Competition for the Award of Grants to support research projects in subject areas in the Social Sciences and Humanities (PBR)
1. Preamble
The Generalitat de Catalunya and the Anglo-Catalan Society have wished to recognize the figure of Dr Josep Maria Batista i Roca, fellow of the University of Cambridge, where he instituted the teaching of Catalan culture for the first time in 1948, and promoter of Catalan Studies in the United Kingdom with the creation in 1954 of the Anglo-Catalan Society. From then onwards, this Society has had the objective of promoting the knowledge and appreciation of Catalan culture in the British Isles, above all those initiatives that encourage interaction and interchange between the two communities. Ever since 1991 the Generalitat de Catalunya has awarded the Batista i Roca grants to make possible the mobility of students and researchers between the two communities. 14 years after the appearance of these grants, and continuing in the same spirit and emphasising the trajectory of this famous Catalan, there will be a call in 2006 for joint research projects between Catalan and British/Irish researchers.
2. Eligible Applicants
The following are eligible to apply for the new grants: research groups in universities, as well as non-profit-making public and private centres whose main activity is research, in Catalonia, Great Britain and Ireland, made up of at least two researchers, one of whom must have a PhD, and a permanent link to the benefiting institution. Persons with contracts with ICREA, Ramon y Cajal or other postdoctoral contracts of a significant duration, that is at least two years, will count as members with a permanent link. Each researcher may only form part of one group or team and, hence, may not appear as a member in any other application in the same competition.
3. Duration
The projects must be carried out during the year 2006.
4. Value of Award
The maximum award for each project is 15,000 euros, which must be used to fund one or more of the following items:
a) Employment of technical or support staff on the project by whatever mode of temporary contract, according to the rules of the benefiting institution/ institution in receipt of the award. Costs pertaining to the salary of civil servants or staff with permanent contracts at the institutions that apply or participate in the competition are not eligible.
b) Reasonable equipment costs, including books but not including computer equipment
c) Consumables
d) Publication of theses, dissertations or other significant works in the research areas covered by the competition
e) Other costs, such as transport, use of IT or technical support facilities
All expenses must be properly justified.
Each group of researchers must prioritise the items for which they are applying for funding, according to their own need.
5. Applications Procedures
5.1. The applications, in accordance with standard procedures, have to be formalized by the person responsible for the project, with the agreement/support of the relevant Vice Chancellor, Head of Faculty or School according to the subject, or the director of the research centre or equivalent, and they should be presented on paper and in electronic form as set out in article 38.4 of the Law 30/1992, of 26 November, in the juridical regime of public administration and common administrative procedures to:
a) the AGAUR, for projects hosted by institutions in Catalonia
b) the Anglo-Catalan Society for projects hosted by British or Irish institutions
The standard printout of the application and the bases can be obtained via the offices of the AGAUR, Via Laietana, 28, 2na planta, 08003 Barcelona, or from the Anglo-Catalan Society, c/o Dr Helena Buffery, Honorary Secretary, Department of Hispanic Studies, University of Birmingham B15 2TT; h.b.f.buffery@bham.ac.uk, http:www.anglo-catalan.org
They can also be obtained on the web pages of AGAUR http://www.gencat.net.agaur, of the Departament d'Universitats i Recerca i Societat de la Informació (henceforth DURSI), http://www.gencat.net/dursi and the Anglo-Catalan Society, http://www.anglo-catalan.org
To formalize the application the applicants must follow the following steps:
a) Present, by the deadline for applications, the application form on paper (by registered post) for the attention of the AGAUR or the A-CS, with the corresponding signatures. This register will be what gives validity to the presentation of the applications.
b) Send by email a file containing the same application form that has been sent on paper to the following address: pbr@agaur.gencat.net
If the application is received by email but not on paper by the deadline, the application will be treated as invalid.
If there is any problem or difference between the forms sent by email and on paper, the hard copy will always take priority in the competition, as long as it arrives by the deadline.
The application form, in accordance with standard procedures, is made up of the following parts:
a) General information on the benefiting institutions
b) Information on the team members
c) Information on the researchers (Catalans, British or Irish with whom collaboration is to be established within this project)
d) Budget. Amount applied for.
e) Outline of project: summary, aims, Anglo-Catalan interest, background and relevance of project, objectives, research plan, methodology, exchanges and mobility of researchers, impact and application of results.
f) Curriculum vitae of the person responsible for the project and short cv for the rest of the researchers in the team
5.4. If an application requires an amendment or additional information, the interested party will be notified by the publication on the AGAUR news bulletin board of a dispatch from the managing director setting out the basic and non-basic documentation that needs to be amended. The dispatch will set out the reasons and will state that, in the case of non-basic documentation, if the application is not amended within ten days from the day after the publication of the dispatch, it will be understood that the applicants are withdrawing the application, in accordance with article 71 of the Law 30/1992, of the 26 November, in the juridical regime of public administration and common administrative procedure. The contents of the dispatch will also be published on the web pages of the AGAUR, the DURSI and the Anglo-Catalan Society.
6. Deadline for Presentation of Applications
The absolute deadline for the presentation of applications is one month from the morning after the publication of the competition in the DOGC.
