Guide For Applicants
Guide For Applicants
Guide For Applicants
1 Content
2 Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Goal of the guide ..................................................................................................................... 2
2.2 FWO Mission ........................................................................................................................... 2
3 Registration ..................................................................................................................................... 3
3.1 Receiving login and password. ................................................................................................ 3
3.2 Personal data ........................................................................................................................... 4
4 PhD fellowships and postdoctoral fellowships................................................................................ 7
4.1 About the fellowship grants. ................................................................................................... 7
4.2 Applying for a fellowship ......................................................................................................... 8
4.2.1 General practical information ......................................................................................... 8
4.2.2 Referees ........................................................................................................................... 9
4.2.3 Text fields ...................................................................................................................... 12
4.2.4 Final submission ............................................................................................................ 12
5 Research projects .......................................................................................................................... 14
5.1 About the Research projects ................................................................................................. 14
5.2 Applying for a Research project ............................................................................................ 14
5.2.1 General practical Information ....................................................................................... 14
5.2.2 Referees ......................................................................................................................... 15
5.2.3 Budgetary matters ......................................................................................................... 18
5.2.4 Text fields ...................................................................................................................... 19
5.2.5 Final submission ............................................................................................................ 19
6 Research grants ............................................................................................................................. 21
6.1 About the Research grants .................................................................................................... 21
6.2 Applying for a Research grant ............................................................................................... 21
6.2.1 General practical Information ....................................................................................... 21
6.2.2 Budgetary matters ......................................................................................................... 22
6.2.3 Text fields ...................................................................................................................... 22
6.2.4 Final submission ............................................................................................................ 22
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FWO Guide for Applicants
2 Introduction
This guide provides practical information to potential applicants in preparing and submitting an
application for a FWO fellowship or a FWO project proposal. This Guide for Applicants is therefore
divided into several parts. In order to be able to apply for FWO funding, one must register to get
access to the web-based FWO application for preparing, uploading and submitting a proposal. The
practical information about this FWO e-portal can be found under section 3 in this guide. Applicants
for a fellowship, a PhD fellowship or a postdoctoral fellowship, will find the practical information to
prepare and submit their application under section 4. Applicants for a Research project can find the
practical information for preparation and submission of their dossier in section 5. All practical
information to apply for a Research grant (Krediet aan Navorser) can be found under section 6.
The main goal of this guide is to highlight the practical side of preparing and submitting an
application. How to obtain a login? How to change your personal data the on e-portal? Which
information to provide in your dossier? How to correctly provide a bibliography?
The Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) is an independent agency that stimulates and supports
ground breaking fundamental research in all areas of science at the universities in the Flemish
Community, including associated research institutes.
The FWO funds excellent and promising researchers as well as Research projects following an
interuniversity competition and an evaluation by national and international experts.
The only criterion is the outstanding quality of researcher and research proposal, regardless of
scientific discipline, host institution, gender, politics or religious persuasion.
The mission, main task, structure and management of FWO can be found on the webpage
http://www.fwo.be/en/the-fwo/organisation/.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
3 Registration
An applicant first needs to register in order to receive a login name and password, and thus get
access to the web-based FWO application for preparing, uploading and submitting a proposal. The
registration tool can be found in the upper right corner of the FWO home page
(http://www.fwo.be/en/).
Click ‘Register’ if you do not have a login and password yet. You will then reach the following screen:
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FWO Guide for Applicants
Fill out all necessary fields and press the ‘Register’ button. Please make sure you use a valid e-mail
address as the login and the password will be mailed to you. FWO needs to validate this new data
before providing access to the web-based FWO application ‘e-loket’. Therefore, make sure to register
at least 48 hours before submission.
After receiving a login and password it is possible to enter the web-based FWO application
immediately. You will enter your personal page indicating your name, birthday and e-mail address.
In order to eliminate these redundant requests for information, we invite you to register your
personal data once in the FWO e-portal by clicking on ‘edit your personal details’. Upon entering the
personal details section, some parts of the different sections on the left will be listed automatically.
