Summaries (annotations) in Czech and English expressing the essence of the proposed project and the expected concrete results; the abstract in both Czech and English must not exceed 2000 characters including spaces, and is intended for publication.

In the "Keywords" and "Keywords in English" section, use the "Enter" key or the "+" button to confirm (you must enter at least three keywords in Czech and three in English).

Proposers are requested not to insert "non-standard" characters (e.g. Greek, Russian alphabet, mathematical symbols, etc.) in the abstract, project title, keywords, project objectives, etc. Other database systems will be working with these entities, and when such characters are inserted, their proper functioning cannot be guaranteed.

The birth certificate number must be provided by everyone in the role of co/proposer of the project recommended for funding, i.e. the co/principal investigator. The birth certificate number (or nationality – if you have not been assigned a birth number, the birth number will then include the date of birth in the format year, month, day, in the case of women the month +50 – foreign national) is required for investigator/co-investigator roles due to the transmission of data to the Central Project Register (IS VaVaI link here https://www.isvavai.cz/). In the ISVP, you can enter your birth certificate number or nationality in the section "Personal settings" -> "Contact details".

No. Under Subprogrammes 1 and 3, only a private researcher who holds a Ph.D., equivalent or a higher recognized degree (CSc., DrSc., Dr., DSc., etc.) at the time of submission of the project proposal to the call for proposals can be a proposer.

Under Sub-programme 2, only a private researcher who, in the year of submission of the project proposal to the call for proposals, is no more than 8 years after the award of the academic degree of Ph.D. or its equivalent, or has obtained it no later than the date of conclusion of the contract/issuance of the project decision, may be a proposer.

These conditions will continue to apply even if support is awarded, throughout the duration of the project and any changes.

The application contains a control formula as per tender documentation and the overriding legal provisions with the preset limits listed in Section 2.3 (7) Table 1. Each participant enters the correct "Organisation Type" (the "Participant" role, which manages the "Participant Detail") and further determines the aid intensity by choosing the correct preferences on the "Cost Summary" tab in the "Participant's declaration of facts affecting the maximum aid intensity" section. They shall provide information on the publication of the results and information on any cooperation according to the list offered and in accordance with the rules set out in the tender documentation. This will show the pre-set % ceiling for the amount of support from the provider in the "Maximum Aid Intensity" column. The share of the project can then be determined by the amount of funds provided from other sources and their allocation to each type of research. (Basic, Industrial and Experimental Development – for this calculation, it is possible to adjust the funds only for Industrial and Experimental Research; the funds for Basic Research are automatically calculated by the system in the value of funds from other sources.)

All costs are to be filled in including the co-financing indicated (i.e. from other public and non-public sources).

In the section "Project financing (in thousands of CZK)", in the line "Eligible costs from all sources of financing", add up the funds you have indicated, in the lines "Support from other public sources (domestic and foreign)" and "Support from non-public sources (own funds, private subsidies)", indicate the amount that amounts to co-financing (this will calculate the earmarked support in the line "Total donation from the provider for the project".

In case of co-financing of the project, it is always necessary to attach a PDF of the affidavit, i.e. "proof of co-financing from other sources by affidavit of the applicant or confirmation of the intended sponsor".

The co/proposer shall provide information on all ongoing and thematically close projects completed and proposed, addressed under Act No 130/2002 Coll. with dedicated support from all providers, including the MoH ČR, in the solution of which the proposer or co-proposers are involved or have been involved in the past three years at the time of submission of the project proposal and in what role (investigator, co-investigator, expert collaborator). Similar information is also provided on applications for targeted support submitted by the proposer or co-proposers and in what role (proposer, co-proposer, expert collaborator).

The amount of support used by the proposer's (or co-proposer's) department for the part of the project for which the proposer's (or co-proposer's) department is responsible shall be indicated in accordance with the ToR. The 'Applicant/Grant Recipient' field should be filled in with the actual applicant or grant recipient, i.e. it does not have to be the same as the institution for which the co-proposer is currently submitting the project. In the field 'Grant from your institution (CZK thousand)', enter the part of the funds intended for the institution where you participated in the project.

Mandatory and optional annexes are to be attached to the project proposal in PDF format only. The names of the attachment files must not contain diacritics or unauthorised characters (e.g. \ / : * ? " ). Attachments are only uploaded to the application. Only the project proposal created by the application, without attachments, is delivered via the data mailbox.

The annex "Project Description" - justification of the project proposal - is limited in the Tender documentation to a maximum of 10 A4 pages using standard font size 11 point and line spacing 1. The maximum size of the annex is 3 MB.

