DN: Does the 40% rule still have to be respected if a beneficiary leaves in the middle of the Doctoral Networks project?

The 40% rule still has to be respected. It has to be respected until the end of the project, irrespective of the changes in the consortium, early termination of fellows, etc.

DN: Should the 40% budget rule also be respected during the lifetime of the project? Can the internal redistribution of Research, training and networking and management costs (categories B1 and B2) change the distribution in terms of the 40% budget rule?

The redistribution of categories B1 and B2 during the implementation of the project does not affect the 40% rule.

DN: Is the 40% rule calculated for the project budget in Euros or for the ESR person months in a given country?

The 40% rule is counted for the amount in Euros in the budget table in Part A of the project proposal. The country correction coefficient has to be kept in mind.

DN: A partner in a Doctoral Networks proposal aims to hire 4 PhD candidates, thus leading to an elevated budget (43% of total budget). Would this slight overshoot render their proposal ineligible? Is there an acceptable way to reduce this budget?

Yes, their proposal would be ineligible, as there is the “40% rule” – “no more than 40.0% of the total EU financial contribution may be allocated to beneficiaries in the same country or to any one International European Research Organisation or International Organisation” (p. 5 of the DN 2022 Guide for Applicants). The only way to reduce the budget is to divide the PhD candidates more equally between the participating countries.

In principle, one PhD candidate can be recruited by two different universities, if it makes sense for their PhD project.

DN: Will using a recruitment construction respecting the 40% rule negatively impact the evaluation, even if it is clearly done to work around the 40% rule?

Evaluators are instructed to strictly stick to the evaluation criteria, and REA are closely monitoring that. Please note that if such a construction weakens the proposal in any way, according to the evaluation criteria, then it will be penalised under this criterion.