Details regarding the GA UK competition can be found in Principles of Activities of the Grant Agency of Charles University and Grant Rules of Charles University. This translation is for informative purpose only. The legally binding regulations are those in Czech registered by the Ministry.

Principles of Activities of the Grant Agency of Charles University (CZ)

Call for the 22th round of applications of the Grant Agency of Charles University (2025) (CZ)

Grant Rules (ENG)

Information for submiting new project proposal (ENG)

Information for submitting - Project proposal attachment (ENG)

Attachments (ENG)

Summary of the Seminar for GA UK PI´s (ENG / CZ)

Call for the 22th round of applications of the Grant Agency of Charles University (2025)

*New project applications may be filed on a continuous basis as of 1 October 2024.

*The deadline for the filing of new project applications at the Research Support Office of the Rectorate (electronically en bloc for the faculty) is set as 12 November 2024.

*Applications to continue projects may be filed on a continuous basis as of 1 October 2024.

*The deadline for the filing of applications to continue projects at the Research Support Office of the Rectorate (electronically en bloc for the faculty) is set as 28 January 2025.

*Final reports of projects may be filed on a continuous basis as of 1 October 2024.

*The deadline for the filing of final reports at the Research Support Office of the Rectorate (electronically en bloc for the faculty) is set as 15 April 2025.

There are binding faculty deadlines for submitting applications to individual faculties, which are generally a number of days earlier than the deadlines for the rectorate (information about faculty deadlines is published by each faculty, as set by faculty deans).

The GA UK Competition

The GA UK is funded by particular university research resources. It differentiates between student research (grant) projects and student academic conferences. While in the SVV Competition, both of these project types are possible, GA UK ’s resources can only support research (grant) projects.

Details regarding the GA UK competition can be found in Principles of Activities of the Grant Agency of Charles University and Grant Rules of Charles University.

Basic Conditions of the Competition

We recommend familiarizing yourself with the rules (basic documentation, information on the website, including the FAQ) before submitting a project, and collaborating with your faculty’s science department – many faculties organize information sessions for their students before the start of the competition.

WHO CAN APPLY FOR A GRANT

The project proposal can be submitted by a Charles University student within the standard period of their master’s or doctoral studies (the project can also be completed after exceeding the standard study period). A student who has interrupted their studies cannot submit a proposal. Interrupted studies do not count towards the standard study period. Project proposals should only be submitted by students who do not plan to end their studies during the project’s implementation. The proposed project duration should align with the expected length of the student’s studies. If the applicant completes their studies during the selection process or before the results are announced, the project will be canceled.

A master’s student may begin a project and continue working on it as a doctoral student. However, during the period between the completion of the master’s studies and the beginning of doctoral studies, the student cannot engage in any project-related operations, such as financial activities. Once they become a full-fledged doctoral student at Charles University, they can continue working on the project to the fullest extent.

WHAT PROJECT PROPOSALS CAN BE SUBMITTED

Grant projects can last from one to three years.

Depending on the project field, proposals are submitted to one of the sections, which are further divided into groups. In the case of the BIO group, the applicant also selects a subgroup. It is possible to submit interdisciplinary projects (within the sections), but these projects are not given any special advantage over others – the proposal is submitted to the main section, but the project’s rapporteur selects one of the reviewers from a secondary section.

section structure (ENG)

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROJECT PROPOSAL

New project proposals are submitted exclusively through the GA UK application available at www.is.cuni.cz/webapps. The application opens for project proposal submissions around October. Specific deadlines for submitting proposals are set annually by the rector's directive (see Basic Documentation – Announcement). Faculty representatives submit the applications to the rectorate within the deadlines published in this directive. The applicant submits their proposal according to the deadlines set by their faculty, which are typically a few days earlier (the faculty will provide the necessary information).

An applicant may submit only one proposal as the principal investigator per submission deadline.

In total, a student can participate in a maximum of three projects simultaneously (i.e., one as a principal investigator and up to two as co-investigator, or up to three as co-investigator) and may be listed on no more than three project applications at the same time. If the student is already working on one project, they may be listed on up to two applications simultaneously; if they are working on two projects, they may be listed on one application, and if they are involved in three projects, they cannot be listed on any other application. If a student is completing a project, they can submit a new project proposal – the ongoing project is not counted.