Please add all missing data by carefully going through all sections; ‘Personal details’,
‘Diplomas/Current Studies’, ‘Posts/Career’, ‘Disciplines’, ‘Publications’, ‘Addresses’, ‘Contact
information’ and ‘User account management’. The added login-related information can be used for
each future proposal submission. Please make sure to update your personal details with each
future application, especially the publications section.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
If you are a candidate for a fellowship application, it is required to add the necessary documents of
proof (PDF files only, with a maximum size of 10Mb) in the tab ‘Diplomas/Current studies’. Applicants
for a PhD Fellowship need to upload all university diplomas and supplements, all available exam
results, an attestation from the university board confirming that you are being admitted to prepare a
doctoral thesis (only required if the master’s degree has not been awarded or will not be awarded by
a Flemish university). If you are applying for a Postdoctoral Fellowship you need to upload all
university diplomas (bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree).
Please be aware that the FWO reserves the right to verify the given information.
Also do make sure that you create your bibliography in an internationally accepted bibliographical
style providing all necessary data such as number of pages, all (co-)authors, date of publication,
impact factor (in the year of publication (when available)), citations, etc. Be consistent by using the
same bibliographical style each time you add a publication. All publications must be ordered by type
(A1-C3). The different types are explained in the scroll down menu. You can easily copy/paste your
bibliography from a Word document. Providing a bibliography in PDF format is no longer possible.
The advantage of listing your publication in the ‘Personal Data’ section is that the added bibliography
can be used for each future proposal submission. Therefore be aware to update your bibliography
with each new proposal submission!
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FWO Guide for Applicants
The ‘user account manager’ makes it possible to change your password. In the section ‘personal
details as PDF’, you are able to generate a PDF containing all the personal data you completed.
After completing or editing your personal profile, you may start or proceed preparing your grant
application. Select the tab ‘applications’ in the upper bar. To continue preparing an existing
application that was not yet submitted, go to ‘overview of your applications’.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
Please check the specific rules for application and reapplication before writing a research proposal.
The current rules and restrictions for eligibility for all FWO grants can be found on the specific web
pages as indicated below:
The PhD fellowships aim to provide young and promising researchers with every opportunity
to do a PhD in fundamental science in the best possible circumstances. The PhD fellowships
represent the most important funding channel for achieving this objective.
For more information on the procedure and eligibility please see:
http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/phd-fellowships/phd-fellowship/
Example of an application form:
http://www.fwo.be/media/145643/APPLICATION-FORM-FOR-A-PHD-FELLOWSHIP.PDF
The Special PhD fellowship is intended to enable persons not employed within scientific
research to complete a PhD within a year and to obtain study leave from their current
employer for this purpose.
For more information on the procedure and eligibility please see:
http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/phd-fellowships/special-phd-fellowship/
http://www.fwo.be/media/344900/APPLICATION20FORM20FOR20A20PHD20FELLOWSHIP.p
df
Clinical PhD fellowship are aimed at doctors, veterinary surgeons, dentists and pharmacists,
recognized as specialists who are employed in a full-time clinical role at a university hospital
in the Flemish Community. During the 2-year fellowship, the beneficiaries are released part-
time from clinical and academic duties in order to pursue fundamental clinical research.
For more information on the procedure and eligibility please see:
http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/phd-fellowships/clinical-phd-fellowship/
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FWO Guide for Applicants
http://www.fwo.be/media/344890/APPLICATION20FORM20FOR20A20CLINICAL20PHD20FEL
LOWSHIP.pdf
The Postdoctoral fellowships from the FWO are intended to support researchers who
already have a PhD in developing an independent research career.
For more information on the procedure and eligibility please see:
http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/postdoctoral-fellowships/postdoctoral-
fellowship/
http://www.fwo.be/media/344840/APPLICATION20FORM20FOR20A20POSTDOCTORAL20FE
LLOW.pdf
The Senior Clinical Investigator fellowships are aimed at well trained medical researchers of
postdoctoral level who must be able to establish a career and offer them the chance to
obtain part-time leave from a clinical position in order to work on a Research project.