Annex "CV of the proposer and co-proposers" - is limited in the Tender documentation to a maximum of two A4 pages using standard font (or a maximum of two additional pages per co-proposer). Other team members may be included in the CV, but the length must always be limited to two pages per proposer and, where appropriate, two additional pages per co-proposer. The maximum attachment size is 1 MB.

The personal expenses shall be completed separately for the tenderer and for each co-tenderer.

For proposers or co-proposers, professional collaborators (including students who act as professional collaborators), the name, date of birth, job title, work capacity (registration time) and amount requested.

For technical, support and administrative staff (TPAP, including students in this position), the job description, the total work capacity (headcount) planned for the year and the total amount requested. Where appropriate, these persons may be listed by name, but must always be identified by a flag indicating that they are TPAP.

In the case of other personal costs (agreements), the name and surname, date of birth, number of hours, amount requested and job description if they are professional collaborators. For other technical, auxiliary and administrative staff, the job description, number of hours and total amount requested (including an indication that they are TPAPs).

If the project proposal plans funds for students (full-time or agreement), the funds marked as such can always be used only for students or a change can be requested from the VES 2021 competition onwards. Students are to be mentioned with the appropriate designation and, unless they are taken as technical, support or administrative staff, must be mentioned by name including date of birth.

No, the same individual can only act as proposer and co-proposer for one project proposal and one project proposal respectively in this call for proposals (the call for proposals covers both sub-programmes).

1. Example: I submit a project under Sub-programme 1 as proposer and Sub-programme 2 as co-proposer,
2. Example: I submit two projects in Subprogramme 1 in the first project as proposer and in the second project as co-proposer, etc.

The role of a team member or other project participant is not limited by the number of projects.

For the co/proposer (co-investigator/co-director), the minimum time commitment of 0.2 must be respected; for all persons, the total time commitment must not exceed 1.00 or the maximum amount of the extraordinary remuneration of CZK 100,000. 100 CZK/year for all projects. For the projects under consideration (VES 2016 - VES 2020), the time of an expert collaborator was also limited to a minimum of 0.1.

When publishing the project results, it is recommended to carefully consider the choice of the professional journal and not to publish in dubious journals that show features of poor publishing practice, do not respect publication standards and ethics (e.g. high number of self-citations, poor quality or fictitious peer review, fictitious names of editorial board members, fictitious quality indicators, etc.), for more information see for example https://openscience.cuni.cz/OSCI-37.html.

It is not possible to submit proposals for projects that consist in clinical evaluation of medicines according to the provisions of Act No. 378/2007 Coll., on Medicinal Products and on the amendment of some related acts, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the Medicinal Products Act), or clinical testing of medical devices according to Act No. 268/2014 Coll., on Medical Devices and on the amendment of Act No. 375/2022 Coll, on Medical Devices and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the Medical Devices Act), which are not registered or which would require a change of registration, including a change procedure (i.e. change of the drug substance, form of administration, strength, package size, use of an approved medical device other than as declared by the manufacturer, etc.), except for clinical evaluation conducted by non-commercial sponsors. The clinical evaluation sponsor must be the applicant/co-applicant. The health service provider does not have to be the sponsor of the clinical evaluation however it must always be the bidder/co-bidder (or future beneficiary/co-beneficiary).

In the case of so-called other clinical trials according to Article 82 of the REGULATION (EU) 2017/745 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on medical devices, only the notification of the intention to conduct a clinical trial to the SÚKL in accordance with Article 22(3) of Act 375/2022 Coll. is sufficient, in this case in the "mandatory annex" insert the affidavit of the proposer that the clinical trial will be notified (free form in PDF).

The final version of the project is the project proposal generated by the application(https://ereg.ksrzis.cz/) as a PDF file without attachments (e.g. it is not a "test print" or a scan of the proposal). The final version of the proposal in PDF format can only be created if all mandatory fields are filled in and all mandatory attachments are included. Only the complete project proposal can be submitted in the framework of the call for proposals and it will not be modified in any way once generated (e.g. do not use the "Save as..." function for renaming).

Changing the project proposal and subsequently not finalising it or sending it through ISDS is a reason for its exclusion from the tender.

The Provider considers as a project proposal only such a proposal that is created by the application and sent via a data message with the title (subject) "AZV - NW2X-0X-00XXX" or "AZV - NW2XJ-0X-00XXX" to the data box of the Agency for Medical Research of the Czech Republic with the identifier "f7eike4".

