FAQ

No. Publications in Q1 journals are not a mandatory project output.

The main (“parent”) publication indicators are:

• 214021 Publications resulting from supported projects
• 214022 Scholarly publications – letters, reviews, conference papers/proceedings papers

Additional publication indicators, including:

• 214023 Scholarly publications with international co-authorship,
• 214024 Scholarly publications co-authored by research organisations and enterprises,
• 214026 Publications published in Q1 journals,

represent their subsets (“sub-indicators”).

This means that:

• every publication reported under indicator 214026 must also be reported under one of the main publication indicators,
• however, not every publication reported under the main indicators has to be published in a Q1 journal.

Publications in Q2, Q3 or Q4 journals are therefore eligible project outputs, provided they meet the conditions of the respective indicator.

According to the methodological clarification issued by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS), Q1 publications are not mandatory for fulfilment and their achievement does not need to be guaranteed.

Indicators 214023, 214024 and 214026 represent subsets of the main publication indicators 214021 and 214022.

The following indicators:

• 214023 Scholarly publications with international co-authorship,
• 214024 Scholarly publications co-authored by research organisations and enterprises,

are optional both for selection and fulfilment.

The indicator:

• 214026 Publications published in Q1 journals,

is, according to the specific rules, mandatory for selection if any of the publication indicators 214021–214024 is selected; however, it is not mandatory for fulfilment.

Therefore, Q1 publications do not need to be guaranteed or actually achieved.

Yes. The amount generated by the calculator represents the total eligible costs of the Return Grant, including the mandatory 10% co-financing.

Therefore, neither the applicant nor the CTU constituent part adds any additional amount on top of the calculated budget.

The co-financing is reported at the level of each individual Return Grant. The recommended approach is to allocate each project cost in the following ratio:

• 90% grant funding,
• 10% co-financing.

The minimum 10% co-financing is a mandatory condition of the Return Grants and follows the OP JAK rules.

It is not centrally prescribed whether the co-financing should be covered:

• from the faculty dean’s office budget,
• from the institute’s budget,
• or from other resources of the respective CTU constituent part.

The specific financing arrangement is left to the decision of the relevant CTU constituent part and to the internal agreement between the workplace and the faculty.

Experience from similar projects shows that co-financing is most often covered at the level of the specific institute or workplace.

For co-financing of R&D activities, the use of TA122 (DKRVO) funds is recommended.

Costs for materials, conference participation, publications, and other directly related indirect costs are not reported as separate budget items within the Return Grants and are not entered into the calculator.

These costs are included in the funding of the Return Grant within the unit cost.

Applicants are recommended to briefly describe these costs in the text sections of the application, for example:

• in the description of activities,
• in the implementation methodology,
• or in the description of planned outputs.

In particular, it is advisable to explain how these costs are linked to the implementation of the research plan (e.g. publication of results, conference participation, materials for experiments, etc.).

Yes. During the implementation of the Return Grant, different workload levels may be set for the mobility period and for the remaining parts of the project.

For example, it is possible:

• to work part-time outside the mobility period,
• and temporarily increase the workload to full-time during the mobility period.

However, all planned workload changes must already be included in the project application, because the calculator uses the average workload over the entire project implementation period. This average workload is then used to determine the maximum eligible project costs, which cannot subsequently be increased during project implementation.

In accordance with the OP JAK rules, the total workload of an academic staff member at the beneficiary institution and project partners may not exceed 1.2 FTE. For non-academic staff members, the maximum limit is 1.0 FTE.

This limit applies to the sum of all positions held by the given staff member within OP JAK projects, including cases where the staff member simultaneously acts, for example, as a mentor and as a member of the expert team.

If a specific member of the expert team is not yet known at the time of application submission (e.g. a future Master’s student), it is recommended to:

• specify the type of position (e.g. technical staff member),
• describe the planned involvement and activities within the project,
• indicate that the position will be filled by a generic staff category.

No. Open Access publication fees are not part of the Return Grant budget.

In the case of a successful Return Grant application, the Principal Investigator will receive financial support for OA publication fees from the “Back to CTU” project:

• 90% of the costs will be covered from the “Back to CTU” project funds,
• 10% of the costs will be co-financed by the relevant CTU faculty or institute where the grant is implemented.

The exact conditions will be specified in the Decision on the Provision of Support for the Return Grant.

Support for specific publications will be decided after the evaluation of submitted applications and after the allocation of financial resources intended for OA support among the successful projects.

It is expected that at least one publication requiring OA publication fees will be supported per Return Grant.

Yes. The requirement to display the EU and Ministry of Education logos together with a reference to the “Back to CTU” project also applies to outputs of type “article”.

The SNG rules stipulate:

• a prohibition of duplicate or combined funding,
• an obligation that outputs must be clearly identifiable as outputs of the Return Grant.

