Fundamentos Research Program 2024

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

A maximum of 4 grants will be awarded in each area for a gross amount of up to 250,000 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 one additional principal investigator, 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 20% 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Projects must be original, unpublished and clearly innovative in their approach.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 they are attached, using the online form available on the BBVA Foundation website: www.fbbva.es.

Applications may be written in Spanish or 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, they 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, they should give proof of having been resident in Spain for at least three years on the date of submitting the application, furnishing their registration certificate of Union citizen and a municipal certificate of residence attesting to their 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 envisaged contribution of each discipline.
  5. Work plan, calendar and percentage breakdown of expenditure between the participating centers.
  6. Results dissemination and utilization plan.
• Short curriculum vitae (5 pages max.) of all research team members.
• Projects involving research in humans, use of samples of human origin, use of cells and tissues of human embryonic origin or cell lines derived therefrom, as well as projects involving clinical trials, animal experimentation, use of biological agents, acquisition or exchange of genetic material or that carry out studies using surveys or the capture of personal data, must comply with the provisions of the applicable regulations in force in each case. Beneficiaries and, subsidiarily, the centers to which they are attached will be responsible for ensuring that all such provisions are complied with in full.
• 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 with 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 20% 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 30, 2024 to March 31, 2025 at 12 noon, 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 10 calendar days as of this notification in which to rectify the information, so the entry may be accepted for consideration.

The submissions received will undergo a selection process in the charge of evaluation committees specific to each area appointed by the BBVA Foundation and made up of experts of acknowledged prestige. These committees will act with complete independence, relying on the best metrics of the specialist field and with safeguards in place to prevent conflicts of interest.

The committees’ work of evaluation and selection will proceed in two stages:

1. Individual assessment by each member of the evaluation committee.
2. Collegiate assessment by the evaluation committee, which will assign a final score to each project and establish the corresponding rank order.

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.

All deliberations will be kept confidential.

The resolution of the call will be publicly announced no later than July 31, 2025. 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, www.fbbva.es, 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 October 1, 2025.

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 following 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. Ten 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 2024.”

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: www.fbbva.es.