The Provider explicitly points out that for the reasons of using the application, project proposals must be sent to the data box of the Agency for Health Research of the Czech Republic. Project proposals sent to the data box of the provider, i.e. the Ministry of Health, will not be accepted for the competition. An electronic seal (signature) will be created for the project proposal once it is finalised, so that it cannot be modified in any way. Any project proposal with an altered signature will be excluded from the call for proposals.

Only those attachments that are specified in the tender documentation and required for the project will be attached to the project proposal in the application. Attachments must be uploaded to the application in PDF format. Only the project proposal generated by the application, without attachments, shall be delivered by data mail as a PDF file containing the project proposal generated by the application. The message size limit is 10 MB.

After sending the final PDF of the project proposal by data message, it is possible to verify whether the sent PDF has been paired with the project proposal in ISVP. This information can be found in the project detail tab labeled "Detail" in the bottom section called "Project Version ", where the column "Accepted by ISDS" must read "OK". The "OK" must be for the version of the proposal that you downloaded using "Download PDF" and is on the first line. If the proposal has been modified and saved you must resubmit the current PDF. If "With error" appears in the column, the data message has not been paired with ISVP (there has been a document violation), so you must generate the PDF and resend it via data message; if "No" appears in the column, the data message has not yet been sent or AZV has not yet picked up the data message and forwarded it to ISVP.

Project proposals can only be submitted individually.

The result must be dedicated only to the given project and not to any other project supported by the Ministry of Health – AZV ČR, where dedication means dedication in the publication output itself and also in the Register of Information on results of the VaVal Information System.

E.g. only one MoH (AZV) project is mentioned in the dedication, as well as other providers, including institutional support or foreign sources – "Supported by the programme project of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic with reg. no. NW24-0x-00xxx, by the grant GA CR reg. no. ....... and institutional support of the MoH CR....", i.e. it is an exclusive dedication (exclusive dedication is not the mention of two or more MoH (AZV) projects, e.g. "Recommended format for the text of the dedication of MoH projects: in CZ "Supported by the programme project of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, grant nr. NW24-xx-00xxx.", in AJ "Supported by Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, grant nr. NW24-xx-00xxx."

Unspent funds from a given calendar year, if not transferred to the dedicated fund ("FÚUP") by eligible entities, may be used by the beneficiary or other participant in subsequent years of the project in accordance with the approved project proposal, i.e. for the same purpose for which they were approved by the provider (NÚUP). The same rules apply for the use of unspent funds as set out in Tender Documentation (for transfer between items above the limit of 100 000 CZK per year/project, approval of the change must be requested).

If the beneficiary (and the next participant) is not interested in using the unspent funds in the following years of the project, they will inform the provider and return the unspent funds to the state budget according to the provider's instruction, namely:

* a beneficiary which is an organizational unit of the state or a territorial self-government unit, returns the unused dedicated support to the receiving account of its founder;

* other beneficiaries shall return the unspent funds to the foreign funds account of the Ministry of Health at 6015-2528-001/0710.

Yes, in the event of changes in generally binding legal regulations concerning personnel costs in the project (e.g. changes in salary tariffs, changes in the mandatory allocation to the FKSP, etc.) and their impact on economic indicators, it is possible to make transfers between individual items (from other operating costs to personnel costs) even above the limit of CZK 100 thousand. They do not require an amendment to the contract or a new decision on the change in the budget structure, but only in the year in which the legislation was changed (the change can also be announced in the future). However, it is necessary to contact the AZV ČR Office (via the official channel, preferably ISDS) with specific requests, as the project needs to be modified for the next report (partial or final), and the beneficiary must describe and justify these changes.

No, unspent dedicated support from the investment costs cannot be transferred to another item, i.e. operating or personnel costs (as it has been approved for the use of a specific investment). The amount can be used in subsequent years of the solution for the same purpose (under investment costs).

Active participation in conferences is defined as a presentation in the form of a lecture or poster with an abstract in a professional journal or proceedings, where the author is named and the topic must be related to the project and the presenter must be part of the research team, as named (these appendices are then attached to the partial or final report).

The beneficiary can request a postponement of the submission of the final report by completing the final report form part of the ZO, the postponement is usually possible for a maximum of 2 months (specified in the given guidelines for completing the final report), due to the following external and internal evaluation. The final report form will be attached to the project in the ISVP application (in the "Other attachments" section) and sent simultaneously to the data box of the AZV ČR (f7eike4), however, this final report is not finalized in the ISVP (a test printout of the final report is not sent by data message together with the final report form).