For more information on the procedure and eligibility please see:
http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/postdoctoral-fellowships/senior-clinical-
investigator/
http://www.fwo.be/media/344940/APPLICATION20FORM20FOR20A20SENIOR20CLINICAL20I
NVESTIGATOR.pdf
Grant applications can be submitted only in response to a 'call for proposals'. Calls announced by
FWO are published on our website (November). The final submission date for all FWO mandates is
set yearly on the first of February at 17.00h. If this day is a Saturday or a Sunday, the closing date is
moved to the following Monday at 17.00h. In order to ensure that all candidates get an equal
chance, no bibliographical additions will be accepted after this date.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
Proposals must be submitted electronically via the web-based FWO application. Therefore, take into
account that FWO is not responsible for the temporary unavailability of the system. It is strongly
recommended to submit at least one to two weeks before the closing date. Please make sure to
update your personal details with each future application, especially the addresses and
publications sections. All practical info about the registration and the FWO e-portal can be found in
the above section ‘Registration’.
Each application consists of several sections that need to be completed before submission: ‘General’,
‘Host institution’, Supervisor’, ‘Extra data’, Ethics’, ‘Expertpanel’, ‘Referees’, ‘Personal data’, ‘Project
Outline’ and ‘Research Context’. An applicant can continue to modify the proposal and save revised
versions overwriting the previous one right up until the deadline. The section will turn light blue
when all necessary data is completed in the selected section. Sections that are not fully completed
are highlighted in red.
Not completed
Completed
4.2.2 Referees
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FWO Guide for Applicants
Editors are not regarded as co-authors insofar as they have not also acted as what is
understood under ‘co-author’ as described above. Co-editors of the applicant are not
accepted as an external referee.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
The applicants are responsible for the eligibility of the proposed referees. If the proposed referees
do not comply with the eligibility criteria, the application will be declared ineligible.
In case the applicant doubts the eligibility of one or more of the proposed referees, he or she can
also contact the FWO through his/her e-loket account before submitting the application. The
questions concerning eligibility that reached the FWO before the application was submitted will be
presented to the FWO referee commission of the appropriate scientific domain, consisting of all
expertpanels’ chairs of that domain. Five referee commissions are established, one for each domain:
biological sciences, humanities, social sciences, medical sciences and science & technology; for
applications submitted to the Interdisciplinary Panel the referee commissions of the respective
scientific domains will be consulted. In case co-authorship is detected in publications with ten or
more authors, the FWO administration will consult the referee commission as well. In all the above
cases, the referee commission will decide on the alleged eligibility of the proposed referees. When
the referee commission decides negatively on the eligibility of a proposed referee in an application
that has already been submitted, this application will be disqualified. When the referee commission
answers negatively to a question concerning the eligibility of a proposed referee that reached the
FWO before the application was submitted, the applicant will be asked to propose a new referee that
does meet the eligibility criteria.
After the administrative check, the FWO will inform the applicant about the violations that were
found. In case the alleged violations result from a factual error of the FWO administration, the FWO
can be notified.
For the integral regulations on internal and external peer review see: http://www.fwo.be/en/the-
fwo/organisation/fwo-expertpanels/regulations-fwo–-internal-and-external-peer-review/
The applicants must see to it that all contact information of the reviewers is up-to-date. If this is not
the case the FWO will take no further steps in tracking down the reviewer(s) in question and the
applicants may be asked to submit new names of candidate reviewers, pursuant to the provisions in
§1 of the present article.
The applicants and the reviewers may not in any way communicate with each other about any aspect
of the application and of the evaluation.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
At the time of entry in the application process, the reviewers will need to declare that they comply
with the eligibility requirements for reviewers, that they will treat all information contained in the
application as confidential and that they will not use any of this information for purposes other than
the drawing up of their evaluation.
Primarily, the FWO administration will see to it that applicants strictly observe the eligibility
regulations and other guidelines, as will it inform the Board of Trustees about any violation of this
sort. The Board of Trustees will take the final decision on these violations.