Projects may be submitted either in Czech (or Slovak) or English (English is recommended, especially in sections B and C). Based on the chosen language, the applicant must use the corresponding version of the form (a project cannot be submitted in English using the Czech form, and vice versa; the project proposal text must not be in different languages). CVs in the English version must be entirely in English.

When submitting the project, the applicant will agree to the Honorary Declaration of the Grant Project Proposer:

"I hereby declare that I have processed this application separately and I don't have any knowledge that objectives of this project would be the same as some other project funded / applying for funding by GA UK or another grant agency. I acknowledge that if there is a thematic similarity or connection to an ongoing or proposed project, this fact should be stated and explained in the section "Other projects solved by supervisor and the proposer".I have acquainted all members of research team with content of proposed project and I am aware that without the permission of the project leader, text of the project may not be provided to a person outside the research team."

The supervisor also confirms in their version of the application that they agree with this honorary declaration.

The applicant must also agree to the terms, including the criteria for the final evaluation of the accepted project.

The project proposal in the application consists of two parts – the web form (I.) and the attachment section (II.).

I. The web form consists of the following sections:

1. Basic Information about the Project

2. Reviewers – Do not contact for reviewing the project

3. Reserch Team

4. Financial Requirements

5. Additional Information (Abstract, Project Objectives, Keywords, Other Projects Managed by the Leader and Proposer)

1. Basic Information about the Project:

The proposer fills in the project title, their name, contact email, study program in which the proposer is enrolled, the workplace where the proposer will carry out the project, and the corresponding Section of the subject council. The proposer indicates whether the project is interdisciplinary or not (interdisciplinarity concerns the sections – A/B/C; not different groups within a single section, e.g., A-PP/A-FGM). The proposer selects the project duration (one, two, or three years) and states whether Artificial Intelligence was used in project preparation. If a similar project was previously submitted but not funded by GA UK, the proposer provides the number of the previously rejected project(s).

2. Reviewers – Do not contact for reviewing the project:

In this section, the proposer can list reviewers who should not be contacted for reviewing their project. If resubmitting a previously rejected project, the proposer can write “Reviewer No. X.”

3. Research Team:

In this section, the proposer provides details about the project team, including the amount of remuneration (limits are specified below). A mandatory member of the proposed project team is always the applicant’s supervisor or, if the applicant is not enrolled in a doctoral program, another academic staff member. If the applicant has been assigned a thesis topic, this person is usually the thesis supervisor. The applicant’s supervisor does not necessarily have to be the project leader but must be a team member from the ranks of "non-students."

There is no maximum number of co-investigators. However, the number of doctoral or master’s students in the team must be at least equal to the number of non-student team members. If someone is not listed as part of the team, they cannot be paid from the grant for salaries/rewards/scholarships. According to Ministry of Education regulations, scholarships cannot be paid to bachelor’s students. If a bachelor’s student is part of the team, they are listed as "non-student" for wages or agreement purposes and are not counted as students but as other non-student team members.

The proposer enters all team members into the project application using the university staff number (for non-students) / university student number (for students). If the supervisor is external, the person number must be obtained from the HR department of the proposer’s faculty before submission.

The completed proposal must also be approved by the supervisor (approval is done electronically via the GA UK application. The request for approval is automatically sent to the supervisor once the proposer enters the leader’s email into the project. If the email is incorrect, the request will not be sent, and the proposal cannot be submitted!)

A CV of the principal investigator and the supervisor must be included with the application as mandatory attachments. The supervisor’s CV must include a list of up to ten of their most significant publications from the last five years. For medical and scientific disciplines, the project supervisor’s CV must also include the total number of citations and the h-index according to WoS. In the humanities and social sciences, citation counts from other databases, such as SCOPUS or ERIH, can be used. GR UK recommends also including an ORCID identifier (if available for the project proposer) and/or Researcher ID.

4. Financial Requirements:

The requested financial resources must be provided for the current year of the project. The maximum annual funding that can be allocated to a project is 300,000 CZK. If the project proposal receives funding, the funds are granted for one calendar year and cannot be carried over to subsequent years. Any unspent funds must be returned via the faculty to the GA UK.