According to the Government Regulation No. 397/2009 Coll., on the information system for research, experimental development and innovation, the period required for documenting the results of the project is set to 6 months from the date of completion of the project. Within this period, it is possible, for example, to add results to a completed project that have not been applied until the proper completion of the project (or submission of the final report). However, the deadline for submission of all results within 6 months from the end of the project, i.e. from 31.12. or 30.6., is also valid for projects with a postponement of the submission of the final report. Results can be delivered by data message or by email to info@azvcr.cz  (scan of the result, confirmation of printing including information about the result, i.e. title, authors, IF, description, etc.) or physically by mail/personally.

Please indicate the number of hours of work as recorded (not as calculated).

Czech Health Research Council.

Yes. The amendment to Act No. 218/2000 on Budget Rules makes it obligatory for all institutions listed in Section 3(h)(10-14) of this Act to establish an account with the ČNB. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of budgetary discipline.

For individuals and private universities that are direct beneficiaries of state subsidies, the law does not regulate the flow of funds and the method of payment remains unchanged (they can receive funds on an account held with any commercial bank).

Funds for co-beneficiaries transferred to a non-treasury account may already be held outside the ČNB accounts (they may also be held at the ČNB). This procedure applies to the institutions referred to in Article 3(h)(10) to (14) of Act No 218 on the Financial Regulation.

You can contact CZECRIN with any questions https://czecrin.cz/ (CZECRIN Access Manager: MUDr. Jana Unar Vinklerová, Ph.D.; ), with which AZV ČR , with the consent of the provider, has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (https://www.azvcr.cz/azv-cr-a-czecrin-uzavrely-memorandum-o-spolupraci/).

Furthermore, on the website of the State Institute for Drug Control https://www.sukl.cz/ (e.g. clinical evaluation of drugs https://www.sukl.cz/leciva/obecne-informace-2, clinical trials https://www.niszp.cz/index.php/cs/kontakt) or http://www.olecich.cz/, here you can find the Information sheets of SÚKL (e.g. on clinical evaluation of drugs) http://www.olecich.cz/uploads/infoLISTY/03550_14946_SUKL_Infolisty_2015_01_01.pdf, http://www.olecich.cz/uploads/infoLISTY/03550_15123_SUKL_Infolisty_2015_02_01.pdf.

Please use the link to access the application: http://eregpublic.ksrzis.cz/ http://eregpublic.ksrzis.cz/. If you have activated your account, you have both the username and password you created when you activated it. If you are not yet registered in the ISVP, your activation period has expired (activation link from the email received ), or you have another problem with activation or login, please contact the technical support of the system provided by the ÚZIS ČR: ; +420 222 269 999.

The recommended browser for correct display of ISVP forms is Microsoft Edge updated to Chromium, Google Chrome from version 69 and Mozilla Firefox from version 62.0.3 and 60.2.2 ESR (these are general requirements of the JTP environment).

For a new password, use the "Personal Password/PIN Renewal" function at login or contact the technical support of the system at ČR: ; +420 222 269 999, where they will help you with password recovery.

By holding down the "CTRL" key and scrolling with the mouse wheel, you can scale the screen display smaller or larger. So please scale down your screen view.

Once the form is completely filled out, we recommend using the "Check" button, if no errors are found (validation check), press the "Finalize and Submit" button.

For the project proposal, after pressing the "Finalize and Submit" button, the "Download PDF" button will appear in the "Project Version" section to generate a PDF file.

For a partial or final report, after pressing the "Finalize and submit" button, return to the "Detail" of the project, where in the "Partial / Final Reports" section, the "Download PDF" button will appear next to the report for that year to generate a PDF file.

PDF file (no need to rename, in case of renaming use "explorer" and "Rename" function, e.g. Do not use the "Save as..."), whether project proposal or partial/final report, shall be sent unchanged individually in a data message with the title (subject) "AZV - NW2X-0X-00XXX" or "AZV - NW2XJ-0X-00XXX" for the project proposal, for the partial report under the title "AZV - DZ project registration number" and for the final report "AZV - ZZ project registration number" to the data box of the Agency for Health Research of the Czech Republic with the identifier "f7eike4".

The correct delivery of the document can be checked in the ISVP in the column "Received by ISDS", where it must be marked "OK".

In the ISVP, titles can be changed in the contact data (icon "Nast./Settings", tab "Contact data / Contacts"). In other cases, please contact the technical support of the system, which is provided by the ÚZIS ČR: ; +420 222 269 999.

Yes, you need to fill in your institution's registered office and bank account in the ISVP. The registered office is a compulsory data when submitting the project proposal, the bank account can be entered only when the institution is financed, without filling in these data it will not be possible to generate contracts and disburse the special-purpose funds.

