General EFSD Rules and Regulations

These are the general rules and regulations applicable to all EFSD programmes. Please refer to individual programme announcements for additional programme-specific requirements and guidelines.

Application

Unless specified otherwise, EFSD grant programmes are only open to a Principal Investigator (PI) and any Co-Investigator(s) from single non-profit institutions or groups of such institutions from Europe and associated countries (for detailed associated country list, please see here). For fellowships, please refer to individual programme details. Collaborators must not be employed by the industry but are not limited to be in Europe or an associated country.

Unless specified otherwise, applicants (PI and Co-Investigators) to all EFSD programmes are encouraged to become paid-up members of EASD. For more information, visit the EASD website www.easd.org or contact membership@easd.org.

Grant duration may be one year or longer, as justified by project needs in the application.

Investigators (PIs and Co-Investigators) may hold only one EFSD award at a time; this does not apply to collaborators. The EFSD Rising Star and Albert Renold Fellowships are exempt from this rule. New applications are allowed only after the current project is completed and final reports are approved. Please note that applications for renewed/continued funding of an existing award will be considered as a new application ("competitive renewal"). 

As investigators may not hold more than one EFSD award at a time, this may create a problem when a second Investigator wishes to apply for EFSD support from within a research group which already holds an active EFSD grant. Such applications will only be considered if the PI named on the second grant can provide clear evidence that he or she is a fully independent researcher. To demonstrate such independence, the PI is required to provide the Statement of Independence. 

All applications will be subject to scientific review by a specialised and independent ad hoc committee. At the discretion of the Review Committee, applications for EFSD awards may undergo pre-review (or triage). In this event, any application rejected at this stage will not be subject to a complete scientific review and no feedback report will be provided to the applicant.

Award Activation

EFSD award recipients must complete and return the Award Activation Documents to the EFSD Office within six months from the date of the EFSD award confirmation letter/email. In exceptional cases and with the prior written permission of the EFSD Office, this period may be extended a further six months. Any funding which has not been activated within six months of the award confirmation letter/email (in exceptions twelve months) will be automatically withdrawn without any further notice.

Please note that a copy of the confirmation and/or signature page of all ethical approval/s which are needed to carry out the funded project must be attached to the Award Activation Documents.

Payment Plan

All the funded projects will receive an initial payment upon the completion of the documentation.

For one-year projects: 90% of the funding amount is provided at the start of the project. The remaining 10% will be paid after approval of the final report.

For multi-year projects:

Two-year projects: 50% at the start, 40% after approval of the first annual/interim report, and 10% after approval of the final report.

Three-year projects: 30% at the start, 30% after each of the first and second annual/interim reports, and 10% after approval of the final report.

All payments are subject to approval of the required reports. The misuse of funds will be penalised.

Unused funding amounts must be repaid to the EFSD within 30 days.

If funding for the same budget items requested from EFSD for the project is obtained from other sources, funding for those items by EFSD will be withdrawn (i.e. EFSD will not cover costs that are already covered through other funding sources or that become so during the funding period). Please refer to the Requests for Applications (RfAs) or application form for further instructions what kind of costs may be reimbursed. 

Reporting Requirements

The recipients must comply with the EFSD report requirements for the funding. 

Interim report

If the project exceeds more than 14 months the recipients must submit an interim report covering the status of scientific progress and financial status. Upon positive evaluation, the next payment will be released. For more information, please see:

-    Interim Report Guideline - Fellowship

-    Interim Report Guideline - Grant

-    Interim Report Guideline - EFSD/Novo Nordisk Foundation Future Leaders Award

Final report

Upon completion of the project, a comprehensive final report is required summarising all activities, outcomes achieved, lessons learned and impact assessment. The financial report must be signed by the PI and the Financial Administration. 

Financial Reports: In addition to the scientific progress reports, award holders must also provide financial reports detailing how the grant funds have been utilised. This includes an itemised breakdown of expenses incurred and proof of expenditure. For more information, please see:

-    Final Report Guideline - Fellowship

-    Final Report Guideline - Grant

-    Final Report Guideline – Travel Fellowship

-    Final Report Guidelines - EFSD/Novo Nordisk Foundation Future Leaders Award  

Should the scientific progress of the interim report be deemed inadequate the report will not be approved in which case EFSD reserves the right to delay or cease payment of any further instalments. This also applies for final scientific and financial reports, i.e. if the final report is not approved or requested documents are missing, EFSD reserves the right to reclaim parts or the full funding amount. In addition, EFSD reserves the right to exclude individuals (all investigators) and/or institutions from future funding.

Fund reallocation

If you require changes in your research plan, budget allocation or a no-cost extension of your project, you will need a written approval from the EFSD Office.

If you require changes or reallocations in your project budget, the following rules apply:

-    Budget changes under €2,000 may be made at the PI’s discretion and do not require notification.

-    Changes between €2,000 and €5,000 must be reported to the EFSD Office.

-    Changes over €5,000 require prior written approval from the EFSD Office.

Project Changes

Please inform the EFSD Office as soon as possible of any significant developments related to your award. These include, but are not limited to delays, challenges or significant changes to the study methodology or a move from the institution where you hold the award.

For institution change, submit a signed letter explaining the reason for the change of institution , along with the completed Declaration for the Change of Institution.

If a no-cost extension is needed, the recipient must submit a no-cost extension request to the EFSD Office. The request will be reviewed, and a decision will be made accordingly.

For extensions of less than 6 months: Submit an official letter explaining the reason for the delay and the new completion date.

For extensions of more than 6 months: An interim report must be submitted. For information, please see the report guidelines:

-    Interim Report Guideline for no- cost extension - Fellowship

-    Interim Report Guideline for no- cost extension - Grant

-    Interim Report Guideline for no- cost extension - EFSD/Novo Nordisk Foundation Future Leaders Award

Award Acknowledgement and Publications

It is essential that EFSD funding is acknowledged in all scientific publications, abstracts to scientific meetings and poster presentations in relation, either partly or fully, to the EFSD funded project, by the wordings specified in the award activation documents.  

The recipients must inform the EFSD Office of any publications related to the funded project by sharing the link or a PDF version of the publication.