The financial resources are categorized as follows:

a) Salaries, other personnel costs, and social and health insurance contributions

b) Scholarships

c) Travel expenses

There is no predefined limit on the amount of funding requested. Funds may only be allocated to student researchers and, in exceptional and well-justified cases, to supervisors. Eligible costs include travel and accommodation expenses. Funding cannot be requested for courses, training, or tuition fees. Conferences, summer and winter schools, and workshops can only be funded if there is active participation from the researcher. Students without a faculty contract cannot be reimbursed for meals or per diem expenses.

d) Other non-investment costs

These include material expenses, such as laboratory and office supplies, literature, small tangible assets, publication fees (including open-access charges), services, conference fees, and computing equipment (only in well-justified cases). Costs for participants/respondents in the form of services are allowed; however, respondents/subjects cannot be compensated via agreements (DPČ/DPP), as such individuals would, under Ministry of Education rules, need to be classified as members of the research team.

e) Overhead costs

According to Article 5, Section 2 of the GA UK guidelines, overhead costs are calculated at 15% of the direct project costs and are assigned to the faculty where the principal investigator is enrolled, or where the supervisor or academic staff member is based. The applicant does not need to input this amount, as the application calculates it automatically.

Important notice: If certain amounts cannot be entered in the "Financial Requirements" section, ensure that the project’s budget limits have not been exceeded. Also, verify the amounts entered, as the application may automatically reduce certain items.

The annual financial limits that can be allocated to a project are as follows:

a. Salaries and other personnel costs, including contributions for social and health insurance:

• A maximum of 40,000 CZK per project, with no more than 20,000 CZK allocated to the supervisor or academic staff member in accordance with Article 5, Section 3 of the guidelines.

b. Scholarships:

• A maximum of 160,000 CZK per project, with no more than 80,000 CZK allocated to the principal investigator.

The share of scholarship funds (b) in the total funds requested under categories (a) and (b) must be greater than 75%.

In a given calendar year, a single individual may receive:

a. A maximum of 40,000 CZK in salaries and other personnel costs,

b. A maximum of 100,000 CZK in scholarships,

c. A total of 100,000 CZK in either salaries and other personnel costs or scholarships.

The following expenses are not eligible:

• Costs unrelated to the project,

• Costs that exceed local market prices,

• Long-term intangible or tangible assets with a lifespan longer than one year and valued over 80,000 CZK (as per OR 41/2022),

• Unjustified computing equipment,

• Software that is available through the faculty,

• Compensation or gifts for respondents,

• Training, courses, or tuition fees,

• The organization of concerts, exhibitions, conferences, etc.,

• Travel and living costs for incoming individuals,

• Hospitality or representation expenses,

• Conferences, workshops, or summer/winter schools without active participation.

If the principal investigator is enrolled in a doctoral study program, the management of the allocated financial resources is regulated by a contract between the university and the principal investigator. The principal investigator is responsible for the proper use and efficient management of the allocated funds. If the principal investigator is not enrolled in a doctoral study program, a contract between the university and the academic staff member, in accordance with Article 7, Section 3 of the GA UK guidelines, governs the use of funds. This contract is also signed by the principal investigator. The contract stipulates the responsibilities of both the academic staff member and the principal investigator regarding the proper use and efficient management of the allocated resources.

5. Additional Information:

In this section, the applicant must fill in the Project Abstract, Objectives, Keywords, and the section "Other Projects by the Supervisor and the Applicant."

II. Attachment Section consists of five mandatory attachments:

1. Scientific Proposal (Project Proposal)

2. References

3. Principal Investigator's CV

4. Supervisor’s CV

5. Ethics Committee Statement

Some attachments have a specified maximum number of pages. If the number of pages is exceeded, the project application will be returned for editing. Therefore, do not exceed the maximum number of pages.

1. Scientific Proposal (Project Proposal):

The proposal must be submitted exclusively in PDF format, with a maximum length of 5 A4 pages and a file size limit of 5 MB, using standard fonts (size 11, line spacing 1).

It consists of eight mandatory parts:

1. Current State of Knowledge

   A summary of the current state of knowledge in the relevant scientific field. Provide an overview of the issue being addressed, both in the Czech Republic and internationally, supported by citations. It is advisable to explain the motivation for tackling the issue and whether it represents a novel, unresolved problem or if solutions in other locations are unknown.

