Declaration of Obligation for Research Proposals in the Strategic Research Fund (SFF- Strategischer Forschungsfonds)

To the Commission of the Strategic Research Fund[1]
ofHeinrichHeine University Düsseldorf

Applicant

Title/First name/Surname:
Faculty/Department:
Telephone:
Email:
Employment status: / Professor (W3/C4, W2/C3) / Please tick
Assistant professor (W1) / Please tick
Professor - Fixed-term contract / Please tick
Senior scientist/post-doctoral fellow
- Fixed-term contract / Please tick
Senior scientist/post-doctoral fellow
- Permanent contract / Please tick
Proposal category:
(only one category is possible) / Early career researcher
(6 years after doctoral degree) / Please tick
Coordinator (staff position) / Please tick
Research networks / Please tick
Equipment / Please tick
Have you been funded by the SFF in the past? / No / Please tick
Yes / Please tick
When?
Date from SFF award notification:
Project title:
Third-party funded projects of the past five years:

Obligatory requirements for proposals

  1. Proposal submission

It is not possible to submit an application to the SFF and the Research Commission of the Faculty of Medicine (FoKo - Forschungskommission der Medizinischen Fakultät) at the same time.

Equally, concurrent funding by these programmes is not possible either.

  1. Have you been funded by the SFF in the past and, if yes, when was the last time?
  2. Bibliography

Bibliographies submitted together with a proposal must comply with the rules of the German Research Foundation (DFG – Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)[2]. This means, amongst others, that only already published works are to be listed. For manuscripts which have not yet appeared but have been accepted for publication, these should be submitted together with the publisher’s confirmation of acceptance.

  1. Scientific autonomy

The scientific independence of the research work and its distinction from the work of the applicant’s supervisor must be clearly demonstrated in the proposal.

The applicant should furthermore explain clearly in the proposal how the intended SFF project contributes to the acquisition of a third party-funded project. No funding is awarded for research projects with no prospect of external third-party funding!

  1. Review criteria

The applicant must proposethree external reviewers.

Exclusion of reviewers is mandatory under any of the following circumstances:

  1. First-degree family relationship, marriage, civil partnership, consensual union.
  2. Personal economic interest in the decision on a proposal or personal interest of any individual listed under a).
  3. Current or planned close scientific cooperation.
  4. For proposals by universities, spokespersons of research networksare excluded from participating in the review commission for proposals which are decided in the same session as their own proposal.
  5. Dependent employment relationship or supervisory relationship (e.g. teacher-student relationship up until and including the post-doctoral phase) up to six years after the end of the relationship.
  6. For proposals from legal persons, the affiliation or forthcoming transfer to this or a participating institution leads to exclusion.
  7. For proposals from natural persons, the affiliation or forthcoming transfer to the same faculty or the same extramural research institute leads to exclusion.
  8. For proposals from universities, researchers who are engaged in a university council or similar supervisory board at the applying university are excluded from participating in the review and decision procedure for proposals from this university.

Please note:

Failure to observe these conflict of interest criteria leads to exclusion from the selection process!

  1. Exclusion of reviewers

If reviewers are known to the applicant who must withdraw due to conflict of interest, such persons must also be listed in the proposal. The reasons for their exclusion must be givenin each case.

  1. Under funding lines 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, an application for funding must be submitted to a source of third-party funding within the duration of the project.

I herewith confirm with my signature that I have completed this Declaration of Obligation truthfully and have acknowledged the conditions stated above.

If I contravene or fail to observe the above-mentioned rules, I will be excluded from the selection process.

(Place/Date)(Signature)

Please print out this Declaration of Obligation, sign it and upload it as PDF as the first page of your proposal in the "Electronic Proposal System" (EPS).

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[1]Strategic Research Fund = Strategischer Forschungsfonds (SFF). For the purpose of better comprehension, the abbreviation SFF is used when referring to the Strategic Research Fund.

[2]German Research Foundation = Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). For the purpose of better comprehension, the abbreviation DFG is used when referring to the German Research Foundation.