Fundamentos Research Program 2022

The global amount of funding under this call has been set at 3,000,000 euros.

A maximum of 5 grants will be awarded for a gross amount of up to 600,000 euros per project.

The maximum term for the execution of awardee projects will be 3 years.

The call is open to researchers from public or private universities, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and other public research organizations, and hospitals, as well as to the research staff of private non-profit organizations.

Researchers applying under this call may submit one project only, and principal investigators may not currently be in receipt of any other funding (for teams or individuals) granted by the BBVA Foundation.

The principal investigator of the applicant organization, who will also serve as project coordinator, must meet the following conditions:

• Spanish national or resident in Spain in the terms envisaged in these call conditions.
• In possession of a PhD at the time of submitting the application.
• Maintain a public service or contractual employment relationship with a university institution or public or private non-profit organization engaging in research, in all cases headquartered in Spain. This relationship must persist through the period envisaged for the implementation of the project. Any transfer of the approved project to a different center due to a move by the principal investigator will require the express permission of the BBVA Foundation.

The project may have up to two additional principal investigators, who will be jointly responsible for the organization and execution of project activities and must meet the following conditions:

• In possession of a PhD at the time of submitting the application.
• Maintain a public service or contractual employment relationship with a university institution or public or private non-profit organization engaging in research, headquartered in any country. This relationship must persist through the period envisaged for the implementation of the project. Any transfer of the approved project to a different center due to a move by the principal investigator will require the express permission of the BBVA Foundation.

Remaining research team members may belong to universities or public or private non-profit research centers in any country.

A maximum of 30% of all research team members may have their residence abroad.

Projects must be original, unpublished and clearly innovative in their approach. The project narrative should expressly state the advance and/or innovation it hopes to deliver to the corresponding research topic or field.

If other grants have been sought or obtained for the same project, this should be expressly stated, along with the amount and nature of the funding.

Applications should be submitted by the project coordinator, with the prior permission of the university or research organization to which he or she is attached, using the online form available on this website.

Applications should be written exclusively in English.

Besides the general details of the project, the coordinator must provide the following documentation via the online application form:

• Copy of the ID document or passport of the project’s principal investigators.
• If the project coordinator is a national of a non-European Union country, he or she should give proof of long-term residence in Spain by furnishing a copy of a current foreign national’s identity card.
• If the project coordinator is a national of another European Union member state, he or she should give proof of having been resident in Spain for at least three years on the date of submitting the application, furnishing his/her registration certificate of Union citizen and a municipal certificate of residence attesting to his/her residence in Spain over the last three years.
• Project narrative, with format at the applicant’s discretion but including all of the following headings:
  1. Background and objectives.
  2. Research methodology.
  3. Experience and suitability of the research group.
  4. In the case of multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary projects, a reasoned explanation of the projected contribution of each discipline.
  5. Work plan, calendar and percentage breakdown of expenditure between the participating centers.
  6. Results dissemination and utilization plan.

• Curriculum vitae of all project members, to be presented in CVN format (Spanish standardized CV).
• In the case of projects involving human experimentation, applicants should provide a favorable report or opinion from a Research Ethics Committee duly accredited by the competent body, or else a direct authorization from the latter, pursuant to Articles 12 and 16 of Spanish Law 14/2007 of July 3 on Biomedical Research.
• In the case of projects involving animal experimentation, applicants should provide a favorable report or opinion from an Ethics Committee on Animal Experimentation appointed for this purpose by the competent body, or else a direct authorization from the latter, pursuant to Article 43 of Spanish Royal Decree 53/2013 of February 1 establishing basic standards for the protection of animals used in experiments and for other scientific purposes.
  • In both cases, this report or authorization should state the title of the project (preferably coinciding with the title submitted in this call), identify the researcher in charge and provide a succinct rationale for the opinion issued.
  • If the project title does not coincide or if the applicant in this call does not appear as principal investigator as defined in Spanish Law 14/2007 or does not appear in the report as the person conducting or in charge of the experimentation as defined in Article 15 of Spanish Royal Decree 53/2013, the applicant should furnish certifying documentation, preferably from the Ethics Committee of the center to which he or she is attached or the center where the experiments will be conducted, explicitly identifying the project for which the research will be carried out and clarifying such discrepancies.
  • The applicant may also provide the ethical protocol corresponding to the experiments in question.
  • In no event shall this protocol and/or the above clarifications with respect to the title of the project and non-appearance of the applicant’s name be deemed to replace the requirement to secure a favorable opinion or authorization as defined in current legislation.

In the event of projects involving clinical trials with medicines for human use, the provisions of Spanish Royal Decree 1090/2015 of December 4 and other relevant legislation will apply. Where possible, applicants should provide a favorable opinion from the Ethics Committee for Research with Medicines and the authorization of the Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios (Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices).

