Version: January 2013

Provide a specification here of the costs for consumables, small instruments and accessories and the costs of domestic travel according to the standards applicable in your organisation. The amounts mentioned in the budget are exclusive of Dutch VAT.

Items that MAY be included in material credit:

• 
  Materials that have no more economic value after use. So this concerns consumables, small instruments and accessories.
  
• 
  Specified compound entries. Amounts or rates paid for a fixed duration (for example "bench fees" and "fees for standard analyses") must be justified. Within the rates that STW accepts, only the cost of consumables may be submitted as an expense to STW.
  
• 
  Personnel costs for Casimir position (see item 8.1 for the explanation).
  
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  Costs for domestic travel.
  
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  Costs for project-specific courses for STW researchers that are necessary for the realisation of the research.
  
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  Posters for the dissemination of knowledge at congresses and symposia.
  
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  Preclinical studies. The condition here is that the project staff themselves are responsible for the majority of the work activities (including sampling, analyses).
  

Items that MAY NOT be included in the material credit

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  Entries such as "miscellaneous", "unforeseen" and unspecified "bench fees".
  
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  Patent costs. In such cases, STW will see whether and to what extent STW will bear these costs.
  
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  Costs for publications or costs for the purchase of books and/or journals.
  
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  Thesis printing costs. There is a separate compensation scheme for this (see http://www.stw.nl/en/project-leader).
  
• 
  Costs for general courses that are part of the generic education of researchers and of the generic education of a PhD student (incl. English, presenting, literature search, laboratory animal science, the use of isotopes).
  
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  Costs for desktop computers, laptops or notebooks etc. for administrative purposes (text and data processing) and costs for the use of a computer.
  
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  Generic software. STW presumes that generic software is available via campus licences.
  
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  Costs associated with the use of computing facilities at SARA. These costs may possibly be carried by the NWO e-Science Centre in Amsterdam (http://www.esciencecenter.nl/).
  
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  Costs for the use of existing infrastructure (depreciation costs), salary costs for permanent staff, housing costs, overhead and administrative and technical support to the extent that these are part of the customary package of facilities at the research institution.
  
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  Costs (with the exception of material costs) for university facilities (including greenhouse space, laboratory animal facilities, specialist research facilities).
  
• 
  Clinical trials.
  

State the costs for foreign travel here. The foreign travel credit is intended to cover costs associated with participation in congresses and symposia abroad. In addition, visits for a longer time period can be requested.

For temporary project employees, STW uses maximum standard amounts (€ 2000 year/fte) that may be submitted for short trips abroad. Costs for foreign travel by applicants and co-applicants may also be submitted up to the standard maximum amounts as long as these costs are directly related to the realisation of the proposed research and as long as convincing arguments are submitted for this. In principle, for non-scientific personnel, no travel cost reimbursement may be requested.

If more money is submitted as expenses than the maximum standard amount per year, this cannot be accepted unless clear arguments are presented for this on which STW and the referees can base their assessment.
Explanation of exchange visits

Temporarily appointed project staff, in the context of an STW project, may carry out research at a foreign research institution for a limited time (a maximum of six months). In addition, in the context of a MARITIME 2013 project, it is possible to involve a foreign researcher who then visits the research institution and actively participates in the realisation of the project.

• 
  This type of travel abroad must be known by STW at the time the project proposal is considered and must be part of the research planning so that referees can include this in their review.
  
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  The condition for exchange is that the knowledge that is brought in by the visit is either unavailable or insufficiently available at the research institution where the research is being realised. Upon acceptance, STW checks whether this will actually result in strengthening the knowledge base for the project.
  
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  STW reimburses the travel costs, research costs and a standard amount for accommodation expenses. No (extra) salary costs will be reimbursed. For the establishment of the standard amounts for accommodation expenses, see http://www.stw.nl/en/applicant.
  
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  Any issues concerning intellectual property are covered via a suitable agreement (waivers/confidentiality) before the journey is made.
  

Provide a specification here of the investment costs and a detailed overview of the necessary equipment. Investments are defined as the use of durable scientific equipment for which depreciation of the economic value takes place. The cost of investments are included in the budget exclusive of Dutch VAT.

