Science and Universities

In accordance with the provisions of the fourth base of the regulatory bases, it is compulsory to complete and submit the application through the Barcelona City Council procedures portal (procedure available when the application period opens; more information on the City Council Grants portal).

The following may apply for this call:

• Natural persons: the applicant assumes the role of Principal Investigator (PI hereinafter), and in the event that the project is subsidised, that of beneficiary.
• Legal entities: the applicant assumes the role of applicant and, if the project is subsidised, that of beneficiary. The requirements to be met by the legal entity are as follows: public universities, their research institutes and private universities; public research bodies; other R&D centres with their own legal personality linked to the public administrations, or majority-owned by the public sector; public and private non-profit health entities and institutions, linked or subsidised by the National Health System or the ICS, which carry out research work; and companies and business organisations linked to the content of the project, with fewer than 50 employees and with research or innovation as one of their priority objectives.

Legal entities must have their registered office or tax domicile in the municipality of Barcelona or in its metropolitan region. In the case of natural persons, this requirement does not apply.

• They must have their registered office or tax domicile in the municipality of Barcelona, or in its metropolitan region.
• The PI of the project must be emerging scientific personnel. In other words, they must have defended and passed their first doctoral thesis after 1 January 2015, inclusive. This measure aims to promote the scientific careers of emerging scientists, i.e. those who have started working in science only a few years ago. In the event that the natural person has taken maternity/paternity leave or leave to care for family members up to the first degree from 1 January 2013 onwards, the time of this care may be taken into account in the application, and the deadline for obtaining the doctoral thesis may be postponed for the full period of leave starting on 1 January 2015.
• The person who adopts the role of PI in the project cannot be listed as PI in any other application under this call.
• All projects require the participation of one or two mentors, who must be scientific staff, and who endorse the project and undertake to monitor it throughout the period of development. These mentors must be proposed by the PI; if there are two, they must respect gender parity or be two women; and they must have a permanent link with a research group, research centre or university, among other requirements.
• Changes in the role of PI linked to the project will not be accepted during the development of the project (neither in the project appraisal process, nor in the execution of the project). Only in cases of force majeure may a change of PI be proposed, which must be requested and positively resolved by the Department of Science and Universities in order to be effective.

The deadline for applications is from 3rd August to 12th September, both inclusive.

The term "science" or "scientific" is understood to refer to all branches of knowledge, ranging from the natural, theoretical and experimental sciences to the arts and humanities, social sciences and engineering. From this point of view, projects should be based on the search for challenges that fall into one of these three thematic areas, and address one of the seven specific challenges:

• Health and well-being in the city
  • Population density, housing and public space
  • Social welfare and improved public services
  • Quality of life for ageing, children and/or young people
• Circular economy and climate action
  • Climate emergency and city
  • Sustainable mobility of people and goods
  • New spaces and models of responsible consumption and production
• Community organisation, democracy and participation
  • Community and participation

Grants have a maximum amount of 60,000 euros per project. If selected, the projects will be financed in the totality of the amount requested, respecting the above-mentioned limit, and subject to the existence of adequate and sufficient credit.

Eligible costs are considered to be those that undoubtedly correspond to the nature of the eligible activity and are incurred during the period of implementation of the project. As indicated in the seventh base, in the case of audit costs, as well as, exceptionally, other duly justified costs, they may be charged after the end of the project.

Direct eligible costs:

• Personnel costs. This includes the labour costs of personnel expressly involved in the implementation of the project (including salary and social security contributions). Staff may be involved for part or all of the duration of the project.
• Expenses derived from dissemination, publicity, preparation of didactic and training material, organisation of meetings of experts, congresses, seminars and conferences, workshops, and other dissemination activities associated with the best execution of the project.
• Expenditure on the purchase of consumable technical or production material necessary for the development of the project (office material, chemical reagents, stone plates, pipette sockets, etc.).
• Expenses for the purchase of inventoriable movable goods: scientific and technical equipment and computer software necessary for the development of the research.
• Travel expenses, registration and attendance at congresses, workshops, seminars and conferences linked to the object of the project of the members of the team that has obtained the subsidy.
• Audit costs are eligible project costs up to a maximum of 3,000 euros.

Eligible indirect costs (may not exceed 18% of the total expenditure foreseen in the budget):

• In natural persons, taxes linked to the management of the project.
• In legal persons, overheads linked to the management of grants.

In addition, this call allows the subcontracting of subsidised activities by beneficiaries up to a maximum of 50% of the amount of the grant.

The following are not eligible

• Indirect taxes when they are subject to recovery or compensation, nor income taxes.
• Working meals and subsistence expenses, unless they are unequivocally linked to the holding of a congress, conference or workshop.
• Hospitality of a protocolary nature.
• Contributions to national or international scientific societies.
• The amounts approved under the concept of direct implementation costs may be allocated to any of the eligible expenses, in accordance with the needs of the project. In no case may variations alter the total amount of the grant, and their necessity must be adequately justified in the monitoring or justification documentation.