The online application forms are based on database text fields. For the project outline, a standard
template is presented with questions and instructions (Font Calibri 11 - max 10 pages). The applicant
will be able to download it, fill it in and upload it again. You can include lay-out, formulas, graphs,
pictures, etc. However, the FWO administration can reject the PDF if it doesn’t comply with the
instructions and ask to adapt it.
Completing the different parts does not yet mean that your proposal is submitted. The applicant
may continue to modify the proposal and save revised versions overwriting the previous one right up
until the deadline. Once there is a consolidated version of your proposal, you must press the button
‘submit application’.
You can view the status of the application at the page “Overview of your applications”.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
At the page “Overview of your applications”, you’ll find the status under the header “State of
application”. The status “In design” means that the application hasn’t yet been submitted and that
the application is still completely editable.
Please ensure that all forms, parts and supplementary documents are in PDF format and are
uploaded correctly in the web-based FWO application before the final submission. It is strongly
recommended to double-check by pressing the ‘Download application in PDF’ and the ‘Download
Personalia in PDF’ button verifying their completeness. Incomplete proposals (where parts of the
proposal are missing) are considered ineligible and will not be evaluated.
After completing all data and thoroughly controlling your completed proposal you may submit your
proposal by pressing the ‘submit application’ button before the submission deadline has
expired. Proposals sent by means other than the web-based FWO application will not be accepted.
After the call deadline no submissions and no updates of submitted proposals will be accepted.
Only the material submittedwithin the given character limits will be evaluated.
If the submission is technically successful, the applicant receives an automatic computer generated
receipt from the web-based FWO application.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
5 Research projects
For research teams, the FWO provides funding via a Research project. The funds can be used to hire
extra scientists and technicians, or for equipment and operating costs associated with the execution
of the Research project. More information on the procedure and the eligibility of a research team
can be found on the webpage http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/research-projects/
A Research project is executed under the direction of a promoter in cooperation with one or more co-
promoters. The promoters and co-promoters need to comply with the conditions stipulated in article 9
of the rules for Research projects.
Project applications can be submitted only in response to a 'call for proposals'. Calls announced by
FWO are published on our website (January). The on-line form must be completed and sent to the
university of the Principal investigator (promoter) for the Research project, through the FWO
website. You are kindly requested to find out from the research department of your host institution
about the final submission date for your application.
Only the university of the Principal investigator (promoter) for the Research project can finally submit
the application to the FWO. The final submission date for the university is 1 April at 17.00h. If this
date falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the closing date is moved to the following Monday at 17.00h. In
order to ensure that all candidates get an equal chance, no bibliographical additions will be accepted
after this date.
For all applications that are sent by the university to the FWO you will receive an automated message
confirming the submission. After your file has been registered, the FWO will also send an automated
e-mail which contains your file number.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
5.2.2 Referees
An applicant for a new Research project has to propose ten external referees in the ‘Referees’
section. From this list, the FWO will invite a number of referees to evaluate the application in writing.
Reviewers must be affiliated to a university, research institute or research department of another
organizational type and must be active at least at a postdoctoral level. The following persons are not
eligible as reviewers:
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FWO Guide for Applicants
o any co-authors with the applicants of a publication that was submitted or published after
January 1st of the year n-3 (n=year of application);
Editors are not regarded as co-authors insofar as they have not also acted as what is
understood under ‘co-author’ as described above. Co-editors of the applicant are not
accepted as an external referee.
The applicants are responsible for the eligibility of the proposed referees. If the proposed referees
do not comply with the eligibility criteria, the application will be declared ineligible.