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  STW presumes that, when purchasing durable equipment, the research institution uses a quote procedure and takes the government's tender guidelines into account.
  
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  When purchasing second-hand equipment, the original invoice must be submitted.
  

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  Requests to have STW co-finance equipment prorated to its use is allowed. This must be established in writing after the awarding of funding.
  
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  Computers that are part of the scientific equipment and specific software that is used exclusively for the project may be submitted as an investment expense.
  
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  Computer capacity necessary to the research and that is demonstrably beyond the norm may be submitted as an investment expense.
  
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  The equipment is and remains STW property. After termination of the project, the equipment remains at the research institution. Formal transfer of the ownership of the equipment is possible without further reimbursement. A term of five years after the purchase is used for this.
  
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  The research institution is responsible for the connection, operating costs and maintenance of the equipment purchased (service costs and repair).
  
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  STW makes a distinction between the use of existing facilities within the research institution and investments in new facilities for the specific purposes of an STW project. In the case of operating costs and for smaller investments, STW only reimburses the costs of consumables. These costs may be submitted under material credit. STW will nonetheless reimburse the complete costs of investment items supplied by internal services in those cases where a disproportional claim is made on that given service, as long as convincing arguments are submitted for this. This is done at the STW office's discretion.
  
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  If it transpires in the course of time that the costs for investments described the proposal are lower than was budgeted, the remaining resources shall flow back to STW/NWO.
  
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  STW may refuse purchases that are not budgeted beforehand.
  

State the financial, personnel related and/or material co-funding here that the users make available for project purposes. Information about the calculation of the (mandatory) supply of co-funding can be found in Appendix 2.

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  STW uses the in-cash co-funding to cover a portion of the project costs. After awarding funds, STW sends an invoice to users who have promised a financial contribution. After receipt, the money is assigned to the project.
  
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  STW accepts the efforts of personnel and material contributions as co-funding on the condition that these are capitalised and that they are an integral component of the project. This must be clear from the description and the planning/phases of the research
  
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  STW is the main financier of the projects. Project applications whose users' co-funding exceeds the amount at NWO's expense will not be considered.
  
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  STW presumes that issuers of co-funding have an interest as a user and, therefore, as a party for the application of the research results outside science. Co-financiers always participate in the user committee.
  
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  Government institutions can play various roles within the projects, namely: (1) as a research partner (without entitlement to STW or NWO funding), (2) as the executor of a specific assignment (in conformance with market rates) or (3) as a user. Government institutions may act as a user under the same conditions as private users.
  
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  The co-funding to be provided by users must be confirmed in a letter of support. The letter of support should be written in English. This letter must explicitly state the authorised financial or capitalised material or personnel-related contribution. The amounts mentioned in the letters of support must correspond with the amounts in the budget drawn up.
  

Letters of support are always addressed to the project leader and not to STW. After awarding funds to the research proposal, the STW office will ask the user for confirmation of the co-funding ("confirmation of third-party obligation") and, in relevant cases, record any further agreements in a contract.

A portion of the research may be conducted by third parties. A condition for this is that the expertise be provided in the form of man hours that are not already available at the research institute(s) and that these be deployed specifically for the project. For support by third-party personnel, STW uses fixed rates to capitalize the number of man-hours deployed (a maximum of 1250 direct hours/years/fte) for a senior or junior researcher. For the current rates, see http://www.stw.nl/en/applicant.

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  You must calculate committed material resources using cost price. Commercial rates will not be accepted. For committed equipment, you must take any depreciation already taken and the intensity of use into account.
  
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  Commitments in the form of the supply of services are allowed only if the service can be tracked as an identifiable new effort. The service must not already be available at the research institutions where the research is realised.
  

Instances may occur where parties wish to book services already provided (for example, a database, software or lines of plants) as in-kind co-funding. Acceptance may not be presumed in such cases. You should contact STW about this. Further consultation will determine whether a concrete value can be established for this delivery.

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  STW guards against improper mixing of funds: co-funding may never derive from direct or indirect (NWO, KNAW) funding. Thus, co-funding may never derive from the applicants’ or co-applicants’ research institution or from institutions that can apply to STW or NWO for funding.
  
