Innovational Research Incentives Scheme Veni - Social Sciences and Humanities

The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme offers personal grants to talented, creative researchers. The funding enables applicants to do their own line of research. This boosts innovative research and promotes mobility within scientific research institutes.

The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme comprises three grants geared to different stages in a researcher’s scientific career:

• Veni, for researchers who have recently obtained their PhD
• Vidi, for researchers who have gained several years of research experience after their PhD
• Vici, for senior researchers who have demonstrated an ability to develop their own line of research

Innovational Research Incentives Scheme Veni

Innovational Research Incentives Scheme Veni is a grant for researchers who have recently obtained their PhD.

Purpose

Veni is part of the Incentives Scheme. It allows researchers who have recently obtained their PhD to conduct independent research and develop their ideas for a period of three years.

Who can apply

Applications can be submitted by candidates who have obtained their PhD, irrespective of whether they hold tenured positions and of whether they come from the Netherlands or abroad. Candidates may only submit an application if they have obtained their PhD in the three years preceding the reference date of this round, 1 January 2024, or between 1 January 2024 and 3 September 2024. 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 to apply for

For an application in this Call for proposals, a maximum of € 320,000 can be applied for. The maximum duration of the proposed project is three years. The duration of the project can be lengthened proportionally in case of part-time research by a maximum of one year (from three to four years). If the proposed research is of shorter duration, the maximum amount will be reduced accordingly. It is also possible to carry out the research part-time without extending the duration of the project. 

When to apply

• The deadline for submitting pre‐proposals is 3 September, 2024, before 14:00:00 hours CEST.
• The deadline for submitting full proposals is 28 January, 2025, before 14:00:00 hours CET.

Assessment

Criteria

The pre-proposal submitted within this Call for proposals will be substantially assessed on the basis of the following criterion:

1. Quality of the researcher

The applications submitted within this Call for proposals will be substantially assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Quality and innovative character of the research proposal (75%)
2. Scientific and/or societal impact (25%)

Procedure

• submission of the pre-proposal;
• admissibility check of the pre-proposal;
• assessment of the pre-proposal;
  • provisional advice assessment committee;
  • possibility to submit a request for a correction of a factual inaccuracy in the negative provisional advice;
• decision-making pre-proposal;
• submission of the full proposal (only possible if you have received a positive decision on the pre-proposal);
• admissibility check of the full proposal;
• assessment of the full proposal;
  • peer review by referees (for domains Science and AES only);
  • rebuttal (for Science, AES and ZonMW only);
  • provisional advice assessment committee (all domains);
  • interview selection (ZonMw);
  • interview and meeting of the assessment committee (all domains);
• decision-making.

More explanation on the procedure and the timeline per domain can be found in the Call for proposals.

The assessment of pre-proposals and full applications within SSH takes place in six panels. The allocation of proposals to a panel is determined by the applicants themselves. Please note that candidates submit their proposal to one of these panels in ISAAC. You can find the panel structure under ‘prepare’.
 
The panels assess the applications in all phases. In the SSH domain, NWO does not ask external reviewers to assess applications. Therefore, applicants are adviced to take notice of the interdisciplinary character of the evaluation committees.