7. Evaluation and Selection
The applications will be evaluated by external organs and experts in the scientific community, according to the mechanisms established in the framework of the Pla de Recerca i Innovació current in Catalonia and the rules for evaluation of the AGAUR. The following criteria and points system will be used (out of 100)
a) Anglo-Catalan interest of project 20/100
b) Knowledge of background and status of subject 15/100
c) Structure and defence of objectives, research plan and methodological rigour 20/100
d)Viability of project in time given and budget 10/100
e) Impact and application of results 15/100
f) CV of principal researcher and members of research group in relation with object of competition and subject of research 20/100
In exceptional cases, and subject to the decision of the Assessment Committee, a project may be renewed for a second year.
Priority will be given to research groups from the Generalitat de Catalunya that have been recognized by the Resolution of 18 October 2005 given by the President of the Comissió Executiva d'Ajuts de Recerca by which grants are awarded to support activities by research groups during 2005.
The Anglo-Catalan Society will rank the applications it receives and send its ranking to the AGAUR within a fortnight after the deadline for applications, together with the submitted application forms.
The selection of projects will be made by an Assessment Committee, which will take into account the general bases of the AGAUR, the evaluations made according to base 7.1 and the available budget.
The Assessment Committee will be designated and nominated by the President of the Comissió Executiva d'Ajuts de Recerca (CEAR). It will be made up of a chair, who will be the President of the CEAR or a nominated replacement, a maximum of five members, three of whom will be members of the Anglo-Catalan Society, a secretary who will be the the managing director of the AGAUR or a nominated replacement, as a consultative member without a vote.
8. Total Budget
The total value of this competition is 100,000 euros, chargeable to the budgetary account 480.0001 of the Agency for 2006.
9. Unit in Charge of managing the competition
Agència de Gestió d'Ajust Universitaris i de Recerca.
10. Organ in charge of results of the competition.
The Executive Council/Board of the AGAUR and, by delegation, the Comissió Executiva d’Ajuts de Recerca and/or its president, in accordance with the agreement by the Executive Council/Board dated 5 December 2002.
11. Award Announcements
The legal term for the announcement of awards is six months from the day after the deadline for the submission of applications. If there is no announcement after this period, it should be understood that no award has been made.
12. Publication of Award Results
These will be published on the AGAUR notice board, and made available more widely on the web pages of the AGAUR, the DURSI and the Anglo-Catalan Society.
Interested parties may challenge the results within a month after the day after their publication on the AGAUR notice board, by presenting a facultative appeal before the president of the Comissió Executiva d’Ajuts de Recerca (CEAR) by delegation of the Board of the AGAUR, in accordance with the resolution passed by the Board of the AGAUR on 5 December 2002, and with articles 116 and 117 of the Law 30/1992, in the juridical regime of public administration and administrative procedures; or directly by administrative litgation to Barcelona's Administrative Litigation Court, within two months after the day after the publication, in accordance with articles 8, 14 and 46 of the Law 29/1998 of 13 July, regulating the jurisdiction of administrative litigation.
13. Acceptance
Formal acceptance should be made via a standard document signed by the person responsible for the project and by a legal representative of the benefiting institution, in which they agree to fulfill all the conditions set out in the regulating bases of this competition and in accordance with the relevant general bases of the AGAUR. Acceptance must be sent by registered post to the AGAUR within 45 days after the day after the publication of award rsults on the AGAUR notice board.
In addition, the person in charge of the project should register as a member of the Anglo-Catalan Society for the period of duration of the project.
13.2 The standard acceptance form can be obtained from the offices of the AGAUR (Via Laietana, 28, 2a planta, 08003 de Barcelona) and on its web page: http://www.gencat.net/agaur.
Any institution which does not present the acceptance document within the stated deadline will be understood to have renounced the award.
14. Changes and Extenuating Cirumstances
If there are extenuating or mitigating factors, the executive director of the AGAUR may respond to such incidents by authorising, at the request of the award holder, some change in the research plan or project, or in the duration of the grant or award, according to each case, as well as any other circumstance that does not require a substantial change to the terms of the competition.
15. Payment
15.1 Payment will be made directly to the host institution.
15.2 The total value will be awarded in two payments. The first, corresponding to 80% of the total, will be transferred after the announcement and acceptance of the awards. The remaining 20% will be paid once justification of the project has been presented.
16. Deadline and Form of Justification
Award holders must justify the effective completion of the projects no later than 20 September 2007.
The following documents should be attached:
a) A report signed by the person in charge of the project, together with a summary in a format to be determined by the AGAUR, which will be published on their web page.
b) Certifiaction by the finance officer or manager of the award-holding institution, that the value of the award has been incorporated into its budgets and that the award has been used to fund the items for which it was conceded. All expenditure must be fully itemised.
17. Publicity
In all publications and other outcomes that might be produced as a result of this competition, mention must be made of the support of the DURSI, of the Generalitat de Catalunya, as well as of the Anglo-Catalan Society.
18. Continuation and Diffusion of Projects
In order to bring about the continuation and diffusion of the results derived from the implementation of the projects funded by this competition, a public act may be organized to present these reults.
In order to provide wider diffusion for the results of the funded projects, each project report will be published on the web pages of the AGAUR, DURSI and Anglo-Catalan Society.
19. Applicable Rules
Anything that has not been covered by the bases of this competition is regulated by the Resolution UNI/962/2005, of 1 February, by which are approved the general bases governing the awarding of scholarships and grants by the AGAUR, and by the rest of the applicable rules and regulations.
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