2. Material Support for the Project

   Details regarding the readiness of the applicant and their institutions, as well as the equipment available at the institutions that will be used for the project.

3. Project Objectives

   A clear and realistic statement of the project’s goals, ensuring they are achievable within the project timeframe.

4. Methodology

   A description of the methods and conceptual approaches that will be used, including data collection and statistical analysis.

5. Timeline

   Provide a timeline for the project, including milestones for each year or phase of the project. A Gantt chart is recommended.

6. Risk Identification

   Outline potential risks to achieving the project’s results, including their intensity, probability, and mitigation strategies.

7. Research Team Composition

   Justify the participation of each team member, specify their roles, and detail the extent of involvement by the principal investigator and co-investigators.

8. Expected Results and Dissemination

   Outline the expected publication results and how the findings will be communicated to potential users and the public.

2. References

3. - 4. CVs for the Principal Investigator and Supervisor:

The supervisor's CV must include a list of no more than ten of their most significant publications from the last five years. For medical and natural sciences fields, the supervisor’s CV must also include the total number of citations and the h-index according to WoS. In humanities and social sciences, citation counts from other databases, such as SCOPUS or ERIH, may be included. It is recommended to include the ORCID identifier and/or Researcher ID for both the supervisor and the applicant.

5. Ethics Committee Statement or Experimental Project Form:

Mandatory if the project involves clinical trials. For multiple projects submitted by one institution, a single Ethics Committee approval is acceptable, but a copy of this approval must be included in each grant application. The Ethics Committee statement must be current (e.g., statements from rejected proposals from previous years cannot be used for new submissions). If in doubt about the necessity of providing an Ethics Committee statement, please contact the faculty, not GA UK.

Note: If animal work is planned, the experimental project form replaces the Ethics Committee statement.The form is attached in paper form to the accepted project, to the faculty. The faculty will let you know if it is needed.

Submission of Proposal and Competitive Procedure

The applicant must submit the proposal to the faculty's Department of Science within the deadline specified by the faculty. The Dean of the faculty will review the submitted proposal to determine whether:

a. the proposal for a new project aligns with the strategic objectives of the faculty and the university;

b. the necessary operational support for the project can be provided from the faculty's resources;

c. the composition of the project team is appropriate for achieving the specified objectives.

If the Dean of the respective faculty disagrees with the submission of the proposal, the Dean must provide a rationale for their decision. In such cases, the proposal will be recorded in the system but will not be further reviewed or evaluated.

The project proposal is assigned to a designated rapporteur, who is not from the same department as the applicant. The rapporteur sends the proposal to be reviewed by at least two external reviewers, who are experts in the relevant field and must not have any conflict of interest. For interdisciplinary projects, the rapporteur ensures that reviewers are selected from both the primary and secondary sections. The reviewers evaluate the project primarily based on the following criteria:

a. the scientific significance and relevance of the project;

b. the quality of the project proposal and the feasibility of the project goals;

c. the design and methodology of the project;

d. the appropriateness of the budget.

Once a sufficient number of reviews have been obtained, the rapporteur evaluates the project and the reviews. The proposal is then assessed by the relevant section committee, followed by the disciplinary board, and finally by the university's Grant Council. The results of the Grant Council are confirmed by the Rector's Collegium.

Since both reviewers and rapporteurs rely exclusively on the information provided in the project proposal, it is crucial that all sections of the application be prepared with this in mind.

Applicants will be informed of the grant's approval or rejection via email. The agreement on the terms of the use of financial resources allocated from the Charles University budget for the project is signed by the principal investigator at the faculty. After signing, the applicant can begin utilizing the allocated funds. For details on starting the fund utilization, please consult your faculty's website or contact the faculty’s finance department. The expected timeline for announcing the results of the GA UK grant competition is March to April of the respective academic year.

A request for reconsideration of the decision to not recommend a project for funding can be submitted within 15 days of the announcement of the results. Requests should be sent to the university's Grant Council at gauk@ruk.cuni.cz. A decision on the request will be provided within 30 days.

My Project / Continuation Request has been funded. What’s next?

After the competition results are announced, all applicants/principal investigators of continuing projects are notified via an automated email from the application system regarding the funding or non-funding of their project/continuation request. The email is sent to the address provided in the project application.

