TETTRIs Call for Proposals for Third Party Projects

TETTRIs Call for Proposals for Third Party Projects

Type of grant: Cascade funding

Opening date: 12 July 2023

Deadline model: single-stage

Deadline date:
30 September 2023 23:59 (Brussels time)

Status: Closed

Expected duration of participation: From 6 to 22 months

Total funding available: €1,795,536.00

Project acronym: TETTRIs

Full name of the EU funded project: Transforming European Taxonomy through Training, Research, and Innovations

Grant agreement number: 101081903

Topic: HORIZON-CL6-2022-BIODIV-01-02 - Building taxonomic research capacity near biodiversity hotspots and for protected areas by networking natural history museums and other taxonomic facilities

Submission & evaluation process

Submission of proposal:

The call for proposals for the Third Party Projects (3PP) was opened at 12:00 CEST on the 30th of June 2023. Eligibility criterial and application guidelines can be found here.The deadline for submitting proposals is 30th September 2023, 23:59:59 CEST using the online submission portal.

Qualification, Assessment and Evaluation process/criteria:

The evaluation committee consists of two parties, the 3PP Administrator and the Community Implementation Board (CIB). The 3PP Administrator is specialised in organising and evaluating proposals, in monitoring and assessing the approved 3PP, and finally in disseminating their outcomes. TETTRIs envisages subcontracting those tasks to an external experienced service provider. The Community Implementation Board (CIB) of TETTRIs is composed of individuals whose expertise cover various societal sectors relevant to TETTRIs and have in-depth knowledge on the critical areas that the project is focusing on, such as taxonomic research, citizen science and biodiversity conservation.

The qualification, assessment and evaluation process for project proposals will be done in four steps:

Level 1. Eligibility check - The Evaluation Committee will:

• Verify if the applicant and partners meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the call for proposals
• Check if the proposal was submitted within the deadline and includes all required documents and information. If not, the applicant will be contacted in order to submit the missing details.
• Check if there is a selected main topic in the proposal. If not, the applicant will be contacted in order to specify the main topic.
• Check if the budget requested and timelines are within the boundaries described in the Call.

Level 2. Basic quality assessment - The Evaluation Committee will:

• Check if the applicant is experienced in the main selected topic of the project, e.g., the applicant or partners have a good track record for delivering the outputs. (This will be checked based on the information provided in part 6 of the general information.)
• Check if the proposal meets the specific eligibility and quality criteria for the selected topic. (This will be checked based on the information provided in the excellence, impact and implementation section.)
• Assess the collaborative approach; the cooperation with TETTRIs consultants, specialists or trainers is planned in the project in line with the specific descriptions of the Topics. (This will be assessed based on the information provided in part 8 of the excellence section)
• Assess the described outcomes related to the expected outcomes as described in the Topics (This will be assessed based on the instructions in the topic descriptions, excellence and impact section)
• Assess the practical impact described in the proposal (This will be assessed based on the information provided in part 10 of the impact section)
• Assess the proposed stakeholder engagement towards the practical impact. (This will be assessed based on the information provided in part 11 of the impact section)
• Check/conform to the ethics grid, gender equality and diversity. (This will be checked based on the information provided in the ethics section and part 12 of the impact section)

Level 3. Top-quality assessment - The Evaluation Committee will:

Evaluate the submitted proposals based upon their a)excellence, b)impact, d)quality and efficiency of implementation. Within each evaluation section the proposals will be scored based on the scoring rate below:

0 — The proposal fails to address the criterion or cannot be assessed due to missing or incomplete information.

1 — Poor. The criterion is inadequately addressed, or there are serious inherent weaknesses.

2 — Fair. The proposal broadly addresses the criterion, but there are significant weaknesses.

3 — Good. The proposal addresses the criterion well, but a number of shortcomings are present.

4 — Very Good. The proposal addresses the criterion very well, but a small number of shortcomings are present.

5 — Excellent. The proposal successfully addresses all relevant aspects of the criterion. Any shortcomings are minor.

a) Excellence (30/100%)

The following aspects will be taken into account, to the extent that the proposed work and the work described in the work programme are aligned:

• Clarity of the project’s objectives, and the extent to which the proposed work is ambitious, and goes beyond the state of the art.
• Sufficiency and competence of the collaborative approach, and how the collaboration with TETTRIs consultants will be hosted in an efficient manner.
• Soundness of the proposed methodology, including the underlying concepts, models, assumptions, appropriate consideration of the gender dimension in research and innovation content.

b) Impact (40/100%)

The following aspects will be taken into account, to the extent that the proposed work corresponds to the description in the work programme:

• Credibility of the pathways to achieve the expected outcomes and impacts specified in the work programme of the proposal, and the likely scale and significance of the results foreseen.
• Suitable approach to implement stakeholder engagement and to reach practical impact, considering the support of gender balance, inclusive activities and including citizen science.
• Suitability and quality of the measures to maximise expected outcomes and impacts, as set out in the dissemination and communication plan.

c) Quality and efficiency of the implementation (30/100%)

The following aspects will be taken into account, to the extent that the proposed work corresponds to the description in the work programme:

• Quality and effectiveness of the work plan, and appropriateness of the effort assigned to work packages, and the resources overall.
• Capacity and role of each participant, and the extent to which the consortium as a whole brings together the necessary expertise.
• Efficient budget distribution considering the activities within the project and the expertise necessary for the implementation of actions.

Level 4. Ranking and selection - Based on the scoring in the top-quality assessment the Evaluation Committee will:

• Select the highest-ranked project proposals for funding
• Consider the indicative division of the budget in the call for proposals.
• Create a final list of project proposals to be supported.

Access the full Proposal Guidelines here.

Further information

All information regarding TETTRIs' Third Party Projects (3PP) and how to submit your proposal can be found on the TETTRIs Website.

For any questions relating to the Call Scope, Topics or the submission process, pleasecontact the Administrator of the 3PP process. They can be contacted by email:administrator.tettris@catalyze-group.com

Task description

The TETTRIs project aims to validate the in TETTRIs developed innovative approaches aligning with the broader innovation dimensions of the TETTRIs partnership. These dimensions include:

• Enhance the taxonomic knowledge and understanding of biodiversity, particularly in European biodiversity hotspots.
• Develop and test innovative scientific approaches, tools and technologies for taxonomic research, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, genomic approaches and imaging.
• Improve the accessibility and dissemination of taxonomic information, including open-access databases through the species-level indexing of collections, and citizen science initiatives.
• Build capacity in taxonomic research and education, particularly in underrepresented European biodiversity hotspots and protected areas, that have historically received less attention, resources, or opportunities in the field of taxonomic research and education.
• Promote public awareness and engagement in taxonomic research and biodiversity conservation.

The validation of the developed innovative approaches will be supported by the call for 3PP. These 3PP should be designed to contribute to the innovative approaches that address one or more of the TETTRIs topics:

Topic 1.Species-level indexing of pollinator collections (Annex 1).

Topic 2.Improving access to local taxon lists and taxon-related scientific data through pragmatic name- mapping workflows (Annex 2).

Topic 3.The co-development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based image recognition for European terrestrial molluscs (Annex 3)

Topic 4.The co-development of AI-based sound recognition of European grasshoppers (Annex 4).

Topic 5.Innovative molecular techniques for taxonomy: integrating genomic tools for the development of cost-efficient genetic markers for species identification and delimitation (Annex 5)

Topic 6.The development of training programs for taxonomic research (Annex 6)

Topic 7.Innovative cross-disciplinary projects focused on involvement of citizen scientists in monitoring biodiversity hotspots (Annex 7).

Further information on the call can be accessed here.