Estonia: ETAG

Margit Suuroja, margit.suuroja@etag.ee, +372 731 7360

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Project Participants

1.1.      The Host Institution may be any legal entity that is registered and located in Estonia and has an Estonian bank account.

The Host Institution (the final recipient) is the institution to which the grant will be allocated.

After the submission deadline (in case of two-stage application, after the preproposal deadline) and upon the notice from the Funding Organisation, the Host Institution must confirm to the Funding Organisation in the written form that the project can be carried out on their premises in Estonia and that they will employ the Principal Investigator during the proposed project, should the project receive funding.

If the Host Institution is a for-profit institution, the State aid and de minimis aid regulations must be taken into account.

If the State aid or de minimis aid regulations apply, the funding will not be granted to a Host Institution who has been subject to a funding withdrawal decision pursuant to a previous European Commission decision that deemed the aid illegal and incompatible with the common market, if that decision has not been complied with.

1.2 The Principal Investigator is a researcher who acts as the Estonian team leader in the project proposal. He/she will be responsible for how the grant is used and how the Estonian part in the project is executed.

The Principal Investigator:

1.2.1 must have an updated public profile in the Estonian Research Information System (ETIS) by the submission deadline;

1.2.2 must hold a doctoral degree or an equivalent qualification. The degree must be awarded by the submission deadline of the grant application at the latest;

1.2.3 must have published at least three articles that comply with the requirements of Clause 1.1 of the ETIS classification of publications, or at least five articles that comply with the requirements of Clauses 1.1, 1.2, 2.1 or 3.1, within the last five calendar years prior to the proposal submission deadline. International patents are equalled with publications specified under Clause 1.1. A monograph (ETIS Clause 2.1) is equalled with three publications specified in Clause 1.1 if the number of authors is three or fewer. If the applicant has been on pregnancy and maternity or parental leave or performed compulsory service in the Defence Forces, or has another good reason, they can request the publication period requirement to be extended by the relevant period of time.

If the Principal Investigator has received the PhD degree outside Estonia, its correspondence to an Estonian doctoral degree must be recognised by either the Estonian ENIC-NARIC Center or the Host Institution in accordance with the Regulation of the Government of the Republic of April 6, 2006, No. 89 "Evaluation and academic recognition of documents proving foreign education and the name of the qualification awarded in the foreign education system terms and conditions of use". The Funding Organisation may ask for a relevant Evaluation Report.

If several Estonian institutions participate in a proposal, all institutions must have a Principal Investigator who meets the national eligibility requirements.

2. Budget

2.1 Research expenses consist of direct costs (personnel costs, travel costs and other direct costs) and subcontracting costs. The research expenses must be used to carry out the project and be separately identifiable.

2.2 Direct costs

2.2.1    Personnel costs are monthly salaries with social security charges and all other statutory costs of the project participants, calculated according to their commitment and in proportion to their total workload at their Host Institution.

2.2.2    Other direct costs are:

-         travel costs that may cover expenses for transport, accommodation,    daily allowances and travel Insurance only for travels abroad;

-           consumables and minor equipment related to the project;

-           publication and dissemination of project results;

-           organising meetings, seminars or conferences (room rent, catering);

-           fees for participating in scientific forums, conferences and other events related to the project;

-           patent costs;

-           all other costs that are identifiable as clearly required for carrying out the project (e.g. translation, copy editing, webpage hosting, etc.) and comply with the eligible costs.

2.3 Subcontracting costs should cover only additional or complementary research related tasks (e.g. analyses, conducting surveys, building a prototype, etc.) performed by third parties. Subcontracting costs should not be included in the overhead calculation. The activities and budget should be described in the proposal. Core project tasks should not be subcontracted. Subcontracting costs may not exceed 15% of the total costs.

2.4 Indirect costs (overhead) may not exceed 15% of the personnel costs and should cover the general expenses of the Host Institution. Costs for equipment and services intended for public use (e.g. a copy machine or a printer that is publicly used, phone bills, copy service, etc.) should be covered from the overhead.

2.5       Double funding of activities is not acceptable.

2.6       If several Estonian institutions participate in one proposal, the sum of their requested budgets may not exceed the maximum contribution of the respective national Funding Organisation indicated in the call documents.

3. State Aid

EU Regulations on State aid and de minimis aid must be taken into account when requesting funding.

4. Grant Agreement

If a positive funding decision is made, the Funding Organisation enters into a grant agreement with the Host Institution. Information on the transnational project must be entered into ETIS once the agreement has been signed.

The Consortium Agreement should be signed six months after the grant agreement has been signed at the latest. If one year has elapsed and the CA has not been signed, the next instalment of funding will not be paid out.

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