Following this, we will begin preparing the contract in collaboration with Charles University's IT Department. Once the contracts are ready for signature, the faculty will inform the principal investigators to come to the faculty to sign the contracts and receive them.

The transfer of funds from the Rectorate of Charles University (RUK) to the faculties will then commence.

Contacts for Faculty Coordinators

Submitting annual/closing reports

Researchers must submit an annual report (application for continuation) or closing report via the GA UK app within the term set by the rector. Faculty deadlines are again binding for the researchers and are usually earlier than those set by the rector. Just like the project proposals, applications for continuation/closing reports must be submitted to the rectorate collectively on behalf of the faculty by the deadline set by the rector. The annual/closing report must contain the results of the project and a detailed commentary of the project’s budget. If certain financial resources were not used, they must be returned to the GA UK and this must be noted in the annual/closing report. Publications resulting from the GA UK project must be listed as affiliated with the university and the faculty and must be dedicated to the GA UK. Annual and closing reports are evaluated by the project reporter, the Department Board, and the Grant Board.

Affiliation, dedication

Affiliation

The agreement on the allocation of funds contains the obligation of the principal investigator and the faculty to always explicitly state in all project outputs, including publications, that they have been made possible with the full or partial financial support of the Grant Agency of Charles University and to state the affiliation to the university and the relevant faculty in the authors’ addresses.

Dedication

It is possible in the result to thank several Grant Agency projects or to thank the Grant Agency + another provider, but it is not possible for an identical output to be reported as a single publication for two or more Grant Agency projects. The publication must relate to the topic of the project. In order for a grant project to be considered fulfilled, there must be at least one publication based on the results of the project. The project number must be mentioned in the dedication, not the faculty number or the billing number. The project number means the number listed for the project in the Grant Agency application.

The official affiliation of Charles University is provided in Appendix 1 to Rector’s Directive no. 40/2021 .

Evaluation criteria for ending projects

a) Authorship

The author/co-author of the output must be a student from the team. If the author is the project leader, without a student researcher/co-researcher – such output cannot be considered the project result – thus, do not include it in the annual report;

b) Types of outputs with which an ending project can be evaluated as “completed”

Only the original text accepted for publication, possibly a patent. In the case of section C, this is a publication in an impact journal;

c) Evaluation

“Extraordinarily good” (EG) – In section A, a book publication at a major publishing house or articles in peer-reviewed journals; in the case of sections B and C, several significant publications or an excellent first-author work of the principal investigator published in a periodical with a high IF (Q1 according to the WOS).

“Fulfilled” (F) – In sections A and B, the original text accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed periodical; in section C, the original publication with an IF according to the WOS.

“Fulfilled with a reservation” (FR) – Starting from the 17th round (2020). The goals were only partially met; the assignment was not fully achieved.

“Deferred evaluation” (DE) – The final report contains justification for delaying the preparation of outputs, an overview of the main publishable results, and the manuscript of the upcoming publication. The investigator submits a Supplemented Final Report after a year. This evaluation is proposed by the reviewer based on the information provided in the final report and is decided by the Department Board and the Grant Board.

In exceptional cases, the project may also be granted a second Deferred Evaluation. Please note that this is only possible in the event of maternity and parental leave or long-term and ongoing illnesses (must be documented). In order to grant a second deferred evaluation, a request must be sent to the office of Grant Agency of Charles University. From 1 January 2023, covid-19 impact on the project resolution is not accepted as a reason for deferment.

“Not fulfilled” (NF) – No output; no hope of a timely publication and/or incorrect drawdown.

If a project received an evaluation “not fulfilled” or “fulfilled with a reservation”, it is possible up to the end of the following year in which the final report was evaluated to document the relevant publication outputs and to request that the Grant Board modify the evaluation (this applies to projects from the projects evaluated in 2022; this does not apply to previously evaluated projects – the original deadline applies to them). In other words, for projects evaluated in 2022, the deadline is the end of 2023; for projects evaluated earlier, the deadline is until the end of the calendar year in which they were evaluated – the new rule cannot be applied.

These criteria are a necessary condition for granting the above-described evaluations. The evaluation of projects is assessed individually. When evaluating a project, the reviewer takes into account the planned outputs in the project proposal as well as the progress made on the resolution specified in the annual reports. We recommend realistically planning the project outputs presented in the project proposal.

