What is Weave?
Weave is a bottom-up cross-European funding scheme developed by European research funders to support excellent collaborative research projects.
It aims to simplify the submission, evaluation and funding procedure of collaborative research proposals involving researchers from up to three European countries or regions, through a single evaluation of the proposals.
Weave aims to make it easier for researchers to collaborate across borders, following simplified processes. Researchers will also be able to collaborate with their peers in countries where so far no agreements existed.
Within Weave, researchers from two or three European countries or regions are allowed to submit a collaborative research proposal to any of the participating funders. To submit a proposal, all participating researchers need to be eligible for funding at the involved Weave funding organisation.
Weave is based on existing funding programmes which are interconnected. Research projects are funded through national or regional research programmes that are managed by the respective Weave funding organisation. Funders will only provide funding within their national or regional borders.
Lead Agency Principle
Weave is based on the Lead Agency Procedure principle. According to the Lead Agency Procedure researchers from either two or three Weave partner countries jointly write a research proposal which will be reviewed by only one of the involved research funding organisations. The research funding organisation that receives the proposal (the so-called Lead Agency) evaluates the proposal according to its internal rules set out for its respective national or regional programme. The funding recommendation is then communicated to the other funders involved (so-called Partner Agencies), for approval and budgetary purposes.
The team of applicants determine a coordinating applicant, who submits the joint proposal to the respective Weave funding organisation in his/her country. The other applicants (co-applicants) have to submit a copy of the proposal within one week to their respective funding agency (Partner Agency).
Which countries/regions are involved?
Within Weave, FWF currently co-operates with the following research funding organisations:
- Belgium / Flanders: FWO – Research Foundation Flanders
- Czech Republic: GACR – Czech Science Foundation
- Germany: DFG – German Research Foundation
- Luxembourg: FNR – National Research Foundation Luxembourg
- Poland: NCN – National Science Centre
- Slovenia: ARRS – Slovenian Research Agency
- Switzerland: SNSF – Swiss National Science Foundation
If FWF acts as Lead Agency, applicants in Austria can submit their proposal for a “Joint Project” with partners from either one or two of the countries/regions listed above.
Please note that GACR currently does not allow trilateral proposals including FWO/Belgium.
If another organization than FWF acts as Lead Agency, other rules for trilateral project proposals may apply. For details, please consult the respective Lead Agency.
Additional co-operation possibilities
Proposals submitted to the following Lead Agencies in addition to the above mentioned organisations can also include co-applicants which are financed by HRZZ and FNRS. The rule that the maximum number of (co-)applicants is three remains unaffected by this additional possibility:
- ARRS / Slovenia: HRZZ – Croatian Science Foundation / Croatia
- FNR / Luxembourg: Formas – Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development; F.R.S. – FNRS – Fund for Scientific Research / Wallonia, Belgium
- FWO / Flanders, Belgium: F.R.S. – FNRS – Fund for Scienctific Research / Wallonia, Belgium
- SNSF / Switzerland: HRZZ – Croatian Science Foundation / Croatia; Formas – Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development; F.R.S. – FNRS – Fund for Scientific Research / Wallonia, Belgium
Project duration
The maximum duration that applicants can apply for depends on the research funding agency/agencies involved. The maximum duration of the Joint Project is set by the research funding organization which allows the shortest project duration.
- Belgium/Flanders (FWO): Up to 48 months
- Czech Republic (GACR): 24 or 36 months
- Germany (DFG): Up to 36 months
- Luxembourg (FNR): If FWF acts as the Lead Agency: up to 48 months; If FNR acts as the Lead Agency: up to 36 months
- Poland (NCN): 24, 36 or 48 months
- Slovenia (ARRS): If FWF acts as the Lead Agency: up to 48 months; If ARRS acts as the Lead Agency: up to 36 months
- Switzerland (SNSF): Up to 48 months
