must provide the project number. The project applicant may also include the names of reviewers who will not be judging the particular project.

The filled-out application must be approved by the supervisor of the applicant (the approval is electronic and works via the GA UK app. The request for approval is sent to the supervisor automatically after the project applicant adds the supervisor and their email to the project).

The application includes, among other things:

• A statutory declaration of the applicant of the grant project:

I hereby declare that I have processed this application separately and I don't have any knowledge that objectives of this project would be the same as some other project funded / applying for funding by GA UK or another grant agency.

I acknowledge that if there is a thematic similarity or connection to an ongoing or proposed project, this fact should be stated and explained in the section "Explanation of connection to other projects solved by supervisor and the proposer".I have acquainted all members of research team with content of proposed project and I am aware that without the permission of the project leader, text of the project may not be provided to a person outside the research team.

Supervisor must confirm that they agree with this honor statement.

• The resumes of the researcher and supervisor of the project:

The resume of the project supervisor must contain their 10 most prominent publications over the last five years. Part of the resume of the project supervisor for the fields of Natural Sciences and Medicine is the total number of citations and h-index according to WoS. In the humanities and social sciences, the number of citations may be sourced from other databases, for example, SCOPUS or ERIH. The CU GB recommends including the ORCID identifier (possibly also with the applicant of the grant project) or Researcher ID.

• A statement from the ethical commission or the Form for the project test:

o Only if they are part of the clinical tests / work with animals projects.

o The approval of the Ethical commission must be attached to the project application. For several projects submitted by one workplace, only one approval by the Ethical commission is necessary, however, each grant application must attach a copy of the approval.

o The Form for the project proposal is attached to the accepted project.

Submitting the proposal and the operation of the competition

The applicant submits the application to the faculty’s Department of Science within the deadline determined by the faculty. The dean of the faculty will approve the application if:

• The application for the new project is in accordance with the strategic goals of the faculty and university;

• It is possible to secure the necessary operational space for the project from faculty resources; and

• The composition of the project team is in line with the established goals.

If the dean of the relevant faculty does not approve the application submission, they must provide a reason; in this case, the application will be filed into evidence, but it will not be evaluated in any way.

The project application is assigned to a so-called reporter. The reporter is not from the same workplace as the project applicant. The reporter sends the project application for evaluation to at least two reviewers who are experts in the given issues and are also from a different workplace to the project applicant. Reporters for interdisciplinary projects will secure an reviewer from both sections. The reviewers evaluate the project first and foremost according to the following criteria:

• Scientific relevance of the project;

• Treatment of the project proposal and the realistic nature of the project’s goal;

• Conceptualization and method of the project work;

• Measure of the financial burden;

After a sufficient number of reviewers have reviewed the application, it is evaluated by the project reporter. The reporter judges the quality of the project and the reviewers’ evaluations, but does not make a final decision about the project’s funding.

The application is the further evaluated within the group of the relevant Department Board. After that it is evaluated by the Department Board and then by the Grant Board. The findings of the CU Grant Board are subject to approval by the Rector’s College.

Because all evaluators are operating based solely on the information provided in the projects, it is necessary to develop certain parts of the application in light of this fact.

The applicant will be notified whether the grant project was accepted or not, that is, continued, eliminated, or terminated, via email. The researcher must sign a contract at the faculty detailing the conditions for receipt of funds from Charles University’s budget for the grant project within the GA UK . After the contract is signed, funds may be distributed. For information regarding the distribution of funds, go to www your faculty’s webpages or ask at your faculty’s financial department. The results of the GA UK competition are expected to be released in April of the given academic year.

Requests for reevaluation of negative grant receipt decisions may be submitted up to 30 days after the results are announced. They should be submitted to the CU Grant Board at the GA UK’s address.

If the principal investigator is a student in the doctoral program, the use of the allocated funds will be determined by a contract between the university and the principal investigator. The principal investigator is responsible for the proper withdrawal and use of allocated funds. If the principal investigator is not a student in the doctoral program, the use of the allocated funds will be determined by a contract between the university and the academic employee named in no. 7 para. 3 of the Grant Regulations. This contract must also be signed by the principal investigator. The contract determines the responsibilities of the academic employee and the principal investigator with respect to the proper withdrawal and use of the allocated funds.

