NWO Talent programme Vici SSH

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 to apply 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.

Criteria

The assessment criterion for the pre-proposal is:

• quality of the researcher.

The assessment criteria for the full proposal are:

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

Procedure

There is a single submission point for the Domain Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). Proposals from all disciplines within social sciences and humanities can be submitted to the SSH Domain.

Vici proposals are assessed in a broadly composed panels. This means that proposals from different disciplines will be compared in competition. The domains use broad-based assessment committees of academics to advise on the merits and prioritisation of the proposals. The disciplinary composition of the assessment panels within the SSH domain is determined on the basis of the number of applications submitted and the underlying disciplines. In the previous year, the assessment took place in two panels, namely a Social Sciences panel and a Humanities panel.

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 proposals, the reviews and the rebuttals are assessed by the respective assessment committees. Based on the proposal, the referees’ reports and the rebuttal 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 Mijn ZonMw.