• In the budget section, please note that only the following cost items will be admissible:
  • 1/ Inventoriable scientific and technical equipment required for the project, with reasoned arguments for its acquisition.
  • 2/ Research staff:
    • Contracts of postdoctoral researchers (Spanish or foreign nationals).
    • Predoctoral grants or contracts (Spanish or foreign nationals).
    • Stays of foreign researchers (research team members) in Spain and/or Spanish researchers (research team members) abroad.
  • 3/ Travel (of research team members and fellows or researchers hired for the project).
  • 4/ Consumables specific to the project.
  • 5/ Other expenses necessary for project completion.
  • 6/ Value added tax (VAT), where applicable. Other, indirect costs associated to the project may also be charged to the budget by reference to the cost allocation policy of each institution.

Note that any centers outside Spain participating in the project may only be allocated up to 30% maximum of the submitted budget.

On submitting their application via the online form, applicants will receive a confirmation message from the BBVA Foundation with a reference number that they should quote in any subsequent correspondence.

The submission period will run from December 28, 2022 to May 30, 2023 at 18:00, Spanish standard time.

The completed application must have been received in full no later than the above date and time.

If the application contains errors that can be corrected, the BBVA Foundation will inform the applicant to this effect, giving a non-extendible period of 15 calendar days as of this notification in which to rectify the information so the entry may be accepted for consideration.

The evaluation process will take into account the originality, significance and feasibility of the project, as well as the suitability of the CV profiles of PI(s) and remaining team members.

Evaluation and awardee selection will be in the charge of specialist international committees drawing their membership from the areas set out in section 1 of these call conditions. Committee members will arrive at their decisions entirely independently, relying on the best metrics of the specialist field and with measures in place to prevent conflicts of interest.

All deliberations will be kept confidential.

The resolution of the call will be publicly announced no later than October 30, 2023. The call may be declared wholly or partially vacant and the award decision will not be open to appeal.

The resolution will be posted on the BBVA Foundation website disclosing both the awardee projects and the membership of the specialist committees.

There will be no further correspondence or communication with applicants whose projects were not among those selected.

No itemized or individual information will be provided on the submissions received or the subsequent deliberations.

The organization of the coordinator of the selected project will sign an acceptance statement with the BBVA Foundation setting out the conditions of the funding, which will cover at least the following points:

• Amount of funding and form of payment.
• Cost items admitted and means of accounting for the same.
• Presentation of progress reports on project milestones and final outcomes.
• Utilization, dissemination and publication rights in respect of project results.
• Arrangements for cases of non-compliance.

The signing of this statement will be a nonnegotiable pre-condition for release of the funding.

Selected projects must have their starting date no later than November 30, 2023.

The coordinators of the selected projects must provide the BBVA Foundation with an annual report on the project’s scientific implementation and budgetary execution using the template provided for this purpose.

At the end of the project, the coordinator will submit a final report using the template provided by the BBVA Foundation. The report should cover both the strictly scientific dimension and a statement of total expenditures, signed off by the organization to which the project coordinator is attached.

Annual and final reports on the project will be assessed by experts appointed by the BBVA Foundation. This panel may request written clarifications and, where appropriate, call the project coordinator and/or other team members to meetings to further the performance of its review.

Any significant change to the approved project must be notified to and expressly authorized by the BBVA Foundation.

The funding awarded will be paid to the account of the organization to which the project coordinator is attached in various instalments, according to the needs and milestones of the research project. Five percent of the total funding will be paid after the delivery and evaluation of the research project’s final report.

Results of the research projects will be in the public domain and will be assured the widest possible dissemination to the scientific community through specialist publications, lectures, conference communications and scientific meetings.

Projects should include a communication plan for sharing results with society through a range of media (digital, print, talks).

Entering this call implies, in the case of the selected projects, a commitment by researchers to make express reference to the funding support of the BBVA Foundation in any publication derived from the project, and to collaborate with the BBVA Foundation in any communication and/or dissemination action linked to the project and this call. The support received should figure as follows: “Title of project – BBVA Foundation Fundamentos Program 2022.”

The BBVA Foundation may request the collaboration of researchers in activities to disseminate the project’s results. Schedules in such cases will be arranged by mutual consent.

The act of participating in this call signifies the acceptance of its conditions and resolution, which will not be open to appeal, and the renunciation of any claim in its respect.

Exceptionally, the BBVA Foundation reserves the right to make changes in the wording of these conditions, for duly justified reasons, for the sole purpose of clarifying their content, without such changes in any case implying a substantial or arbitrary alteration of the same. The text of the conditions and the associated FAQs, whose reading we recommend, will be available for the duration of this call on the BBVA Foundation website.