In case the applicant doubts the eligibility of one or more of the proposed referees, he or she can
also contact the FWO through his/her e-loket account before submitting the application. The
questions concerning eligibility that reached the FWO before the application was submitted will be
presented to the FWO referee commission of the appropriate scientific domain, consisting of all
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FWO Guide for Applicants
Expertpanels’ chairs of that domain. Five referee commissions are established, one for each domain:
biological sciences, humanities, social sciences, medical sciences and science & technology; for
applications submitted to the Interdisciplinary Panel the referee commissions of the respective
scientific domains will be consulted. In case co-authorship is detected in publications with ten or
more authors, the FWO administration will consult the referee commission as well. In all the above
cases, the referee commission will decide on the alleged eligibility of the proposed referees. When
the referee commission decides negatively on the eligibility of a proposed referee in an application
that has already been submitted, this application will be disqualified. When the referee commission
answers negatively to a question concerning the eligibility of a proposed referee that reached the
FWO before the application was submitted, the applicant will be asked to propose a new referee that
does meet the eligibility criteria.
After the administrative check, the FWO will inform the applicant about the violations that were
found. In case the alleged violations result from a factual error of the FWO administration, the FWO
can be notified.
For the integral regulations on internal and external peer review see: http://www.fwo.be/en/the-
fwo/organisation/fwo-expertpanels/regulations-fwo–-internal-and-external-peer-review/
The applicants must see to it that all contact information of the reviewers is up-to-date. If this is not
the case the FWO will take no further steps in tracking down the reviewer(s) in question and the
applicants may be asked to submit new names of candidate reviewers, pursuant to the provisions in
§1 of the present article.
The applicants and the reviewers may not in any way communicate with each other about any aspect
of the application and of the evaluation.
At the time of entry in the application process the reviewers will need to declare that they comply
with the eligibility requirements for reviewers, that they will treat any information contained in the
application as confidential and that they will not use any of this information for purposes other than
the drawing up of their evaluation.
Primarily, the FWO administration will see to it that applicants strictly observe the eligibility
regulations and other guidelines, as will it inform the Board of Trustees about any violation of this
sort. The Board of Trustees will take the final decision on these violations.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
In the tab ‘Funds per host institution’ you have to mention the funds applied for by each host
institution. You are not allowed to request funding for foreign institutions or institutions belonging to
the French-speaking community of Belgium.
When completing the sections ‘Funding per host institution’, please carefully consider the maximum
and minimum amount of budget that can be asked for. For each project and, in case of an
interuniversity project, for each host institution, one can apply for € 45.000 to € 130.000 each year
including research staff and consumables. In case one of the project partners only requests funding
for consumables, the lower limit for this partner is set at € 20.000. Additionally, one can apply for
max. € 150.000 for equipment. Applying for matching funding up to max. € 150.000 is possible. The
amount that is applied for in the first year has to be equal or higher compared with the funds asked
for during the other years.
For extra information on the definitions and property issues of equipment, please read
http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/research-projects/research-project/
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FWO Guide for Applicants
In the subsection ‘Staff’, you have to add the names of the scientific, technical and administrative
staff to be hired for this project, and indicate who will work at which institution. Put “N” if the name
of the candidate is not known yet. Provide a short CV of the personnel to be appointed to this project
and of the staff members already involved.
In the section ‘Extra data’, you must adequately inform FWO about requested or available financing
other than FWO funding for the same project. You must also provide all financial means at your
disposal to realize the project in question, and mention the sources of funding for staff, equipment
and consumables.
The online application forms are based on database text fields. For the project outline, a standard
template is presented with questions and instructions (Font Calibri 11 - max 10 pages). The applicant
will be able to download it, fill it in and upload it again. You can include lay-out, formulas, graphs,
pictures, etc. However, the FWO administration can reject the PDF if it doesn’t comply with the
instructions and ask to adapt it.
Completing the different parts does not yet mean that your proposal is submitted. The applicant
may continue to modify the proposal and save revised versions overwriting the previous one right up
until the deadline. Once there is a consolidated version of your proposal, you must press the button
‘transfer application’. Your application will then be sent to the university of the principal
investigator.
You can view the status of the application at the page “Overview of your applications”.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
At the page “Overview of your applications”, you’ll find the status under the header “State of
application”. The status “In design” means that the application hasn’t yet been transferred and that
the application is still completely editable. The status ‘submitted’ means that the university has
submitted the application to the FWO.
