FAQs ARF second call
The most frequently asked questions about applying for the Applied Research Fund are listed
here.
1. Changes, results and remaining budget of the ARF Call
2. Consortium requirements and how to search for partners
3. Financial affairs: co-funding and reimbursable personnel costs
4. Application form – frequent eligibility problems
5. Submitting an application in IRIS
1.1.1 I) Changes, results and remaining budget
1. Which changes have been made within the second call of ARF, compared to the first call?
The second ARF call for proposals consists of 3 rounds, with respective deadlines of 1 October 2014, 12
January 2015 and 12 May 2015. In between, changes may be made to the call for proposals, please
always consult the latest version of the call at the ARF website, before composing an application. Several
changes have been made in the second call for proposals:
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The call specifically asks projects to identify bottlenecks at the systemic level that hamper
scaling, application or innovation potential and to reflect on possible solutions.
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Knowledge sharing and local embedding receive additional attention in this call e.g. through the
draft of a communication plan.
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In order to enhance Dutch knowledge and research on food security and private sector
development, a Dutch partner has become compulsory. This can be a research organisation or a
practioner organisation. The main applicant remains a practioner from one of the partner
countries and must apply jointly with a research organisation.
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Alignment with the Multi-Annual Strategic Plans of the Dutch embassies remains important.
Proposals need to align with the MASP’s analysis with regard to the food security of the respective
partner countries, not necessarily with the specific activities of the Embassy itself.
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The assessment procedure has been prolonged from three to four months.
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The 20% co-funding requirement has changed. Instead of 20% of the total budget it now has to
be 20% of the requested grant. The minimum amount of co-funding can be calculated as follows:
requested grant from ARF/100*20. For example, in case the maximum grant of € 300.000 is
requested, the co-funding should amount to a minimum of € 60.000.
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
In this call local and international research organisations are also required to contribute to the
20% co- funding instead of only private practitioner (for profit and non-profit) organisations.
Financing by Dutch research organisations still does not qualify as co-funding.

A Consortium Agreement format composed by NWO-WOTRO has to be used. This draft can be
found online.
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For the third round of the second Call a consortium agreement no longer has to be signed by the
heads of departments. It does however need to be included in the application and be completed
as far as possible.

A checklist can be found as part of the application form to enhance your chances within our
eligibility check. This checklist does not need to be submitted as part of your research proposal. It
is added for your own convenience.
2. What has been the outcome of the first call of ARF?
The Food & Business Programme Committee and the WOTRO Board have jointly decided to fund in total
15 proposals that were submitted as a response to the first call . Details of the awarded projects can be
found here.
3. What is the budget for the second call of ARF?
A maximum budget of 4 million euro is available for the second call for proposals (2014/2015). In the
following years consecutive calls will follow, which may be reformulated according to the urgency of the
needs as identified by the Food & Business Knowledge Platform.
4. If a project is rejected, can you reapply in the next round?
Yes, unless the Programme Committee has advised you otherwise.
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1.1.2 II) Consortium requirements and searching for partners
1. What should the composition of the consortium be?
A consortium applying for the ARF should consist of at least two partners that integrate different kinds of
knowledge and execute a project as an effort of co-creation:
a) A private or public practitioner organisation registered in one of the 15 partner countries of Dutch
development cooperation acting as the main applicant.
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b) A research organisation from a partner country or from the Netherlands, acting as a co-applicant.
c)
In case the organisation/company under A is not a local branch of a Dutch partner or the
research organisation under B is not from The Netherlands, a third co-applicant is required, that
is from The Netherlands. This can be a private or public practioner organisation or a research
organisation.
To the above, the following definitions apply:
A. Practitioners organisations may include any type of organisation other than research or higher
education organisations that represent a group of people actively engaged in food security, both
1) private for profit enterprises and related support organisations, as well as 2) private non-profit
organisations such as non-governmental organisation, cooperatives, unions, civil society
organisations, et cetera, and 3) public organisation such as governmental departments of line
ministries or local governments, extension services. The practitioners organisation should be
formally registered in the partner country.
B. Research organisations are institutions that: (cumulative conditions)
- have as one of their main objectives to carry out independent research or provide higher
educations;
- have no profit motive other than that for the purposes of further research or higher education;
- whose researchers enjoy freedom of publication in the international academic literature.
A research organisations can also be categorized as 1) private for profit, 2) private non-profit or 3)
public.
2. Can additional partners be involved?
Yes, the involvement of additional partners, acting as co-applicant, is encouraged. This additional partner
can be a public or private, practitioner or research organisation, there are no restrictions to the country
of residence.
3. What are the partner countries of Dutch development cooperation and what is the link with
Dutch development policy?
ARF provides grants for applied research projects geared at developing new solutions for practical
problems in the partner countries, which may also include a regional perspective. The 15 partner
countries are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali,
Mozambique, Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Yemen.
The project needs to align with the Dutch embassies’ Multi-Annual Strategic Plans’ analysis with regard to
the food security of the respective partner countries, not necessarily with the specific activities of the
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Embassy itself. After a proposal has been submitted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will assess the
required alignment of the proposal with the MASP of the partner country(-ies) involved. This is part of the
eligibility check.
4. How can I get in contact with potential partners to jointly submit proposals?
This is foremost a responsibility of the applicants themselves. You can however contact the Food &
Business Knowledge Platform for advice.
1.1.3 III) Financial affairs: co-funding and reimbursable
personnel costs
1. What are the maximum personnel costs that can be reimbursed?
Salaries for which reimbursement is requested should not exceed the maximum gross (before tax) fulltime month rates of € 3200 for support research staff, € 4500 for junior research staff (such as PhDs)
and € 6500 for senior research staff. These maximum rates hold for all partners of the consortium (public
or private, practitioner or research organisation, North or South). However, salaries for personnel should
be guided by the organisations’ norms and legal regulations for the country concerned, as long as they do
not exceed the above maximum amounts.
2. How much co-funding is required?
In case private practitioner organisations (for profit and non-profit) and/or local and international
research organisations are involved in the project execution, they must together contribute 20% to the
requested grant in cash or in kind. Financing by Dutch research organisations does not qualify as cofunding. Additional co-funding by public practitioner partners is encouraged but not required.
The minimum amount of co-funding can be calculated as follows: requested grant from ARF/100*20. For
example, in case the maximum grant of € 300.000 is requested, the co-funding should amount to a
minimum of € 60.000.
3. What is and what is not permitted as co-funding?
In kind co-funding contributions may include materials, licenses, knowledge or personnel time on the
condition they are capitalized and form an integral part of the project. The amount of the in kind
contribution of personnel costs should be guided by the organisations’ norms and legal regulations for the
country concerned. These salaries should not exceed the maximum gross (before tax) rates of € 3200 for
support research staff, € 4500 for junior research staff (such as PHDs) and € 6500 for senior research
staff.
Not permitted as in-kind contributions include: discounts on commercial rates and costs related to the
exploitation of the research results. In addition, no conditions may be imposed on the co-funding, nor
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may the co-funding be contingent upon reaching a certain stage in the research plan (e.g. go/no-go
moment).
4. Is co-funding required when a consortium does not consist of private practitioner
organisations?
In case there is no private practitioner partner nor a local or international research organisation involved
in the consortium, co-funding is not required.
5. Can co-funding come from projects that have been granted within other schemes (such as
FDOV)?
While it is possible to submit an application that is complementary to a project that has already been
granted, it is, however, not possible to pledge the funding of the other project as co-funding within the
ARF application. Nor is it possible to pledge the co-funding within the other project again in the ARF
application.
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1.1.4 IV) Application form – frequent eligibility problems
Question 2d: Fields of research. It is necessary to select fields of research from the list. If your field of
research is not listed, please select “Development studies”.
Question 3a: Composition of the project team - Consortium. Please mention the names of the
persons representing the organisations. Also include the codes corresponding to the type of organisation.
The options are: Practitioners organisations (A) or Research organisations (B) in combination with private
for profit (1), private non-profit (2) or public (3). For instance a NGO will be an A2 and a public university
will be a B3.
Question 4c: References. Please do not insert the names of people here as references. You may refer
to reports, policy or company briefs, websites, scientific manuscripts et cetara, which provide insight in
the track record of the candidate or the participating organisation. The maximum number of references
that can be listed is five, but whenever considered more accurate, less publications can be listed. Please
note that references do not have to be limited to scientific publications.
Overall remarks:

Add word counts where required and do not go beyond the amount of words/pages that are
requested.
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Signatures are required of all consortium members mentioned in Question 3a.

Insert only the required annexes, that is support letters, CVs and the filled in Draft consortium
agreement. Additional annexes will not be accepted.
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
Support letters should be annexed from all organisation that belong to the consortium. They
should be signed by the heads of the organisation/departments. Co-funding commitments should
be explained in detail in the support letter, if that applies to the organisation.

CVs should be annexed for all consortium members, they should apply to the persons (and not
the organisations) mentioned in Question 3a.

Use the checklist which can be found as part of the application form to enhance your chances
within our eligibility check. This checklist does not need to be submitted. It is added for your own
convenience.
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1.1.5 V) Submitting an application in IRIS
1. Do applications always have to be submitted using the IRIS system?
Yes, use of the Iris system is compulsory. Please note that the proposal should be submitted through the
IRIS account of the consortium coordinator, thus the main applicant. Further instructions for submitting
an ARF application in IRIS are found here. If, after having read the instructions, you still experience
problems submitting, please contact the IRIS helpdesk: to be reached by telephone on weekdays
between 10 am and 5 pm CET at +31 (0)900 - 696 4747 or by e-mail at iris@nwo.nl.
2. How can I select my organisation in IRIS?
Because normally only Dutch organisations can apply to NWO funding instruments, foreign applicants
have to select a fictitious organisation name ‘NWO-ARF’ from the database. This is further explained in
the IRIS instructions for submitting an ARF application. If, after having read the instructions, you still
experience problems submitting, please contact the IRIS helpdesk.
3. Is the PDF format really necessary for submitting in IRIS?
Yes, PDF is the only format accepted as it is the only one that guarantees that the files received by NWO
are identical to those sent by the applicants. If you experience any technical problems with conversion
from Word to PDF, contact your own computer support service or NWO's Iris helpdesk.
4. Is it permissible to apply for Food & Business grants simultaneously (e.g. within ARF or
within ARF and the Global Challenges Programme (GCP)?
Candidates are allowed to have applications for more than one form of Food & Business Research grants
running simultaneously, as long as the content is not similar. The applicant should however take into
account that in case both applications are granted, sufficient time is available to carry out both projects.
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