Projects

Before submitting any project proposal on behalf of the UP Faculty of Science, the approval of the Dean and the Secretary of the faculty with the submission is necessary, regardless of whether the investigator from UP is the principal investigator or co-investigator.

Documents required to complete the administrative steps for submitting a project proposal:

• Properly completed green request form – in Czech “košilka” (Request for consent to submit a project proposal to the grant provider – 1 original), signed by the proponent and the head of the department.
• Brief information on the project (1 original).

Submit everything in print, including the signatures (even before submitting it in the online platform, by data message, to the file service or by mail) to the Department of Project Support (DPS) FS UP officer (department 3905), who will help with the forms and ensure the signatures (of the Dean, Secretary) on the application. Please, observe the faculty deadline one week prior to the call deadline.

The National RIS3 Strategy 2021 – 2027, the long-term strategic vision “Resilient economy based on knowledge and innovation” formulates the basic development direction of the Czech Republic. It conditions the use of operational programs of EU funds.

The Frascati Manual, a document intended for the assessment of research and experimental development activities in relation to statistical and analytical activities, published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Gender and Equal Opportunities at UP are elaborated in the Gender Equality Plan, which sets specific goals and measures aimed at systematically addressing gender equality.

Open Science (UP) is a movement based on the idea that scientific knowledge of all kinds should be shared and used. It strives for a comprehensive change in established scientific procedures and aims to share scientific information in all areas of the life cycle, free of charge and publicly.

Research, Development and Innovation Council and strategic documents at www.vyzkum.cz.

The Department of Project Support (DPS – 3905) supports submitting projects at the UP Faculty of Science. It provides consultations and ensures administration associated with the project within the UP records. In case of queries, do not hesitate to contact the staff who will gladly help with the agenda.

The following procedures generally apply to projects:

I. Before submitting project application

1. The investigator, as well as the co-investigator, informs the relevant officer of the DPS FS about the intention to submit a project application – according to the grant provider – see the DPS FS website.
2. The submission of each project application (principal investigator and co-investigator) is approved by the Dean and the Secretary of the faculty (quality of application, additional funding, investment). Therefore, the applicant shall provide the relevant project officer with information on the project application well in advance (annotation, budget including possible co-financing in CZK/%, implementation team, work load, project consortium management system – who votes/decides and in what number – if relevant for the project). Together with the green request form – in Czech “košilka” (Request for consent to submit a project proposal to the grant provider – 1 original), the application is signed by the applicant and the head of the department. The application is accompanied by the supervisor's agreement with possible co-financing (Brief information on the project – 1 original, 1 standard page). A project officer can help with the preparation of the request form (“košilka”). Both documents must be submitted to the faculty's DPS in person or by internal mail, including the document's ERMS number. Faculty deadlines and contact persons are listed for each call on the DPS Projects website. Please, observe the faculty deadline one week prior to the call deadline.
3. Affidavits for the project proposal, where the signature of the statutory representative (UP) is required, will be forwarded by the DPS officer from the investigator/co-investigator to the Project Service of the Palacký University (PS UP) for signature (after the green request form has been signed by the management of the faculty).
4. If the application includes the delivery of a consortium contract, the applicant will hand over the contract to the DPS, which will ensure comments from the Rector's Legal Office/PS UP through the Dean's Secretariat within a period of up to 2 weeks. The signed contract must be forwarded to the DPS to be entered into the Central Contract Register (in Czech 'CES') and published in the Register of Contracts of the Ministry of the Interior (in Czech 'RS MVČR').
5. Before submitting the application in the provider's electronic platform (e.g. ISTA, ISKP), it is necessary to grant access with the right to preview the project proposal to the employees of the PS UP (ludmila.hrabakova@upol.cz).
6. Submission of applications in online platforms is ensured by the investigator. Sending of the project application in the final (printed) form or confirmation of the project submission (online) via data box is ensured by the relevant DPS officer.
7. In the event that the project proposal was not submitted to the provider after the approval of the green request form, the investigator/co-investigator is obliged to inform the faculty's DPS.