The seat and bank account can only be entered by an authorised person with the role "Applicant" under the "Personal settings" icon by selecting the "Entity detail" icon. Please enter the "Domestic Bank Connection" under the "Bank Connection" tab by filling in the "Account Number" and "Bank Code" and then save everything by clicking on the "Save" button. To fill in the organisation's registered office, please refer to the "Organisation address" tab. For more information, please refer to the manual "Filling in the address of the organisation" (in the "Documents" under the red "i" icon in the ISVP).

There is no limit to the number, subject to the rule that the co-proposer must be an entity different from the proposer (in the case of a legal entity with a different registration number).

The tenderer in this call for tenders is an organisational unit of the State or an organisational unit of a Ministry engaged in research and development, and a legal entity or natural person applying for aid. The form of the organisation is not restricted in this case. The tenderer must prove its eligibility in accordance with the procedure described in the Tender dossier before the end of the competition period. However, most of these institutions are not considered as research organisations (see the list of research organisations of the Ministry of Education and Science here (https://www.msmt.cz/vyzkum-a-vyvoj-2/vyzkumne-organizace) and are therefore obliged to insert additional sources of funding, see 2.3.

According to the provisions of Section 18(11) of Act No 130/2002 Coll., "A legal entity with its registered office in a Member State of the European Union or in another State forming the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation or a citizen of such a State or a long-term resident in the Czech Republic or a national of another State, if he/she has been granted a residence permit in the Czech Republic for the purpose of scientific research, may participate in a public tender in research, development and innovation if they fulfil the eligibility conditions under paragraph 2, provided that the eligibility under paragraph 2(1)(a) of Act No 130/2002 Coll. (see Tender Documentation Annex – Model affidavit for proving the eligibility of a proposer/co-proposer residing outside the Czech Republic). In accordance with Article 1(5)(a) of the Regulation, it is required that the other participant, established outside the Czech Republic, has an establishment or branch in the Czech Republic at the time of receiving the aid. At the same time, such a proposer is obliged to prove, no later than before the conclusion of the aid contract, that the establishment or branch of a legal person established in a Member State of the European Union and located in the Czech Republic meets all the eligibility requirements under the provisions of Section 18 of Act No 130/2002 Coll., similarly to a proposer established in the Czech Republic.

Eligible costs may include additional (overhead) costs incurred in the direct time and material context of the project (e.g. administrative costs, support staff and infrastructure costs). The maximum amount of such costs is 20 % of the total eligible project costs requested from the MoH excluding the cost of acquisition of fixed assets, i.e. only non-investment costs. The additional (overhead) costs foreseen in the project proposal cannot be exceeded or requested to be increased during the course of the project. If these costs are not requested in the project proposal, they cannot be included among the eligible costs.

The overheads incurred must not exceed 1) the original amount planned in the approved project proposal and 2) 20 % of the total non-investment designated funds drawn from the MoH within the project.

Yes, specialised professional computer tools necessary for the implementation of the project and its objectives can be included in the eligible costs. However, the purchase of such computer equipment must be specified and properly justified in the project proposal, including the justification for its use.

The individual accounting units follow the set thresholds set out in the implementing decrees according to the type of entity (or as modified in the institution's internal guidelines).

Travel expenses are costs covering all costs of business trips in accordance with the provisions of Sections 173 to 181 of Act No 262/2006 Coll., the Labour Code, as amended, up to the amount provided for or permitted by this Act, for researchers and other staff.

These are costs incurred solely in direct connection with the project, including working stays and travel in connection with active participation in conferences. It also includes travel and subsistence costs of foreign staff participating in the project ('staff' in this context means the beneficiary's staff or staff on DPP/DPČ).

The provider shall contribute to travel costs up to the maximum amount set for the applicant and co-applicants together: for the first year of the project up to a maximum of CZK 80 000, for the following years up to a maximum of CZK 150 000.

Yes, but only if he/she is an employee of the co/recipient or co/applicant (agreement, part-time).

Yes, but only if they are an employee of the co/recipient or co/applicant (agreement, part-time). This reimbursement must not exceed the daily cost of per diem tables (search for Current EU Per Diem Rates and more… – per-diems.info).

Under Sub-Programmes 1 and 2, exceptional remuneration (for personnel costs specified in points (a) and (b) of point (2), Article 5.4.1 of the Tender documentation) can be paid from the provider's funds (from the earmarked expenditure of the MoH) if the salaries to which the exceptional remuneration is related are paid from sources other than the provider's earmarked funds and at the same time these other sources are indicated in the project proposal.

he total cost of the project will then be higher by these salaries than the costs covered by the provider's special-purpose funding, even for projects carried out exclusively by research organisations. It is not possible to include only exceptional remuneration, without salary (time), in the project proposal. The provider limits the amount of exceptional remuneration to a maximum of EUR 100 000. CZK/employee/year for all projects supported by the provider.

