PF: Could a research break due to Covid lock-downs count as a career break and thus be deducted from the 8 years of research experience eligibility criteria?

According to the Guidelines on the calculation of 8-years research experience in Postdoctoral Fellowships under Horizon Europe, “The rule of the 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research after the PhD can be extended (in days) for the following reasons: […] Career break; Time spent not working in research (career breaks are not included in this section). The period spent in a non-research position should be completely deducted from the FTE experience in research. However, for a period spent in a research position, the time spent outside of your main research activity (including teaching) could be deducted as a percentage of FTE provided that it can be documented by e.g. work contract/job description and quantified based on documentation/proof which the host organisation (beneficiary) needs to keep for their records (not to be included in the proposal).” 

Considering the above, if a researcher could not engage in research due to force majeure (such as COVID-19), two theoretical options emerge:

-          If their employment contract was suspended, and no work was performed, that period is deductible.

-          If the employment contract remained active (not suspended) and the researcher conducted non-research tasks, deductions can be made based on a percentage of full-time equivalent (FTE).

In both scenarios, it’s essential for the beneficiary to maintain pertinent evidence such as work contracts or job descriptions. Deductions should be quantified based on documented proof, although this evidence is not to be included in the proposal but rather retained for the host organisation’s records in case of audits.