II. Project implementation

1. It is necessary to ensure the signing of the contract on the project solution, the so-called provider or grant contract – sent by the grant provider, within the deadlines set by the tender documentation or the provider's instructions. The Rector's Legal Office does not comment on the provider contract or the addendum, UP can only accede to this type of contract, but not change it. The contract is signed by the Rector or his statutory representative, in some cases also by the investigator (according to the provider's specifications).
2. The wording of all other contracts – on cooperation on the solution of part of the project (the so-called co-investigative or participation contracts), consortium contracts, co-investigative amendments to contracts etc. – is commented on by the Rector's Legal Office/PS UP before the parties sign (within a period of up to 2 weeks) or a model contract prepared by the Rector's Legal Office is used (e.g. co-investigative contracts for the Czech Science Foundation (GA CR) projects). For this purpose, the proponent (submitter) shall provide the relevant documentation (project contract, tender documentation, draft co-investigative contract, etc.).
3. The signature of all contracts and amendments for investigators and co-investigators is ensured by the DPS (relevant officer). For this purpose, the proponent (submitter) shall provide the relevant documentation (project contract, tender documentation, draft co-investigative contract, etc.) including the request form (“košilka”) necessary for the signature of the rector/statutory representative and for entering the contract/amendment to CES and RS MVCR. Project contracts are usually signed by the statutory representative (Rector) or a person authorised by him.
4. A properly completed form – the electronic request form "košilka" (request form to the contract, request form to the amendment (both in Czech)), signed by the project investigator/co-investigator (Faculty of Science) and the head of the department (FS) – must be submitted to the faculty's DPS in person or by internal mail, including the document's ERMS number. Sample preview (in Czech).
5. The final version of the contract (i.e. the contract signed by all participants) must be immediately forwarded to the faculty's DPS, which will ensure that the contract/amendment is entered into the CES (university's Central Contract Register) and subsequently inform the contract proponent about its entry into the CES. After publication of the contract in the CES, the contract is also published in the RS MVCR (Register of Contracts of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic), unless the contract proponent applies one of the exceptions and the contract/amendment does not have to be published in the RS MVCR (e.g. performance of the contract exclusively abroad). The proponent of the contract/amendment is informed about the publication via an automatically generated email. The key user of the Faculty of Science informs the investigator/co-investigator by e-mail about entering of the contract/amendment in the CES.
6. According to the Act on the Register of Contracts (340/2015 Coll.), contracts/amendments become effective only on the date of publication in the RS MVCR.
7. According to the Act on the Register of Contracts, the deadline for sending the contract/amendment to the RS MVCR is a maximum of 30 days from the conclusion of the contract/amendment, i.e. from the date of the last signature specified in the contract/amendment. Furthermore, if the contract/amendment is not published in the RS MVCR within three months of the date of the last signature, it becomes invalid. This may result in sanctions by the provider.
8. A key user (Mgr. Silvie Šavrňáková, silvie.savrnakova@upol.cz, tel. +420 585 634 011) is responsible for the registration of contracts/amendments at the Faculty of Science. In case of questions, doubts or requests to black out selected passages in the contract/amendment, contact her by e-mail.
9. The general rules and procedure for keeping records of contracts (and amendments) at UP are regulated by the UP Rector's Directive R-B-22/08 (in Czech), which is binding for all UP employees.
10. The originals of contracts and amendments are sent to the Rector's Legal Office for archiving via the faculty's DPS.
11. For the actual implementation of the project, the investigator/co-investigator must have the knowledge on the project implementation conditions – tender documentation, general conditions and other appendices and methodological guidelines issued by the grant provider.
12. Prior to the start of the project implementation, the investigator/co-investigator contacts the Economic Department (Ing. D. Kopecká) for the allocation of the SPP element of the project and the HR Department (Mgr. V. Vašková, V. Caletková) to provide employment contracts, agreements on changes in the employment contracts, proposal for change of salary classification and also job descriptions of the project staff.

III. Partial reports, final reports, activity reports, project implementation reports

1. Partial reports, final reports, activity reports and project implementation reports must be accompanied by a yellow request form “košilka” (Request form for the signature of the Monitoring (or other) report on the project – signed by the investigator and the head of the department) if the signature of the statutory officer is required on the report documents.
2. According to the specific conditions of the individual providers – see the information on the providers' websites (tender documentation, general conditions, etc.) and the websites of the faculty's DPS. If the original project proposal is changed during the project solution, the investigator must inform the provider about this change in accordance with the tender documentation or the provider's guidelines.
3. Project sustainability. The duration and method of fulfilment is defined by the provider and is binding for the investigator (UP/faculty) according to the wording in the relevant project documents of the provider (tender documents, contracts, website, etc.). For example, GA CR has the following sentence in the provider contracts: “The validity and effectiveness of this Agreement shall expire 720 days after the date of completion of the Project.” Thus, the contract expires on the date specified in the contract, plus 720 days added to the project completion date.

Central Contract Register (CES) – general rules and binding procedure for keeping records of contracts (and amendments) at UP are regulated by the UP Rector’s directive.

Register of Contracts (RS) – search for published contracts on the website of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (MVCR).

SPP element (in Czech: SPP prvek) is assigned to each project (Ing. Kopecká) and the investigator has the possibility to monitor the budget spending on the project through the UP Portal. After logging in to portal.upol.cz, the “SAP” icon appears on the right, in one of the menus. After clicking on it, a new page will appear where the option “Drawing from the SPP elements” (in Czech: Čerpání SPP prvků) can be selected on the left. On this page, the SPP elements of the projects that the investigator has assigned to his name (principal investigator of the project) should be available. He/She can enter the period for which he/she wants to know the status of the fund withdrawal. The SAP summary contains the items charged to the given SPP element.

In the event of the need to review any contract related to the project, it is necessary to deliver to the Rector's Legal Office all necessary documents such as the project proposal, tender documentation, support contract, general terms and conditions, binding parameters, type of tender/provider, decision.

Training for project staff, even if it is professional training, is not an eligible cost. Conference costs are only an eligible cost in case of active participation in the conference and only on the days of the conference.