Dean's Measure No. D117

regulating the system of bonus reimbursements to Faculty of Science researchers for projects and determining the method of co-financing projects

In the version of 11th of November 2024

FSci USB financially motivates successful applicants for projects with a system of bonus reimbursements, which researchers can use for any needs within the possibilities of drawing the so-called RVO funds. The system is set up to be transparent and to allow bonus funding to be awarded to investigators of all types of projects if the basic conditions for the award of the bonus are met.

Article I
Projects with the obligation to co-finance and their economic balance

For projects with the obligation of co-financing, it is necessary to provide the FSci USB Academic Senate with the D114 form and the budget, including an explanation, well in advance, at least 15 days before the project is submitted; see Dean's Measure D114. The basic rule is that the faculty should not have additional costs associated with the project.

List of possibilities of the form of co-financing to achieve an economically balanced project budget:

   1) Co-financing of the project is solved through faculty core staff
The project manager is included in the co-financing of the project if he/she is part of the research team = he/she is listed in the direct costs of the project.

   2) Co-financing of the project is solved through wages of the faculty core staff, but it is not sufficient – co-financing is paid also by the department

   3) Co-financing of the project is solved through wages of the faculty core staff, but it is not sufficient – the department is unable to pay the co-financing. It is necessary to look for other ways:

- Prove that the workload cannot be higher on the project because it is already spread over other projects (i.e., faculty saves finances within another project).
- Add an explanation from the Dean or the Head of the Department on the importance of the project so that co-financing will not be further addressed.

    4) For mobility projects (including MSCA, etc.), co-financing will always be covered by part of the organisational and administrative costs of the project, thus ensuring a balanced budget. In case of the need for additional resources to implement the project, the department provides the finances, and the Head of the Department agrees with this by signing the D114 form.

In the case where the services of an external company are used in the preparation of the project, the department contributes to these costs and part of the costs are included in the co-financing.

Article II
Determination of the bonus for the project PI

Projects with bonus for the PI

The bonus will be provided to the Principal investigator for projects where the overhead[1] after deducting any co-financing (see below) is at least 15 % of the total direct costs. To determine the entitlement to the bonus and the specific bonus amount, the following procedure will be followed:

          1)           For projects without co-financing:

If the overhead in the project is quantified as at least 15 % of the total direct costs (regardless of the method of calculating the amount of the overhead), the amount of the financial bonus to the PI (formerly called reimbursement) is determined as the amount of the indirect costs minus an amount equivalent to 12% of the total direct costs.

          2)           In the case of co-financing of the project by the faculty:

-        The amount needed to co-finance the project will be reduced by the funds saved through the employment of faculty core staff (including social security and health insurance), see Article I.

-        The resulting amount (real cost of co-financing) is deducted from the overhead. A project for which the amount of overhead so adjusted exceeds 15 % of direct costs (see examples in Annex 1) is eligible for a bonus and the amount of the financial bonus to the PI is determined as the amount of the adjusted indirect costs minus an amount equivalent to 12 % of total direct costs.

          3)           Bonus for pre-financed projects

For projects where the actual costs spent are paid by the grant agency retrospectively (pre-financing), the amount of indirect costs and thus also the bonus is always calculated from the actually paid funds/activated overheads in the next calendar year as specified above. The total maximum amount of the project bonus is calculated at the start of the project; in the event of a change in the percentage of overhead above which the bonus is determined, the amount of the bonus will be calculated for the funds that will actually be paid out from the time of the new limit. The Project Department will prepare the supporting documentation to calculate the bonus.

            4)         Project managers in the implementation team

For projects falling under the Project Department, the Principal Investigator should consider the administrative complexity of project management by including a project manager in the implementation team. For projects in which the project manager will not be included in the implementation team, including the corresponding funds allocated in the project budget, the amount of the financial bonus to the PI is determined as the amount of the adjusted indirect costs minus an amount equivalent to 15 % of total direct costs.

The percentage of overhead from direct costs, above which the bonus amount is determined, may change depending on the state of the faculty budget in the given year and is announced annually at the beginning of the year together with the percentage level of overheads.

The bonus is usually applicable to applied and basic research projects, e.g., GAČR, TAČR, InterExcellence, ERC, Horizon, etc. The bonus amount can be easily determined using the table in Annex 2.

Due to the administrative burden, the retroactive bonus is applied if it exceeds the amount of CZK 25,000.

In the case of large prestigious projects of the Operational Programmes and other prestigious projects that do not meet the limit of indirect costs, the bonus will be determined individually by the faculty management at the request of the PI.

Form of Bonus Awarding

The bonus for the researcher is always provided in the form of an increase in funds for the department within the departmental budget for the given year, and the head of the department should provide these funds to the PI without reduction.

Unsupported projects:

Projects with a high administrative burden and high faculty costs, low wages for faculty core staff, and low or zero indirect costs, such as:
-        mobility projects, cross-border cooperation projects (MSCA – CZ, usually INTERREG, etc.),
-        projects with high co-financing costs exceeding indirect costs.

Article III
Other provisions

This measure also applies to all ongoing projects that will continue in 2025 and beyond, and to new projects starting from 1^st of January 2025.

This document replaces the version for the 9^th of February 2023.
This measure takes effect from 1^st of January 2025.

In České Budějovice

prof. RNDr. František Vácha, Ph.D.
dean PřF JU

[1] Overhead or indirect costs (real activated overheads for projects) are used to cover the administrative and operating costs of the faculty during the project. Overhead refers to the part of the project budget called indirect costs, overheads, or additional costs.