Grants to Increase Research Capacities in Kosovo

Deadline: 27-May-22

The European Commission (EC) is pleased to announce a funding call for the Increase Research Capacities in Kosovo to strengthen research and innovation capacity in support of the socio-economic development in Kosovo.

This project will contribute to the upgrading of research capacity in Kosovo by:

• achieving a higher degree ofinternationalisation of research; and
• supporting the development of research-based learning and teaching, including transversal and entrepreneurship training at all levels.

Thus, this project will support the research universities and public research institutes of Kosovo in order to strengthen the links between Academia and the private sector. By developing their partnerships with European research institutes in the framework of applied and policy-relevant research, the concept of an "entrepreneurial University" in Kosovo will be considerably strengthened. 

Objectives

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are: 

• To increase the quantity and quality of research performed bypublic Universities (with a special focus on the leading University in Kosovo, the University of Pristina) and public Research Institutes in Kosovo in the priority fields of environment, energy and natural resources; agricultural production and food safety; health and medical research and social science research, all integrating gender analysis.
• To consolidate and increase the collaboration between networks of Kosovo and European research institutions and  researchers in  priority research fields, to promote best practice exchange and to increase the involvement and support from researchers from the diaspora communities of Kosovo.
• To promote the collaboration between researchers from Kosovo with researchers from the EU both within same and across different disciplines.To strengthen the interaction between research and research users/ stakeholders, including diverse women and men in the public administrations, economic actors and, in selected cases, civil society organizations.

Priorities

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

• Environment, Energy and Natural Resources. Kosovo faces several environmental problems because ofits dependency on coal for energy, of intensive mining, of the increase of car ownership, and of weaknesses in effective transport and urban planning.
• Agricultural Production and Food Safety. Agriculture as an economic sector has great potential in Kosovo, but it needs to develop in a sustainable manner.
• Medical Research and Public Health. The Kosovo health care system is affected by structural deficiencies and a lack of supplies and human resources.
• Social Sciences. Social science research in Kosovo is severely hindered by the lack of reliable official statistical data on economic and social developments and the lack of capacity of social scientists in respect of effective data gathering and use of data in analytical work, inclusive of gender analysis and gender-disaggregated data.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR1,000,000.00 (one million). The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.

Size of grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: EUR 950,000.00
• maximum amount: EUR 1,000,000.00

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s)
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person and
    • be non-profit-making public entity and
    • be a research institution (including universities involved in research) established in a Member State of the European Union or in Kosovo  
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary and
    • Lead applicant must have experience (at least a total of 10 internationally reviewed publications over the last five years) within each priority area.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself, with the exception of the criterion related to experience.
  • Co-applicants must sign the mandate form.
• Affiliated entities
  • The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).
  • Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
    • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
    • This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
      • Control, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
        • Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
          • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
          • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant(parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
          • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
      • Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association,) as the proposed affiliated entities.

For more information, visit EuropeAid and download the guidelines.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/33JTvfO