Descrição

The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), in collaboration with South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF), supports 3-year joint research projects between researchers from Flanders and South Africa across all research disciplines.

Deadline: 26 May 2026 at 5:00 PM (local time) – both FWO and NRF

Status: Open

Objective

The FWO promotes international collaboration as a driving force for excellence through bilateral agreements that fund joint research projects. These projects go further than traditional mobility projects, as personnel, consumables, and equipment can also be financed. The agreement with the NRF covers fundamental research in all domains.

Key Features

• Joint research project with an integrated research proposal, central research question, methodology, and work plan
• Fundamental research in all disciplines
• Project duration: 3 years, with no extension possible
• Staff and consumables (FWO portion): minimum EUR 45,000 and maximum EUR 85,000 per year per project
• Equipment (FWO portion): maximum EUR 150,000 per project
• Success rate of the 2023 call: 13% (6 projects funded)

Eligibility and Conditions

• Research must be carried out at an eligible Flemish main host institution, under the supervision of a supervisor-spokesperson
• No distinction is made between junior and senior research projects under this bilateral call
• It is not possible to use 10% of the FWO budget requested for non-Flemish research institutions
• An applicant may only act once as supervisor-spokesperson or co-supervisor under this call
• Applications under this call do not count towards the maximum of one project per application round, nor towards the maximum of two projects applied for and ongoing
• No remuneration is allowed for co-supervisors under an FWO-funded research project
• Applicants must agree with the Research Integrity Clause

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted simultaneously before the deadline at both FWO and NRF. The Flemish supervisor-spokesperson submits via the FWO E-portal; the NRF submission follows NRF modalities.

Key points of attention:

• CVs of all involved Flemish and South African co-supervisors must be uploaded using the FWO CV template
• All Flemish and South African co-supervisors must register on the FWO E-portal before the deadline (note: login registration takes 24 hours)
• The online application form includes a Research Security tab requiring responses on unwanted knowledge transfer, misuse of research results, and interference. If a research security approval is needed, contact your host institution’s dedicated contact persons before submission
• A new question on the substantive and conceptual contribution of applicants to the research design has been added from this call onwards

Key Dates