NWO-Talent Programme Vici ZonMw

Vici is part of the NWO Talent programme. The Vici target group consists of researchers at the stage of consolidation and further development of their leadership/research group.

Purpose

The Vici target group consists of researchers at the stage of consolidation and further development of their leadership/research group. The goal of the Vici grant is to contribute to the researcher's development in this area.

Who can apply

Vici is aimed at senior researchers with academic qualities that clearly exceed what is customary within the international peer group, as well as established leadership- and mentorship skills.

Researchers may only submit an application if they have obtained their PhD in the fifteen years preceding the benchmark date of this round, 1 March 2025. An extension to the above career-dependent submission period may be possible under specific circumstances (see Section 3.4.2 of the Call for proposals).

What can be applied for

The maximum grant is 1.5 million euros.

When to apply

• The deadline for pre-proposals is March 11, 2025, 14:00:00 hours CET.
• The deadline for proposals is September 9, 2025, 14:00:00 hours CEST.

Assessment

Criteria

The assessment criterion for the pre-proposals is:

• Quality of the researcher

The assessment criteria for the full proposals are:

• Quality and innovative character of the research proposal (75%)
• Scientific and/or social impact (25%)

Procedure

The Vici competition will be assessed by four committees: four committees corresponding to the NWO domains: Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), NWO-Science domain (Science), Applied and Engineering Sciences (AES), Health Research and Development (ZonMw). You are currently on the webpage for ZonMw.

Vici applications are assessed in a domain-wide competition: all applications from different disciplines within one domain will be compared in one competition. ZonMw uses a broad-based assessment committee of academics to advise on the merits and prioritisation of the applications.

Applicants must first submit a pre-proposal. These are assessed by the assessment committee, which then makes a recommendation on whether or not to submit a proposal. Proposals are sent to external referees. Applicants are given the opportunity to respond to the referees’ reports (‘rebuttal’). Next, the full proposals, the reviews and the rebuttals are assessed by the respective assessment committees. They invite a selection of the candidates for an interview. Based on the application, the referees’ reports, the rebuttal and the interview the assessment committee advises the accredited board of NWO.

All proposals must be submitted via ISAAC, NWO's electronic application system. The only exceptions to this rule are proposals to the Health Research and Development domain. These proposals can only be submitted via My ZonMw.