Illustrative example: Mr. Smith is to receive an extraordinary remuneration of CZK 10,000/year from the provider's special-purpose funds, therefore the project proposal must still include funds for his salary/salary – paid from other sources, including the amount of time spent on the project.

There is no % limit on personnel costs in relation to the amount of grant requested. When approving the amount of recognised personal costs for all applicants, the provider always takes into account the Labour Code and Government Regulation No. 448/2011 of 7 December 2011 and other relevant applicable legislation or practices in the workplace. It is only necessary to comply with the limits set out in the contract (min. and max. hours, amount of extraordinary remuneration).

The amount of time must correspond to the objectives, the role in the project, the results and the evaluation of the person. Zero hours are not allowed. The provider sets the minimum amount of time per project per employer for the proposer/co-proposer at 0.2. For the purposes of the project proposal, the sum of all the person's hours covered by the provider's grant may exceed the threshold of 100 %, i.e. 1,00. In the case of acceptance of more than one project, a reduction of the project's full-time equivalents to the maximum sum of all full-time equivalents of 1.00 is subsequently necessary.

Examples:

Option 1: the proposer has a running project with 50% time commitment. It is possible to submit several project proposals (in different roles proposer, team member), each with 80% time commitment, however, in case of acceptance of several projects, a reduction of the time commitment on the projects to a maximum sum of all time commitments of 100% is then necessary! In this case, an explanation must be provided in the project proposal as to how all projects will be dealt with simultaneously at the appropriate scientific level without adversely affecting the progress and output of the individual projects.

Option 2: the proposer has no ongoing project. In this case, again, if more than one project is accepted and the total time commitment is more than 100 %, the proposals for such projects must again explain how they will be able to be dealt with without adversely affecting their quality. In both cases, the volume of employment and their dedication are part of the overall assessment.

There is no financial limit on the requested subsidy per project, except for Sub-programme 2 (support for young scientists), where the amount of the possible eligible costs of the project is limited to EUR 7 million. The maximum amount of the grant is CZK 7 million.

If the applicant or co-applicant is a private individual, the amount of his/her financial remuneration for the work on the project will be included under the heading of personnel costs for the purposes of cost accounting, even if it is not a cost incurred for the payment of wages and salaries in the context of employment relations under Act No 262/2006 Coll., the Labour Code, as amended.

The annexes to the project proposal must be delivered during the competition period in paper form by post or in person to the AZV ČR office at Ruská 2412/85, 100 00 Prague 10 in an envelope marked "DO NOT OPEN – VES 202X" or signed with a qualified electronic signature in accordance with a special legal regulation to the AZV ČR data box with the subject line "DO NOT OPEN – VES 202X".

The permitted annexes to the project include only the documents listed in the Tender Documentation:

* documents (according to the nature of the project) and affidavits to demonstrate eligibility (Article 4.2 of the Tender documentation);

* a list of experts who should not be involved in the project appraisal (to ensure objectivity in the project appraisal, you have the possibility to list domestic and foreign experts who should not be involved in the project appraisal);

* an offer identification of the supplier, the subject matter of the supply and the indicative price and rate if the project proposal specifies in detail the asset or service to be acquired as unique;

* evidence of co-financing from other sources by affidavit of the tenderer or confirmation from the intended sponsor;

* a power of attorney to submit the proposal to a third party if the tenderer does not have its own data box;

* an unsigned draft cooperation agreement between the applicant (beneficiary) and the proposed other participants, to be submitted whenever the applicant is not the sole participant in the project proposal;

* the 'motivational effect' attachment – a comparative analysis  comparing the level of activity envisaged with and without support, or comparing the total amount spent by the beneficiary on the project with and without support, or the speed of completion of the project with and without support, if a large enterprise is involved in the project;

* where applicable, the original power of attorney (authorisation) by which the applicant's/co-applicant's statutory body authorises its representative to carry out the acts related to the submission of the project proposal;

* other attachments:

under Sub-programme 2, an affidavit, if the applicant has been on maternity or parental leave, has suffered a long-term illness, or has interrupted his/her scientific career for similar objective reasons, the time limit of 8 years since the award of the academic degree of Ph.D. or its equivalent is increased by this period (to be documented in the ISVP),

in the Bibliography section, a list of research results for the last five years.