Financial Resources

Financial resources are always allocated to the project for one calendar year and may not be transferred to the following year. Unused funds are returned by the faculty to the GA UK. If unused funds for a particular item may be used for a different item in the project, the contract allows for changes to be made in the schedule of allocated funds, provided that the change in finances accounts at most 20,000 CZK (except transfer to scholarships and wage resources and other personal costs, there is the limit 10,000 CZK). Any transfer greater than that must be requested in writing by the accounting deadline.

The amount of financial resources that may be allocated to new projects is capped at 300,000 CZK annually. These resources are divided as follows:

• Wage resources, other personal costs, and deductions for social security and health insurance

• Scholarship

• Travel costs (these include travel items proposed for researchers and members of the student research team; there is no limit to the amount of funds that may be requested.

• Other non-investment costs

• Indirect costs (formerly overhead costs) pursuant to no. 5 para. 2 of the Principles of GA UK operations for the faculty of the principal investigator, advisor, or academic employee. Indirect costs are 15 % of the project’s direct costs (that is, those listed in the preceding bullets). The amount is not set by the applicant, rather it is generated automatically by the app.

• Notice: if you are unable to fill in a certain amount in a certain item line, make sure that you have not exceeded the limit for the project. Double check the amounts already filled in - in such situations, the app may automatically reduce certain item costs.

Limits on the financial resources which may be allocated to a project over the course of one year are as follows:

a. Wage resources and other personal costs: no more than 40,000 CZK per project, max. 20,000 CZK of which goes to the advisor or academic employee pursuant to no. 5 para. 3 of the Principles

b. Stipend resources: no more than 160,000 CZK per project, max. 80,000 CZK of which goes to the principal investigator.

These amounts include deductions for social security and health insurance. The amount listed under (b) must make up at least 75% of the total amounts under (a) and (b).

One person may receive from GA UK resources allocated to projects over the course of one calendar year:

a. No more than 40,000 CZK in the form of wage resources and other personal costs,

b. No more than 100,000 CZK in the form of a scholarship,

c. No more than 100,000 CZK in the form of wage resources and other personal costs or scholarships.

Potential proposals for changes in the research project (changes to the research team, changes regarding the financial needs of the project which need to be requested via contract, etc.) or requests for reevaluation of the decision not to fund the project must be sent to the GA UK office (with the applicant’s signature and a return address provided) by mail at Ovocný trh 560/5, 116 36 Praha 1, or by email, as a scan of the relevant document, to , addressed to the Chairman of the CU Grant Board, prof. Komárek. A request form

Requests for reevaluation of decisions not to fund projects should be sent to the CU Grant Board, to the GA UK address.

Letters to the CU Grant Board or its Chairman should be addressed to the GA UK correspondence address, or by email (scanned documents) to .

Students of First Faculty of Medicine, Second Faculty of Medicine, Third Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics should not send applications directly to GA UK rather via faculty.

Submitting annual/closing reports

Researchers must submit an annual report (application for continuation) or closing report via the GA UK app within the term set by the rector. Faculty deadlines are again binding for the researchers and are usually earlier than those set by the rector. Just like the project proposals, applications for continuation/closing reports must be submitted to the rectorate collectively on behalf of the faculty by the deadline set by the rector. The annual/closing report must contain the results of the project and a detailed commentary of the project’s budget. If certain financial resources were not used, they must be returned to the GA UK and this must be noted in the annual/closing report. Publications resulting from the GA UK project must be listed as affiliated with the university and the faculty and must be dedicated to the GA UK. Annual and closing reports are evaluated by the project reporter, the Department Board, and the Grant Board.

Affiliation, dedication

Affiliation

The agreement on the allocation of funds contains the obligation of the principal investigator and the faculty to always explicitly state in all project outputs, including publications, that they have been made possible with the full or partial financial support of the Grant Agency of Charles University and to state the affiliation to the university and the relevant faculty in the authors’ addresses.

Dedication

It is possible in the result to thank several Grant Agency projects or to thank the Grant Agency + another provider, but it is not possible for an identical output to be reported as a single publication for two or more Grant Agency projects. The publication must relate to the topic of the project. In order for a grant project to be considered fulfilled, there must be at least one publication based on the results of the project. The project number must be mentioned in the dedication, not the faculty number or the billing number. The project number means the number listed for the project in the Grant Agency application.

