In the coming weeks, the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) will gradually open its major calls and schemes for projects starting in 2027. In the first half of February, GAČR will announce the calls for Standard grant projects, POSTDOC INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP, Restart Grants, as well as international calls. Subsequently, at the beginning of March, the agency will launch its flagship competitions for excellent researchers — EXPRO projects and JUNIOR STAR.

Alongside the timeline for opening the calls, GAČR has also introduced important adjustments to the number of project proposals that applicants may submit and the conditions for proposal overlap. These changes aim to use the agency’s resources more efficiently and support a broader range of high‑quality research projects, reflecting the long‑term budget constraints and decreasing success rates across competitions.

New limit: up to three proposals across specific categories

Each applicant may submit a maximum of three project proposals within all GA ČR calls and joint international calls starting in 2027. At most one proposal in the role of applicant or co-applicant may be submitted in each of the following categories:

1. Standard grant projects, International projects and Lead Agency (LA) grant projects
2. EXPRO projects and JUNIOR STAR
3. POSTDOC INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP (Incoming/Outgoing) and Restart grants

This system allows applicants to consider more than one scheme but also introduces stricter rules regarding the projects that can ultimately be implemented.

If successful in multiple calls, only one project may be carried out

If an applicant succeeds in more than one competition or call, they may implement only one project starting in 2027, regardless of category. Any additional successful projects will have to be declined. This rule does not apply to currently running projects unless otherwise specified in their conditions — exceptions may involve POSTDOC INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP and Restart Grants.

Specifics and exceptions

The following proposals do not count towards the submission limit:

• proposals submitted under the Oriented Basic Research or Proof of Concept schemes,
• proposals that were withdrawn by the applicant before submitting another proposal that would create an inadmissible overlap,
• proposals excluded from evaluation for formal reasons (applies to Lead Agency grant projects),
• proposals rejected by a foreign partner agency in the Lead Agency process.

Individual calls may further refine these general rules or specify which calendar year the proposals count towards.