Der „Nurturing Talents Prize“ wurde vom BMBWF zu Ehren von Frau Prof. Helga Nowotny, Gründungsmitglied und ehemalige Präsidentin des ERC, zum Anlass ihres 80. Geburtstags ins Leben gerufen und gemeinsam mit FFG und FWF konzipiert. Die Preisverleihung erfolgt im Rahmen des FFG Forums am 13. September 2018. Das Preisgeld beträgt 10.000 EUR für jede ausgezeichnete Institution.
Die Bewertungen für den „Nurturing Talents Prize 2018“ werden von einer internationalen, unabhängigen Jury vorgenommen. Daher können nur in englischer Sprache verfasste Anträge berücksichtigt werden.
Beachten Sie bitte die u.a. ergänzende Information bezüglich der Gewichtung der Evaluierungsergebnisse.
Ausschreibungsbedingungen (nur in englischer Sprache verfügbar):
About the competition and the prize
The Nurturing Talents Prize was launched by the BMBWF in honour of Prof. Helga Nowotny, founding member and former President of the ERC, on the occasion of her 80th birthday.
This prize will be awarded to those two institutions which present the best concepts for
- motivating and empowering established scientists and young researchers such as PhD students and early Post-docs to successfully apply for ERC grants through dedicated mentoring programmes
- attracting ERC grantees and retaining them over the long term.
From all eligible applications an independent jury will select up to two institutions to be awarded the “Nurturing Talents Prize 2018”.
Call content and objectives
The aim of the Nurturing Talents Prize is to recognise, motivate and support Austrian institutions in their efforts to strengthen their ERC performance. This may contribute to the best possible positioning of Austria in its competition for renowned ERC grants, which in turn is sought to increase Austria’s international visibility and attractiveness.
Best concepts will be of high quality and present comprehensive, sustainable and internally evaluated mentoring programmes for potential ERC applicants as well as attractive framework conditions for incoming and already present ERC grantees.
Please note: This prize is intended for both Austrian institutions currently hosting one or more ERC grantees and institutions planning to become host institutions in the near future. Therefore, both current and planned concepts will be equally evaluated (i.e. without distinguishing whether these measures have already been implemented at the time of submission of the application or not).
Eligible applicants
All types of ERC host institutions (current and future) in Austria are eligible for the prize, such as public and private universities, universities of applied sciences (“Fachhochschulen”), non-university research organisations, and companies of any size. Only one application per institution can be submitted.
The application must be accompanied by a Letter of Commitment signed by the management of the applying organisation (Vice Rector / Rector or Managing Director).
Please note: For all institutes/legal entities of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften), only one application for the Nurturing Talents Prize may be submitted.
Prize and award ceremony
Up to two successful Austrian institutions will be rewarded with 10,000 EUR each. The award ceremony will take place during the annual FFG Forum on 13 September 2018.
Time schedule
| When | What |
| 3 May 2018 | Launch of Call |
| 4 June 2018 | Application deadline; formal eligibility check by FFG |
| 3 September 2018 | Evaluation by independent experts completed |
| 5 September 2018 | Communication of award decision to applicants |
| 13 September 2018 | Award ceremony at FFG Forum |
Proposal submission
Due to the international composition of the jury, applications have to be submitted in English. Submission is carried out via the eCall of FFG until 4 June 2018, 12:00 (noon) the latest. After this time the system is closed and it will not be possible to submit any further application.
In the administrative part of the proposal approximate numbers of researchers and students (as applicable) of the applying institution have to be provided. This information is necessary to assess the appropriateness of described mentoring concepts according to the size of the applying institution.
The main part of the proposal consists of free text entered into respective fields provided in the eCall. Furthermore, an attachment containing a Letter of Commitment signed by a legal representative, typically the (Vice)Rector or Managing Director of the applying institution, is required.
The following chapters are to be filled:
| Chapters | Character limit (excluding space characters) |
| 1. Mentoring concepts – Content of concepts and appropriateness of approach | 3,500 |
| 2. Mentoring concepts – Sustainability of concepts | 3,500 |
| 3. Evaluation of mentoring concepts | 1,000 |
| 4. Concepts to attract and hold ERC grantees | 2,000 |
The total length of the proposal is limited to 10,000 characters (ca. 2.5 pages).
Additional assistance is provided in the eCall within the individual fields. Please also see the Guidelines for Evaluation (see also Download Centre) for further requirements in detail.
Proposal evaluation
After closure of the call on 4 June 2018, 12:00 (noon), FFG will conduct a formal eligibility check of applications.
Formally eligible applications will be remotely evaluated by independent international experts. Their individual assessments will then be discussed in a panel meeting, resulting in a final ranking list to be confirmed by BMBWF.
Detailed evaluation criteria used by the jury members are provided in the Guidelines for Evaluation. The scoring system is outlined in the table below. Only proposals reaching the threshold of 60% will be considered for the “Nurturing Talents Prize 2018”.
The final score will be weighted according to the category of „ERC experience“ relevant to the respective applying institution.
Explanation: In Austria, the number of ERC grantees affiliated with their individual host organisation varies widely from 1-43 (2017, EU Performance Monitoring (FFG)). Consequently, the experience levels of these institutions as regards the design and implementation of mentoring concepts for the benefit of ERC applicants and benefit concepts for ERC grantees are assumed to be at very different stages of maturity. In order to account for these differences and for reasons of fairness, institutions applying for the Nurturing Talents Prize will be grouped into 3 classes, and evaluation scores will be weighted accordingly:
| Class | Number of ERC Grantees* | Weighting Coefficient |
| 1 | 0-5 | 1,15 |
| 2 | 6-15 | 1,075 |
| 3 | >15 | 1 |
* Total number of grantees of FP7 and Horizon 2020 (ERC Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants and Advanced Grants)
| Criterion | Maximum Score (Subcriterion max. score) |
|
1. Quality of content and appropriateness of approach
|
35 (15) (15) (5) |
| 2. Sustainability of concepts | 35 |
| 3. Evaluation of mentoring concepts | 10 |
|
4. Concepts to attract and hold ERC grantees |
20 |
| Total | 100 |
| Threshold | 60 % |
Communication of evaluation outcome
Applicants will be informed about the outcome of the evaluation of their application on 5 September 2018 the latest. Each applying institution will be informed about the score achieved.
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