Regulations

Article 1. General

1.1 The Ammodo Science Award for groundbreaking research (the Award) is presented biennially by the Ammodo Foundation (Ammodo).

1.2 The Award is intended to finance new (potentially) groundbreaking research questions generated by existing internationally recognised high quality and groundbreaking research that is being carried out by a group of researchers. The research may be international, multi-disciplinary or inter-disciplinary and is carried out (amongst others) at one or more Dutch universities and/or the NWO or KNAW institutes (Knowledge Institutes).

1.3 For each edition, the Award is given to research projects in all four scientific domains (one per Domain). These four Domains are: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Biomedical Sciences and Humanities.

1.4 For each edition,the Award consists of two prizes of EUR 800,000 (eight hundred thousand euros) for the Social Sciences and Humanities (one prize per Domain) and two prizes of EUR 1,600,000 (one million six hundred thousand euros) for the Biomedical Sciences and Natural Sciences (one prize per Domain).

1.5 The Award shall, in accordance with these regulations, be used in its entirety to finance the research.

Article 2. Nominations

2.1 Each of the rectors of the 14 Universities affiliated to Universities of The Netherlands (UNL) may nominate one research project per Domain per edition.

2.2 Nominations can be submitted by sending the nomination form with the requested annexes to asa@ammodo.org by Friday 6 October 2023 at the latest. The nomination form can be considered submitted once the nominator has received an acknowledgement of receipt email from Ammodo.

2.3 The rectors cannot nominate a research project in which they themselves are involved as researchers or in which a member of the Ammodo board is involved.

Article 3. Criteria

Nominations will be assessed according to the following criteria:

1) The scientific impact of the existing research.

  • The research has already led to leading results that can be seen, for example, in publications (journals and/or books or chapters of books), or contributions to scientific conferences or other quality indicators recognised in the field in question.
  • The research is leading internationally within its field
  • The research is groundbreaking and distinguishes itself from other comparable research in terms of quality, originality, results and/or publications and future expectations (continuation of the research).

2) The potential scientific impact of the proposed research.

  • The existing research has generated new research questions, and these are potentially groundbreaking.

To be considered for evaluation any research proposal which is submitted must satisfy the following conditions:

  • No or insufficient funding is available for the newly generated research questions at the time of submitting the nomination.
  • At least one Knowledge Institute must be involved in the research.
  • The research may be cross-Domain, but is nominated by the nominator for one Domain chosen by him/her.

Article 4. Advisory committees

4.1 For each Domain, Ammodo appoints an advisory committee consisting of five members, all of whom are professors (Advisory Committee).

4.2 Each Advisory Committee is supported by a secretary from Ammodo.

4.3 The task of the Advisory Committee is to assess all nominations within the designated Domain and, on the basis of a considered and substantiated opinion, to recommend a research project within the relevant Domain to the board of Ammodo to receive the Award.

Article 5. Award and presentation

5.1 After receiving the recommendations of the Advisory Committees, the board of Ammodo will take a final decision on the granting of the Award before 31 December of the year prior to presentation of the Award.

5.2 The Award will be presented by Ammodo during an award ceremony organised by Ammodo in the first half of the year of presentation.

Article 6. Expenditure

6.1 The Award must be used to fund the research questions as further described in the Research Plan as defined in Article 7.1.

6.2 The Award can be used to cover staff costs, material costs, international exchanges, travel and accommodation costs.

6.3 The Award may not be used to finance overhead costs or any other costs of the Knowledge Institute(s) where the research is conducted which are not directly incurred as a result of the research.

Article 7. Research plan and accountability

7.1 Within one year of presentation of the Award, a research plan will be submitted by the Administrator (as defined below) to Ammodo for approval. The plan must describe the research questions in more detail and include both a timetable and a detailed budget (with a capital requirement for each stage of the research) (the Research Plan). If the research is carried out by researchers from several Knowledge Institutes the roles of the different researchers (and the distribution of the budget) should be specifically explained in the Research Plan.

7.2 Material amendments to the Research Plan must be discussed with Ammodo in advance and approved by Ammodo.

7.3 Ammodo will transfer the Award in stages to a single Knowledge Institute (the Administrator) (even if the research is carried out at more than one Knowledge Institute) in accordance with the approved Research Plan. The Administrator shall confirm in writing that it is bound by these regulations.

7.4 Within 4 months of the end of a calendar year, the Administrator will provide an annual financial and substantive report on the funded research.

7.5 Within 6 months of completion of the funded research, the Administrator shall submit to Ammodo a substantive and financial report on the entire funded research, including an audit drawn up by an external auditor.

7.6 The external auditor shall determine at the time of the audit that the funds have been spent in accordance with the approved Research Plan (and the associated budget).

7.7 If the funded research is terminated prematurely for whatever reason, any part of the amount received that has not yet been spent on the basis of a financial settlement with an external auditor’s report will be refunded to Ammodo without delay and Ammodo will not be obliged to pay any further amounts in connection with the Award.

Article 8. Changes and contingencies

8.1 These regulations are available in Dutch and English. In the event of a discrepancy between the regulations in the Dutch language and the regulations in the English language, the provisions of the regulations in the Dutch language shall prevail.

8.2 These regulations may be amended by a resolution of the board of Ammodo.

8.3 The board of Ammodo will decide on all matters that arise which are not covered by these regulations.