Evaluation Process

The evaluation process for NANOBIO4CAN will be carried out in four phases:

Phase 1- Eligibility Check (2 weeks): Once the call is closed, the Central Management Office will check that applicants a) fulfil the eligibility rules; and b) obligatory documentation has been provided and that it respects the formatting rules. Ineligible applications will not be evaluated.

Phase 2- Evaluation of Merits (6 weeks): The Scientific Evaluation Committee (SEC) formed by external independent experts from recognised national and international universities, research centres and industry will remotely evaluate the applications.

Ethics Check: In parallel with the remote peer review evaluation, all eligible proposals will be sent to the Ethical Committee (EC). The EC will evaluate which applicants/proposals need to provide an official approval letter from the ethical committee of the host organization.

The evaluation process will be focused on the scientific merit, trajectory of the researcher (i.e., past performance) and the research project proposed. The Selection Committee will elaborate a ranking list and will propose applicants selected for interview to the PMO. All applicants will be informed about the results of the evaluation.

Phase 3-Interviews (2 weeks): Selected applicants will be invited to present their projects to the Interview Committee. All interviews will be conducted in English through Zoom on the same specified date(s) for all applicants, to give equal opportunities to applicants. Applicants will be asked to make a 10-minute presentation of themselves and their proposal, followed by 10 minutes of questions and answers. This evaluation stage puts more emphasis on the potential of the applicant.

In Phase 4- Final Scoring & Ranking (3 weeks):  After the interviews are completed, the Interview Panel will agree on the score for each applicant. The interview panel will elaborate on a score and ranking list and will propose to the Core Management Committee. The CMC will produce the final ranking list that will determine the awardees, and those to be considered as reserve list.

The final evaluation summary report will include the score and feedback to the applicant about the strengths and weaknesses of the application with regard to the evaluation criteria.

Recruitment: The selected applicants will be invited to initiate the recruitment process. Selected applicants will be required to confirm acceptance of the offered position within 15 days. If an offer is rejected or the applicant does not reply to the offer in the allotted time, the reserve list will be activated by order of ranking. Selected applicants will have up to 3 months to join the programme.