At least one of the authors or co-authors of the publication must be the Principal Investigator of the Return Grant.

At present, the SNG rules do not define any mandatory wording for acknowledgements or any specific restrictions regarding multiple acknowledgements.

Open access to publications may be ensured by:

• publishing through a publisher or publishing platform,
• or by depositing the publication in a trusted repository.

It is mandatory to deposit either the final published version (VoR) or the final peer-reviewed accepted manuscript (postprint/AAM) in a trusted repository without undue delay after publication.

A preprint alone is not the only mandatory form of open access. It is considered a recommended tool for the early dissemination of research results.

For publications of type “article”, “review”, or “letter”, deposition of the publication in a repository is also required.

The condition is fulfilled if the journal is classified as Q1 according to at least one of the following databases:

• AIS in Web of Science,
• or SJR in Scopus.

At the same time, the year of publication and the year used for the quartile assessment must correspond.

The Return Grant application must be submitted in English. However, some annexes or supporting documents may also be accepted in Czech.

If an English version of a specific annex is not available (e.g. the RIS3 document), the Czech version may be uploaded.

Yes. At the time of application submission, the applicant must already be on a career break, or may have already returned from it, but no more than 12 months prior to the submission date.

If the applicant does not fulfil this condition at the time of submission, they will be considered an ineligible applicant and the application will be excluded from the competition.

The career break must be documented by a confirmation issued by the relevant authority (e.g. the Czech Social Security Administration – ČSSZ) or by an equivalent document.

If the applicant currently only has a basic confirmation available (e.g. confirmation of the childbirth date), it is recommended to attach this document to the application for the time being. Additional supporting documents may be requested in later stages of the evaluation process.

The childcare or dependent care allowance is an optional part of the Return Grant and is intended only for the Principal Investigator.

The allowance may be claimed if:

• the Principal Investigator personally cares for a child below the age of compulsory pre-school education or for a dependent person in a long-term adverse health condition,
• such care was the reason for the career break,
• the grant is being implemented during the relevant period.

Eligibility arises for any calendar month in which the conditions were fulfilled for at least part of the month.

When claiming the allowance for the first time, the Principal Investigator submits:

• an affidavit confirming personal care,
• documents proving childcare or dependent care,
• the relevant Return Grant implementation calculator.

Any changes in circumstances must be reported.

For childcare, the following documents may be required, for example:

• the child’s birth certificate,
• the child’s ID card or passport,
• confirmation of attendance at a pre-school institution or childcare group.

For dependent care, the following documents may be submitted, for example:

• confirmation of the provision of social services,
• an application for or decision on a care allowance,
• confirmation of long-term nursing care benefit,
• a physician’s confirmation of the necessity of personal care.

The allowance forms part of the Return Grant budget. According to the current setup, it is subject to statutory deductions and should be paid as part of the Principal Investigator’s salary. The exact payment mechanism will be specified in the SNG methodology.

No. This is a unit cost. Actual monthly expenses are neither reported nor compared with the actual childcare or care-related costs.

The difference between a mentor and a member of the expert team is primarily determined by the nature of the activities performed and their role within the project.

A mentor may provide, for example:

• expert consultations,
• discussions on research topics,
• methodological guidance,
• explanation of professional or research-related issues.

These activities do not necessarily have to be directly linked to specific project outputs.

More detailed definitions of the roles of mentor and expert team member are provided in the SNG rules and related methodological guidance.

The established unit rate may not fully cover the salary costs of staff with higher qualifications in all cases. Therefore, the Return Grant funds may be understood as a contribution towards the salary of the given employee, while the remaining part of the salary may be co-financed from the resources of the relevant CTU faculty or institute.

Yes. Overhead costs are included in the unit cost for the Principal Investigator. A methodology specifying how these funds may be used is currently being prepared.

Indicatively, the following amounts were communicated:

• CZK 500 for personnel costs,
• CZK 75 for overhead costs,

per one productive working hour of the Principal Investigator.

Yes. If the conditions for both positions under the SNG rules are fulfilled, one person may simultaneously act as a mentor and as a member of the supporting expert team, or may move between these roles during the project implementation period.

However, it is necessary to:

• comply with the conditions for both positions (e.g. workload limits, qualifications, and types of activities performed),
• strictly separate the reporting of activities and job descriptions for each role,
• describe and justify this arrangement in the project application, as it is considered a non-standard setup,
• comply with the maximum workload limits under OP JAK rules (1.0 FTE for non-academic staff and 1.2 FTE for academic staff).

No. In such a case, it is recommended to check whether the given university runs its own internal return grant scheme and to submit the application there.

Yes, provided that they carry out research and development (R&D) activities. The scheme is intended for researchers, which may also include academic staff members if they perform R&D activities.

Applications for Return Grants will be accepted during the period from May to June 2026. The decisive factor is the date and time of application submission.