The official affiliation of Charles University is provided in Appendix 1 to Rector’s Directive no. 40/2021 .

Evaluation criteria for ending projects

a) Authorship

The author/co-author of the output must be a student from the team. If the author is the project leader, without a student researcher/co-researcher – such output cannot be considered the project result – thus, do not include it in the annual report;

b) Types of outputs with which an ending project can be evaluated as “completed”

Only the original text accepted for publication, possibly a patent. In the case of section C, this is a publication in an impact journal;

c) Evaluation

“Extraordinarily good” (EG) – In section A, a book publication at a major publishing house or articles in peer-reviewed journals; in the case of sections B and C, several significant publications or an excellent first-author work of the principal investigator published in a periodical with a high IF (Q1 according to the WOS).

“Fulfilled” (F) – In sections A and B, the original text accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed periodical; in section C, the original publication with an IF according to the WOS.

“Fulfilled with a reservation” (FR) – Starting from the 17th round (2020). The goals were only partially met; the assignment was not fully achieved.

“Deferred evaluation” (DE) – The final report contains justification for delaying the preparation of outputs, an overview of the main publishable results, and the manuscript of the upcoming publication. The investigator submits a Supplemented Final Report after a year. This evaluation is proposed by the reviewer based on the information provided in the final report and is decided by the Department Board and the Grant Board.

In exceptional cases, the project may also be granted a second Deferred Evaluation. Please note that this is only possible in the event of maternity and parental leave or long-term and ongoing illnesses (must be documented). In order to grant a second deferred evaluation, a request must be sent to the office of Grant Agency of Charles University. From 1 January 2023, covid-19 impact on the project resolution is not accepted as a reason for deferment.

“ Not fulfilled” (NF) – No output; no hope of a timely publication and/or incorrect drawdown.

If a project received an evaluation “not fulfilled” or “fulfilled with a reservation”, it is possible up to the end of the following year in which the final report was evaluated to document the relevant publication outputs and to request that the Grant Board modify the evaluation (this applies to projects from the projects evaluated in 2022; this does not apply to previously evaluated projects – the original deadline applies to them). In other words, for projects evaluated in 2022, the deadline is the end of 2023; for projects evaluated earlier, the deadline is until the end of the calendar year in which they were evaluated – the new rule cannot be applied.

These criteria are a necessary condition for granting the above-described evaluations. The evaluation of projects is assessed individually. When evaluating a project, the reviewer takes into account the planned outputs in the project proposal as well as the progress made on the resolution specified in the annual reports. We recommend realistically planning the project outputs presented in the project proposal.

Potential proposals for changes in the research project

(changes to the research team, changes regarding the financial needs of the project which need to be requested via contract, etc.) or requests for reevaluation of the decision not to fund the project must be sent to the GA UK office (with the applicant’s signature and a return address provided) by mail at Ovocný trh 560/5, 116 36 Praha 1, or by email, as a scan of the relevant document, to , addressed to the Chairman of the CU Grant Board, prof. Komárek

Requests for reevaluation of decisions not to fund projects should be sent to the CU Grant Board, to the GA UK address.

Letters to the CU Grant Board or its Chairman should be addressed to the GA UK correspondence address, or by email (scanned documents) to .

Students of First Faculty of Medicine, Second Faculty of Medicine, Third Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics should not send applications directly to GA UK rather via faculty.

Information for researchers with regard to the crisis situation (COVID-19):

Using finances from item "Travel costs"

At its meeting on 16 April 2020, the University Grant Council decided that it is possible to transfer funds from the “Travel costs” item to any other item for 17th round (year 2020), even in full and without additional request. The condition is that the changes are effective, economical, efficient and related to the crisis situation (COVID-19). The change must be recorded and commented in the annual report and the condition should be compliant according to all GAUK rules and limits. If the above conditions of change cannot be ensured, the funds can be returned to GAUK.

Note: According to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the funds are intended for a calendar year and they cannot be transferred to the next year.

Also applies to the 19th round (2022).

As of 1/1/2023, the possibility to transfer travel costs in any amount without request due to COVID-19 has been cancelled!