The application for the 2021 call consists of the following documentation to be submitted:

• Basic Document 1: Application form (Annex 1)*.
• Basic Document 2: Scientific and technical report of the project (Annex 2)*. With a maximum length of 15 pages (a page is understood to be each side of a sheet of paper). Times Roman font must be used, 11 point size, single spacing. The environmental, social and gender implications must be taken into account in the drafting of this report. It should also take into account the non-use of discriminatory or sexist language. Basic Document 2 should only include the following sections:
  • Summary of the project (abstract), 300 words maximum, written in Catalan or Spanish.
  • Objectives of the project (general and specific) and research questions.
  • Planned methodology.
  • Members of the research group.
  • Expected results of the research and details of the value that these can bring to the city of Barcelona, both in terms of political decision-making and for the life of citizens and knowledge.
  • Work plan and timetable for carrying out the project.
  • The incorporation, where appropriate, of individuals or entities as collaborators who can contribute to the project.
• Basic Document 3: Project economic viability plan (Annex 3)*. The plan must indicate the general budget of the project for its implementation, and include all the foreseen expenses and income, as well as the adequacy of the resources requested to the reality of the project.
• Basic Document 4: curriculum vitae of the project's PI (Annex 4)*, with a maximum length of four pages.
• Basic Document 5: letter of endorsement from the project's mentor(s) (Annex 5)*. This document must include the curriculum vitae of the mentor(s) (maximum four pages per CV).
• Tax ID number of the natural and/or legal person receiving the grant.
• (only in the case of legal persons) Documentation accrediting the legal personality, as well as its registration in the corresponding register.
• (only in the case of legal persons) National identity card of the legal representative of the legal entity.

*In case of failure to submit any of the Basic Documents within the deadline for submission, the application will be rejected.

The respective annexes will be made available to applicants once the call for applications is opened, at the electronic office of the City Council.

The projects will be evaluated by external national and international experts in the fields covered by the call, according to the following three criteria, each of which will be evaluated from 0 to 10 and will have a different weight in the final assessment: the scientific and technical quality (35%), the implementation capacity (35%) and the social impact of the projects (30%).

In order to be awarded, the projects will have to obtain, in the total sum, a minimum of 6 points out of 10. In addition, if this is fulfilled, up to 0.25 additional points can be obtained, as a result of the following characteristics of the projects:

• If the project incorporates a woman in the role of Principal Investigator: 0.15 points.
• If the project incorporates master's degree students, postgraduate students or staff in pre-doctoral status (studying for a doctorate) as members of the project development team: 0.05 points per student (up to a maximum of 0.10 points).

This evaluation will be sent to the Evaluation Commission, which will make the proposal of projects to be subsidised.

The Evaluation Commission is made up of the following members:

• The Deputy Mayor for Culture, Education, Science and Community, or the person he/she delegates, who will chair the committee.
• The manager of the Area Management of Culture, Education, Science and Community, or the person she delegates.
• The Head of the Department of Science and Universities of Barcelona City Council, or the person delegated by her.
• The Director of Resources of the Area Management of Culture, Education, Science and Community, or the person delegated by her.
• Two members of the Scientific Advisory Board of Barcelona City Council, appointed by the Deputy Mayor for Culture, Education, Science and the Community.

For the smooth running of the session, they will also form part of the committee, with the right to speak but not to vote:

• The advisor to the Deputy Mayor's Office for Culture, Education, Science and Community.
• A technical person from the Department of Science and Universities, who will act as technical secretary of the Assessment Committee.
• The delegated secretary of the Management of the Department of Culture, Education, Science and Community, who will act as the legal secretary of the Assessment Committee.

In the event of being a beneficiary of the subsidy, the following documentation must be submitted within 10 working days of notification of the provisional decision:

• Both in the case of natural persons and beneficiary legal entities:
  • Doctorate degree of the PI, showing the date on which it was obtained.
  • Document of assignment of image rights of the members of the team (Annex 6). Express authorisation for Barcelona City Council to be authorised to reproduce and publish through any media, including the internet and social networks, their image and voice, including names, surnames, role within the project and affiliation entity.
  • The completion of the bank account designation procedure from the Barcelona City Council website procedures portal, through this link.
• Only in the case of beneficiary legal entities:
  • Transparency declaration (Annex 7). Legal entities that become beneficiaries must submit a responsible declaration of transparency according to the model provided, in accordance with article 15.2 of Law 19/2014, of 29 December, on transparency, access to public information and good governance, for grants of €10,000 or more.

The respective annexes will be made available to applicants once the call for applications is opened, at the electronic office of the City Council.

The results of the project must be disseminated through a dissemination article to be published and openly accessible through the municipal website, to be delivered within 3 months after the end of the project, together with a summary of the dissemination actions derived from the project. This article is complementary to the delivery of the final scientific-technical report.

Subsidised projects must be disseminated through the usual channels in the scientific field, as well as participating in public dissemination activities, on their own initiative or at the proposal of Barcelona City Council in the events it organises, such as the City and Science Biennial. Attendance at these events is compulsory for at least one member of the project, and forms part of the social return for obtaining the municipal grant.

In the scientific articles resulting from the research, as well as in the participation in any dissemination activity where the project is mentioned, it must be stated that "the project has been funded by Barcelona City Council and the Ministry of Science and Innovation in the framework of Barcelona Cultural and Scientific Capital".

The data resulting from the research will be made public, preferably using open science channels and/or via the Barcelona City Council website.

Approved grants will be published in the BOPB and on the City Council's Subsidies portal, the Barcelona City Council website and the Virtual Office.

In order to check your application, you will need the registration number and the procedure reference number.

For questions and clarifications, please contact subvencions_ciencia [a] bcn.cat.