Getting started
Funding decisions in the Seventh Framework Programmer (FP7) are made on the basis of proposals submitted following calls published by the Commission. Proposals describe planned research activities, information on who will carry them out, and how much they will cost. They must be submitted using a special web-based service before a strictly-enforced deadline. The Commission evaluates all eligible proposals in order to identify those whose quality is sufficiently high for possible funding. The basis for this evaluation is a peer-review carried out by independent experts.
The Commission then negotiates with some or all of those whose proposals have successfully passed the evaluation stage, depending on the budget available. If negotiations are successfully concluded, grant agreements providing for an EU financial contribution are established with the participants.

The sequence of steps is summarised in this flow chart:


The Guide for Applicants contains the essential information to guide you through the mechanics of preparing and submitting a proposal. It is important that you have the correct document! Not only are there different Guides for different calls, there may also be different Guides for other funding schemes within the same call. You must also refer to the work programmer covering the theme1 of FP7 related to this call. This provides a detailed description of the objectives and topics which are open for proposals, and will describe the wider context of research activities in this area. Work programmers are revised each year, so make sure you refer to the latest version before preparing your proposal.

Presenting your proposal
A proposal has two parts:
Part A will contain the administrative information about the proposal and the participants. The information requested includes a brief description of the work, contact details and characteristics of the participants, and information related to the funding requested. This information will be encoded in a structured database for further computer processing to produce, for example, statistics, and evaluation reports. This information will also support the experts and Commission staff during the evaluation process.
The information in Part A is entered through a set of on-line forms.
Part B is a "template", or list of headings, rather than an administrative form. You should follow this structure when presenting the scientific and technical content of
your proposal. The template is designed to highlight those aspects that will be assessed against the evaluation criteria. It covers, among other things, the nature of the proposed work, the participants and their roles in the proposed project, and the impacts that might be expected to arise from the proposed work. Only black and white copies are used for evaluation and you are strongly recommended, therefore, not to use color in your document.
Part B of the proposal is uploaded by the applicant into the Electronic Proposal Submission.

Proposal language
Proposals may be prepared in any official language of the European Union. If your proposal is not
in English, a translation of the full proposal would be of assistance to the experts. An English translation of the abstract may be included in Part B of the proposal.