Please make sure that all forms, parts and supplementary documents are in PDF format and are
uploaded correctly to the web-based FWO application before the final submission. It is strongly
recommended to double-check by pressing the ‘Download application in PDF’ and the ‘Download
Personalia in PDF’ button verifying their completeness. Incomplete proposals (where parts of the
proposal are missing) are considered ineligible and will not be evaluated.
After completing all data and thoroughly controlling your completed proposal you may transfer your
proposal by pressing the ‘Transfer application’ button before the deadline of the university has
expired. Proposals sent by means other than the web-based FWO application will not be accepted.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
After the call deadline no submissions and no updates of submitted proposals will be accepted.
Only the material submitted within the given character limits will be evaluated.
If the submission is technically successful, the applicant receives an automatic computer generated
receipt from the web-based FWO application.
6 Research grants
In order to support young or established researchers (up to the level of full professorship) in their
work and, if necessary, in the purchase of small apparatus, an application can be made for a Research
grant. More information on the procedure and the eligibility of a research team can be found on the
webpage
http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/research-grants/
Research grant applications can be submitted only in response to a 'call for proposals'. Calls
announced by FWO are published on our website (January). The final submission date is 1 April at
17.00h. If this date falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the closing date is moved to the following
Monday at 17.00h. In order to ensure that all candidates get an equal chance, no bibliographical
additions will be accepted after this date.
Proposals must be submitted electronically via the web-based FWO application. Therefore, take into
account that FWO is not responsible for the temporary unavailability of the system. It is strongly
recommended to submit at least one to two weeks before the closing date. Please make sure to
update your personal details with each future application, especially the publications section. All
practical info about the registration and the FWO e-portal can be found in above section
‘Registration’.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
Each application exists of several sections that need to be completed before submission: ‘General’,
‘Host institution’, ‘Budget’, ‘Supervisor’, ‘Ethics’, ‘Expertpanel’, ‘Project Outline’ and ‘Research
Context’. An applicant can continue to modify the proposal and save revised versions overwriting the
previous one right up until the deadline. The section will turn light blue when all necessary data is
completed in the selected section. Sections that are not fully completed are highlighted in red.
Completed
Not completed
In the section ‘Budget’, the applicant has to fill out the total amount that is requested. This amount
may not be lower than € 2.500 and not higher than € 40.000, VAT included and rounded up to the
next highest hundred. Please be aware that the applicant is responsible for the correctness of the
budget. In the same section, the applicant needs to add the detailed argumentation for the
requested amount.
The online application forms are based on database text fields. For the project outline, a standard
template is presented with questions and instructions (Font Calibri 11 - max 10 pages). The applicant
will be able to download it, fill it in and upload it again. You can include lay-out, formulas, graphs,
pictures, etc. However, the FWO administration can reject the PDF if it doesn’t comply with the
instructions and ask to adapt it.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
Completing the different parts does not yet mean that your proposal is submitted. The applicant
may continue to modify the proposal and save revised versions overwriting the previous one right up
until the deadline. Once there is a consolidated version of your proposal, you must press the button
‘submit application’.
You can view the status of the application at the page “Overview of your applications”.
At the page “Overview of your applications”, you’ll find the status under the header “State of
application”. The statuse “In design” means that the application hasn’t yet been submitted and that
the application is still completely editable.
Please make sure that all forms, parts and supplementary documents are in PDF format and are
uploaded correctly to the web-based FWO application before the final submission. It is strongly
recommended to double-check by pressing the ‘Download application in PDF’ and the ‘Download
Personalia in PDF’ button verifying their completeness. Incomplete proposals (where parts of the
proposal are missing) are considered ineligible and will not be evaluated.
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FWO Guide for Applicants
After completing all data, thoroughly controlling your completed proposal and before the end of the
submission deadline, you may submit your proposal by pressing the ‘submit application’
button. Proposals sent by means other than the web-based FWO application will not be accepted.
After the call deadline no submissions and no updates of submitted proposals will be accepted.
Only the material submitted within the given character limits will be evaluated.
If the submission is technically successful, the applicant receives an automatic computer generated
receipt from the web-based FWO application.
24