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  Discounts on commercial rates for materials, equipment and/or services.
  
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  Costs related to overhead, support, consultancy and/or participation in the user committee.
  
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  Conditional costs for services: No conditions may be placed on the provision of co-funding. The provision of co-funding may also not depend on reaching a given phase in the research plan (e.g. a go/no-go moment).
  
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  Costs not reimbursed by STW (e.g. clinical trials, costs related to the commercialisation of the results from the research).
  
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  Costs for equipment if one of the main objectives of the research requests is the improvement of/creation of value with this equipment.
  

Fill in the Financial Planning (FP) form which can be found at http://www.stw.nl/MARITIEM-2013 and indicate on this the financial contribution and/or capitalised contributions. Make sure that the capitalised contribution amounts in the budget and in the letters of support correspond with each other.

If a project is to take place in multiple research institutions, then indicate the division of the budget for each research institution on page 2 of the FP.

An explanation of the form can be found in Appendix 3.

• 
  the total project costs;
  
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  the total private in-cash contributions;
  
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  the total in-kind contributions; and
  
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  the total contribution requested from STW/NWO.
  

This form should be sent in PDF format as a separate attachment to the factsheet.

Each research institution concludes a financing agreement with STW for its portion of the budget.

Any research proposal whose budget does not comply with the required co-funding will not be considered.

Add the letters of support in English confirming the co-funding to be provided as separate attachments to the factsheet in PDF format. A letter of support is mandatory in instances where co-funding is provided by users. STW advises applicants to ensure that users endorse the importance of the utilisation plan for their business operations in particular.

These letters must explicitly state: 1) the importance of the research proposal to the organisation, 2) the importance of the utilisation plan for the company's operations, 3) the committed financial funding and/or the specified, capitalised material and/or personnel contribution.

The amounts mentioned in the letters of support must correspond with the amounts in the budget drawn up.

The letters of support must be in English. Letters of support should be addressed to the project leader and not to STW. The letters must be signed by an authorised signatory and be printed on the co-financier's letter paper. For the submission of a research proposal, a copy or scan of the letter is sufficient.

STW will not approach people and organisations who have signed letters of support (Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest).

After the awarding of funds to the research proposal, STW will ask the user for confirmation of the co-funding ("confirmation of third-party obligation") and, in relevant cases, record any further agreements in a contract.

9. References

State here the research group's (research groups') most important publications with respect to the proposal. Also state any relevant, published patents.

State here any publications cited. Mark in bold font those publications in which members of the applying research groups have been involved.

It is important that both experts and jury members can read the proposal easily. Therefore, abbreviations and acronyms should be explained at least once. This may be done in the text itself or in a separate list. In the summaries, use abbreviations as sparingly as possible.

By filling in all the requested information on the form (see Appendix 3) "Declaration and signature by the applicant", available at http://www.stw.nl/MARITIEM-2013, you pledge, also on the half of the co-applicants, that you have completed the application truthfully. This form is a mandatory part of the application and must be sent in as an attachment to the factsheet in PDF format.

In cases of uncertainty or doubts about costs to be submitted that are not mentioned in this brochure, you are advised to contact the STW office prior to submitting your application.

Co-funding requirements for MARITIME 2013

STW/NWO contribution (65%)

Min. co-funding

(35%)

To ensure that no unlimited rise in the compulsory in-cash contribution occurs in the case of increasing in-kind contributions, the contributions are defined as follows:

1. 
   financial contributions are used to cover part of the project costs and they therefore form part of the necessary financial resources together with the NWO contribution;
   
2. 
   in-kind contributions are understood to be capitalised personnel and/or material contributions from users.
   

Example calculations for research proposals for MARITIME 2013

1. 
   Imagine you submit a project for which the total project costs (including all co-funding) are € 725,000. In this case the maximum STW/NWO (in-cash) contribution is €471,250 (65% of the total), and the co-funding at least €253,750 (35% of the total), of which at least €117,813 (25% of the NWO contribution) is in cash. The remaining €135,937 in co-funding may be provided in kind.
   
