CELSA Research Fund aims to strenghten scientific cooperation between members. It serves to exchange knowledge such as: science evaluation, knowledge and technology transfer, quality assessment, and more.
The fund, established in 2016, finances joint research projects between at least two partners, including KU Leuven, with a budget of up to €130,000 for two years. Each additional partner increases the budget by EUR 30 000. The distribution of funding is up to the project partnerships. The collaboration between the partners must lead to the submission of a joint collaborative project in Horizon Europe or a similar European programme.
Internal instructions - we ask all interested parties to send complete project proposals and the faculty form to the email If you will be finalizing the project at that time, please send at least the budget and draft project, complete the project proposal after its submission to the rector's selection process.
There is currently open call with deadline 12th December 2024.
More information to be found here.
Any researcher from CU with at least 0.5 FTE at CU is eligible.
All costs, except for catering and investments, are eligible.
Submission of interim/final reports
If the report is in order, no further documentation needs to be supplied. Reports must be delivered within one year of the end of the project.
INTERIM/FINAL REPORT (CZ version)
INTERIM/FINAL REPORT (EN verison)
Time schedule for the 2025 call for proposals
Publication call: July 2024
Deadline for submission: December 12th, 2024
Evaluation of project proposals: December 2024 – May 2025
Announcement of the results: July 2025
Start of the projects: October 1st, 2025
The project proposal has to contain the following parts:
Cover page (max. 1p): title, name, affiliation, and e-mail address of the researchers involved, an indication of who will be the leading scientist of the project (coordinator, either from KU Leuven or a partner university), a non-confidential and public-friendly abstract or summary (max. 2000 characters), and up to 5 key words. Please use this template.
Attachment 1: the project description (max. 4p excl. references): problem statement & objectives, envisaged progress beyond the state of the art, methodology, anticipated results, managerial aspects and timing.
Attachment 2: Resources (max. 1p): clear indication of the budget applied for at each side (KU Leuven side and partner university side) and the proposed use of the project budget to acquire new resources, linked to the methodology. Please add a description of the available resources (incl. infrastructure and equipment).
Attachment 3: Added value of the collaboration (max. 1p): description of the consortium of researchers focusing on the added value of the collaboration to the envisaged research activities.
Attachment 4: Potential towards a future EU funding application (max. 1p): description of the potential towards a future joint application as well as the linkages to a call for proposals of a European research funding program, specifying the future call (e.g. Marie S. Curie network, Horizon Europe focus area or draft call topic, ERA-Net call, cPPP call, …); description of the relevance of the collaboration for that call, program, or European research & innovation policy or focus area (this may include aspects of innovation and potential future impact of the research or collaboration, if relevant in the future European call); proposed timelines and planning towards the future European application (including perhaps specifying types of additional partners outside CELSA required for the collaborative projects); identification of possible third parties and societal and/or industrial stakeholders or possible partners in future EU applications
Attachment 5: CV of all applicants (PI and co-PI’s of the CELSA application, not the postdoctoral or doctoral researchers) (max. 1p per participating researcher): short description of the expertise, 5 most important publications relevant to the proposal, indication of previous (most important) European or international collaborations.