The application intake will close after the 80th submitted application. Applications submitted after this limit will no longer be evaluated.

The decisive criterion is the order of submission. Applicants are therefore recommended to submit their applications as soon as possible after the call opens.

Grant implementation may start from October 2026. The latest possible start date is determined by the Principal Investigator.

However, the project must be completed no later than 30 April 2029.

The mobility duration is assessed as the sum of both mobility stays. For example, it is possible:

• to complete two stays of approximately two weeks each in order to fulfil the minimum one-month mobility period,
• or to complete two stays of three months each without exceeding the maximum limit of six months.

The mobility stays do not need to be divided evenly.

The workloads of the Principal Investigator and the expert team must comply with the required limits in each individual month of the Return Grant implementation period.

A mentor is understood to be a researcher employed by CTU who provides the Principal Investigator with expert and methodological support and has adequate experience in the field relevant to the given Return Grant.

Members of the expert team contribute to achieving the selected outputs of the Return Grant and directly participate in the implementation of the project under the supervision of the Principal Investigator.

The minimum workload is 0.1 FTE per month per person.

The expert team may be involved only during part of the project implementation period; however, the minimum involvement is one month.

The funding intensity is 90%. The remaining 10% is co-financed by the respective CTU constituent part where the grant is implemented.

Eligible costs are only those specified in the calculator, i.e.:

• salary of the Principal Investigator,
• mentor remuneration,
• expert team remuneration,
• contribution for childcare or care for a close person,
• support for education and training,
• and mobility support.

The rate includes:

• minimum personnel costs,
• statutory levies,
• and directly related indirect costs.

The costs for the expert team cover only their personnel costs and statutory levies.

If a member of the expert team comes from another CTU constituent part, the co-financing is provided by the constituent part from which the team member originates.

The topics must not be identical, so that the doctoral student is not effectively funding their dissertation work through the grant and thereby gaining an unfair advantage.

However, the working methods and procedures may be similar, the topics may be related, and the outputs should differ.

Publications must be submitted no later than n+1 year after the end of the implementation of the Return Grant.

All other outputs must be submitted no later than with the Final Activity Report.

Please indicate the date by which you expect the output to be delivered, or alternatively the latest possible date (i.e. within one year after the end of the physical implementation of the project).

An application for a return grant may be submitted by a PhD student in a CTU PhD study programme or by a CTU employee holding a PhD degree (or equivalent) who is on a career break or who has returned from a career break no more than 12 months prior to the application submission date. 

A career break is here understood as a pause in a research career for objective reasons, in particular due to maternity or parental leave, long-term childcare or dependant care, long-term illness, or other similar obstacles to research activities. The career break must be documented by an appropriate document. 

Yes, you can, but only up to a maximum of 0.3 FTE in order to remain eligible to apply for a return grant. 

Yes. An application may also be submitted if you have already returned to CTU, provided that no more than 12 months elapsed between the end of the career break and the application submission date. 

At the time of submitting an application, you must be either an employee of CTU or a PhD student in a CTU PhD study programme. 

No. The research focus is not restricted. However, for PhD students, the topic of the return grant project must differ from the topic of their PhD dissertation. 

The minimum project length is 12 months, the maximum is 30 months. 

The principal investigator must be involved at a level of at least 0.5 FTE and at most 1.0 FTE throughout the duration of the return grant. 

Yes. A mandatory component of the return grant is the involvement of an expert team. The team must consist of at least one and at most four members (excluding the principal investigator). The total workload of all expert team members may not exceed 2 FTE. 

Yes. The involvement of a mentor is optional but recommended. A mentor can support the professional development of the principal investigator and their return to active research activities. 

Yes. The principal investigator’s outbound mobility of is an optional activity of the grant. A maximum of two mobilities may be undertaken and their total duration may not exceed 6 months. 

Yes. A return grant may also include further professional training for the principal investigator, for example in the form of courses or educational programmes. Such training is eligible exclusively for the principal investigator. 

Yes, the return grant allows for a contribution towards childcare or dependant care as part of the support for returning to a research career. This contribution is intended exclusively for the principal investigator. 

Yes, if the professional training is undertaken by the principal investigator. Professional training may take place either in the Czech Republic or abroad. By contrast, training focused on soft skills is eligible only if implemented within in the Czech Republic. 

The maximum amount of financial support per individual return grant is determined on the basis of predefined unit cost rates. The specific level of support depends on the duration of the project and the level of involvement of the principal investigator and the expert team. 

The first round of the SNG Scheme is planned for the second quarter of 2026. If the allocated funds are not fully utilised, an additional round may open after a one-year interval. 

All up-to-date information, SNG documents, application templates and the scheme timeline will be published on the website www.sng.cvut.cz. 

Yes. The SNG Administration Office has been established for the implementation of the Scheme, where it is possible to consult the project proposal, administrative matters and the conditions of the Scheme.