A 'project description' and 'curriculum vitae(s)' are an integral part of each project proposal.

The affidavits referred to in Annex 2-5 to the Conditions of Application and the other documents referred to in Article 4.2(1) of the Conditions of Application must be delivered during the competition period in paper form by post or in person to the AZV ČR office at Ruská 2412/85, 100 00 Prague 10, in an envelope marked 'DO NOT OPEN – VES 2024' or signed with a qualified electronic signature in accordance with a special legal regulation to the AZV ČR data box under the subject line 'DO NOT OPEN – VES 2024'. The original of the power of attorney (authorisation), if any, by which the applicant's/co-applicant's statutory body authorises its representative to carry out acts relating to the submission of the project proposal will be submitted in the same way.

All other attachments required by the Tender documentation shall be submitted through the ISVP application as an embedded attachment in PDF format. In the case of a power of attorney to submit a proposal to a third party, if the bidder does not have its own data box, the bidder shall attach the power of attorney as an annex in the ISVP application and deliver it in paper form by post or in person to the address of the AZV ČR, Ruská 2412/85, 100 00 Prague 10 in an envelope marked 'DO NOT OPEN – VES 2024'.

Is the outline of the "project description" (i.e. the technical part of the project as per the TD) binding?

1. 1. Introduction – a summary of the current state of knowledge of the scientific issues in the given scientific field;
2. 2. Preliminary/pilot data – pilot data supporting the project focus and hypothesis (d);
3. 3. Statement of the nature of the Project and its relevance to the Programme; justification of the necessity and need to address a specific issue at a given time (i.e. the timeliness of the solution) and in a given scope; what is the originality/innovativeness of the research project;
4. 4. Hypothesis and objectives of the Project;
5. 5. Experimental design – a statistical justification of the size of the research population (exceptions may be projects aimed at research on rare and ultra-rare diseases), group definitions and statistically justified numbers of experimental animals, numbers of repetitions for preclinical testing, etc;
6. 6. Methodology – The description of the methodological and methodological approaches and methods used to address the project and to achieve the intended outcome, their analysis, and the proposed statistical treatment;
7. 7. Timetable – a clearly formulated schedule of the planned work and its scope in each year of the project; a Gantt chart is recommended;
8. 8. Expected results – a factual description of the expected results of the project, including their intended practical purpose and the aim of their use in the health sector;
9. 9. Cooperation – indicate if the project involves cooperation between several entities, How it will be implemented (model of future contract as an annex to the project proposal), including specification of their share and responsibilities. In case of foreign collaboration, a signed letter of support or letter of intent on the entity's letterhead should be provided, including the method and amount of funding; the project solution should not be predominantly based on contracted research or paid services delivered by partners outside the research team;
10. 10. Information on the (personnel-wise and material-technical) readiness of the proposer, co-proposers and their departments, on the technological equipment of the departments to be used in the solution, on the possibility of collaborations; promotion of gender equality principles in the GEP, HR Award, etc.; assessment of the consistency between the professional focus of the proposal and the focus of the proposer/co-proposers' department;
11. 11. Justification of the participation of all co-proposers and named collaborators, defining their contribution to the problem and specifying their role in achieving the expected results; information on the involvement of junior researchers;
12. 12. Risk analysis – analysis of the risks that may occur during the project, their significance and impact, alternative solutions in case of failure to confirm the hypothesis, etc;
13. 13. Brief description of the research data that will be used, collected or generated during the project and how it will be handled;
14. 14. (n) A list of literature used.

For the affidavits for project proposals, specifically under the heading "Type of entity of the bidder in terms of CEDR", use the code of legal forms (see e.g. http://wwwinfo.mfcr.cz/ares/aresPrFor.html.cz). All information on the CEDR (Central Evidence of Budgetary Grants) can be found on the MoF ČR website: http://cedr.mfcr.cz/.

To fill in the entry 'Type of entity of the applicant in terms of CEP', use the 'Type of entity' codebook in the 'System codes' section of this website: https://www.isvavai.cz/is?s=prehled-ciselniku.

The Annex to the Draft Cooperation Agreement is to be submitted whenever the applicant is not the sole participant in the project proposal (i.e. whenever the project is a collaboration between the applicant and the co-applicant(s)); it is to be submitted via the ISVP application as an embedded PDF attachment. The draft contract does not need to be signed and one template for a given project is sufficient (even in case of participation of several co-bidders - the basic details of the other party will not be filled in).