2. 
   Imagine you request a total of €625,000 in cash for personnel costs, material costs, travel and investments. Assuming the minimum required co-funding in cash, then that amount is comprised of an STW/NWO contribution of € 500,000 (80%) and € 125,000 (25% of the STW/NWO contribution) in-cash co-funding. However, this still does not satisfy the minimum co-funding requirement of 35%. If the co-funding requirement is satisfied completely with in-cash resources, then a supplement of € 93,750 is sufficient. But the remaining required co-funding amounts to € 144,200 if this consists entirely of in-kind co-funding. This is because the addition of in-kind co-funding results in an increase to project costs and the 35% co-funding requirement applies to the total project costs (including in-kind co-funding).
   

If the total amount of financial resources required by your application amounts to more than € 625,000, then this cannot be covered by the sum of the maximum NWO contribution (€ 500,000) and the minimum requirement for in-cash co-funding (25% x € 500,000 = € 125,000). In that case, the difference must be made up by additional in-cash co-funding (Figure 2).

STW/NWO contribution (65%)

= 500 k€

(35%)

(> 25%)
= financial resources - 500 k€

Depending on the required financial resources, it is also possible that the necessary in-cash co-funding will exceed 35% of the total project cost. Here, it must be taken into consideration that the total co-funding may never amount to more than 50% of the total project costs (Figure 3). So the required financial resources may amount to no more than €1,000,000, of which € 500,000 is contributed in cash from private resources.

STW/NWO contribution

Min. co-funding ( > 35%)

Min. cash co-funding

(> 25%)
= financial resources - 500 k€

The Financial Planning MARITIME 2013 form helps you determine whether your project satisfies the financing requirements. You should always send in this form when you submit a project proposal.

Appendix 2

1. 
   Personnel credits are filled in for each employment position. You fill in the total costs for years 1,2 and 3, and the total costs for years 4 and beyond. In principle, the personnel credit is assigned for no more than three years. STW reserves any remaining monies for continuation after two years. For each position, you fill in an employment position number, a personnel category, the size of the appointment, the number of months and the associated rates (Sheet 3). Verify whether you have the most recent personnel rates. These are established on 1 July of each year, but adjustments in the meantime are possible.
   
2. 
   When calculating the size of the amount, take the size of the appointment into account (personnel rates are based on 1 fte) and the year.
   
3. 
   Note: considering their salary structure, PhDs are always appointed using the rate in month 1.
   
4. 
   Material credit and investment credit are filled in exclusive of Dutch VAT.
   
5. 
   Material credit, credit for foreign travel and investment credits are filled in as a total for years 1 and 2, and as a total for years 3 and beyond. In principle, these credits are assigned for no more than two years. STW reserves any remaining monies for continuation after two years.
   
6. 
   The personnel credit, material credit, credit for foreign travel and the investment credit jointly form the total required financial resources.
   
7. 
   For in-kind co-funding, you fill in the official name of the co-financier, a short description of the material and/or personnel contribution and the capitalised amount.
   
8. 
   For the aforementioned four credits, this co-funding is not included in the calculation, but does count toward the total project costs.
   
9. 
   For co-funding in cash, you fill in the official name of the co-financier and the amount that the co-financier has committed. This amount should be entered as a negative amount.
   
10. 
    These financial contributions are used by STW to cover a portion of the project costs. STW collects the financial contribution and this is then pledged to the project.
    
11. 
    A letter of support from the co-financier in English is required for all co-funding; this letter must include a statement of the amount committed.
    
12. 
    Any research proposal whose budget does not comply with the required co-funding requirement (graduated rates) will not be considered.
    
13. 
    Budget distribution (Sheet 2) is only possible in the case that various research institutions apply.
    
14. 
    Indicate how the various credits should be distributed among the various institutions. For the employment positions, the corresponding number on Sheet 1 is sufficient. Also indicate how the in-cash co-funding will be distributed among the various institutions.
    
15. 
    Unused credits lapse at the end of the project.
    

 
Appendix 3

Example form "Declaration and signature by applicant".

This form should be submitted as a separate attachment in PDF format together with the factsheet.