Potential proposals for changes in the research project

Requests for Changes

Requests for changes should be sent to the Chair of the University Grant Council at the email address gauk@ruk.cuni.cz or by postal mail to the address GA UK, Ovocný trh 560/5, 116 36 Prague 1. The applicant must always provide a contact email or postal address to which a written response should be sent. The request must include the reason for the change (why the change is necessary) and the purpose of the change. Always specify in detail how and why the funds will be used for the new item and why they will not be utilized according to the original plan. For financial change requests, you may use this sample form (optional): request form in Czech / request form in English. For other types of requests, this form may be modified accordingly.

All types of requests require the signatures of the principal investigator and the project leader.

For requests concerning a change of project leader or principal investigator, it is also necessary to attach the CV of the proposed new leader/principal investigator, along with the signatures of both the original and proposed new leader/principal investigator. Additionally, provide the email address of the proposed leader/principal investigator for the purpose of receiving our response to the request. The request must be submitted in one copy, including all required signatures.

For more information on the different types of changes, please refer to the FAQ section.

No request is required for a change in co-investigator. The principal investigator should report such changes in the project continuation request or in the final project report. The principal investigator can add the new co-investigator to the team by entering their personal identification number. If funds are to be transferred to the new co-investigator, the amount must first be deducted from the current co-investigator's allocation; otherwise, funds cannot be transferred to the new co-investigator. The existing co-investigator must then be removed (terminated) and the new one added. It is essential to follow this procedure.

Students of the 1st Faculty of Medicine, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, 3rd Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, and Faculty of Science should not send requests directly to GA UK, but rather through their respective faculty’s scientific offices. If students from these faculties send a request directly, GA UK will notify the faculty and the request may be returned. For all other faculties, it is advisable to contact the relevant grant/scientific department coordinator at the faculty. If the change is approved, the principal investigator should report the change in the project continuation request or in the final project report.

A decision on the request will be provided within 30 days.

Changes in individual budget items of allocated financial resources may be made without submitting a request, according to Article 1, Section 6 of the contract, provided that the change in the given category does not exceed 20,000 CZK (this does not apply to transfers into personnel costs, where the limit is 10,000 CZK). Note that the amounts of individual changes are cumulative (it is not possible to make several changes of up to 20,000 CZK if their total exceeds 20,000 CZK without submitting a request). Any changes in expenditures must also comply with the rules and limits.

GA UK Project Suspension:

A GA UK project may be suspended for the following reasons: maternity and parental leave, or long-term health reasons. It is possible to request a suspension of the project for a minimum of six months. In the case of a two-year suspension, a new request must be submitted after one year. Requests for project suspension should be addressed to the Chair of the University Grant Council through the GA UK Office (see above).

Information for researchers

We managed to obtain the opinion of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports that time of project suspension will not count in total project time (this is a maximum of 3 years).

The GAUK project can be suspended for the following reasons: maternity and

parental leave; long-term health reasons; concurrence with the START project

(applies only to already running GAUK projects). Request to UK Grant Council for

suspension of the project is possible only for the whole calendar year, if suspension is needed for two years, it is necessary to send the application again after first year.

Please address requests for suspension of the project to the Chairman of Grant Council

of the University Professor Vladimír Komárek through the office of GAUK.

Information for researchers with regard to the crisis situation (COVID-19):

1/ Using finances from item "Travel costs"

At its meeting on 16 April 2020, the University Grant Council decided that it is possible to transfer funds from the “Travel costs” item to any other item for 17th round (year 2020), even in full and without additional request. The condition is that the changes are effective, economical, efficient and related to the crisis situation (COVID-19). The change must be recorded and commented in the annual report and the condition should be compliant according to all GAUK rules and limits. If the above conditions of change cannot be ensured, the funds can be returned to GAUK.

Note: According to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the funds are intended for a calendar year and they cannot be transferred to the next year.

In the annual reports, must be recorded, how the situation about COVID-19 affected the solution of the project.

Also applies to the 19th round (2021)

As of 1/1/2023, the possibility to transfer travel costs in any amount without request due to COVID-19 has been cancelled!

(the University Grand Council 30. 9. 2022)