When submitting the proposal: In the case of a proposed project involving experimental work with animals, the applicant shall attach to the project proposal at least the "Authorisation for the use of experimental animals" (former accreditation of the user facility) pursuant to Section 15b of Act No. 246/1992 Coll., on the protection of animals against cruelty, as amended, valid at least until the start of the project.

Prior to the conclusion of the contract: In the case of a proposed project involving experimental work with animals, the applicant shall provide a valid, approved 'experimental project' with the opinions of the expert committee of the user facility and the departmental committee of the competent state authority pursuant to Act No 246/1992 Coll. on the Protection of Animals against Cruelty, as amended, and Decree No 419/2012 Coll. on the Protection of Experimental Animals, as amended. The experimental project shall be documented by the applicant with whom a contract for the grant of aid is to be concluded or in whose favour a decision on the increase in the budget is to be issued before the contract is concluded or the decision is issued. The experimental design enabling the relevant project to be addressed shall be attached to each project, but nothing prevents one experimental design from being attached to several projects supported by the MoH, provided that this is in accordance with the relevant legal provisions. A certified copy must be provided no later than when the Grant Agreement is concluded. The contract shall only become effective upon receipt of all the required annexes.

The opinion of the applicant's ethics committee must be submitted whenever the project involves the provision of health care, research with human subjects, and also in the case of research with questionnaire survey methodology and qualitative research with persons affected by or at risk of disease in accordance with the International Ethics Committee for Biomedical Research with Human Participants CIOMS/WHO, 2002.

It is no longer required, instead of this annex it is necessary to answer directly in the project proposal two questions, namely whether "The project proposal corresponds to the clinical trial of medicines according to the provisions of Act No. 378/2007 Coll., on Medicines" and "The project proposal corresponds to the clinical trial of medical devices according to Act No. 375/2022 Coll., on medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices' (the applicant is responsible for the correctness of the answers). If the answer is in the affirmative, it is necessary to provide, in the case that it corresponds to a clinical trial of medicines, 'an officially certified copy of the decision on the authorisation of a clinical trial for the Czech Republic within the meaning of the Act on Medicinal Products and the same documentation that was approved in this Decision' and, in the case that the proposal corresponds to the conduct of a clinical trial for a medical device, 'an officially certified copy of the authorisation of the SÚKL on the authorisation to conduct a clinical trial for a medical device within the meaning of the Act on Medical Devices'. on medical devices'.

No, the Decision on the authorisation of the clinical trial for the Czech Republic and the SÚKL authorisation on the authorisation of the clinical trial for the medical device must already be attached.  Only if it is not a clinical trial or a clinical trial, the opinion of SÚKL that it is not a clinical trial and that it is not a clinical trial may be attached.

The motivational effect attachment shall be submitted whenever the project participant is a 'large' undertaking (either as a bidder or as a co-bidder); the format of this Annex is not prescribed, the format is a comparative analysis (comparison of the level of the intended activity with and without support), but the maximum size is set at two standard pages - see Article 5.6 of this Tender dossier; it shall be submitted via the ISVP application, as an embedded PDF attachment.

No. Checklists are only an aid to the proposer and are used solely for its internal process control.

In the framework of VES 2024

The proposer, later investigator, shall meet the condition that no more than 8 years (for VES 2024J the relevant year is 2015) have elapsed since the award of the academic degree of Ph.D. or equivalent, or will have obtained it no later than the date of conclusion of the contract/issuance of the project decision.

If the proposer has been on maternity or parental leave, has suffered a long-term illness, or has interrupted his/her scientific career for similar objective reasons, the time limit of 8 years from the award of the academic degree of Ph.D. or its equivalent is increased by this period. These facts (award of the degree, parental leave, etc.) shall be documented by the applicant by means of an affidavit.

In the framework of VES 2021, VES 2022 and VES 2023

The investigator, co-investigator and all professional collaborators must be at most 35 years old in the year of the competition announcement. Only one exception is allowed per team, one member of the team, i.e. the scientific collaborator, may be aged 45 years or older in the year of the competition.

In the framework of VES 2020

The investigator must be at most 35 years of age in the year of the competition announcement

These rules, according to the VES, continue to apply even if the grant is awarded, throughout the entire duration of the project and any changes.

The proposer/investigator is the person responsible to the applicant/beneficiary for the project.

The Co-proposer/Co-investigator is the person responsible to the Co-applicant/Co-recipient for the sub-project.

An expert collaborator is a named member of the research team with a fixed time and salary or is hired on a contract basis who is not designated as a technical, administrative or support staff member. The name, surname and date of birth must be completed.

For Sub-programme 2 (support for the development of junior researchers), the amount of eligible project costs is limited to EUR 7 million. CZK.