4TU.NIRICT calls for short-term interdisciplinary research projects that aim at solving specific technical challenges or advancing the understanding of the current systems in the following three areas:
- Cyber-physical systems security
- Resilience of critical digital infrastructures
- ICT for health
Key dates and deadlines:
- Application deadline: June 2, 2026
- Results announcement: End of June 2026
- Project duration: Maximum 6 months
- Final expense submission: December 15, 2026
Eligibility and requirements
To foster intensive collaboration across the 4TU+ institutes, proposals must meet the following criteria:
- Applicants: Applicants must be scientific staff members from at least 3 institutes within 4TU+. Expertise of the applicants and proposals must have a good balance between the contribution from Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
- External partners: While academic or industry partners outside the 4TU+ can be co-applicants, they are not eligible for reimbursement.
- Funding: Maximum €25k /project (Total budget allocated for this call is €75k)
Applicant format:
Proposals should be a maximum of two A4 pages (plus a separate budget page) and include:
- Project goal & scope: What is the goal of the project and its research scope? Please note that projects must be interdisciplinary in its nature and must support NIRICT’s mission.
- Outputs & outcomes: What are the expected tangible results of the project?
- Impact: What is the desired impact?
- Team and roles: Who are the applicants and their contributions/roles in the project?
- Timeline of activities: Which activities will be carried out and when?
- Budget breakdown using the attached form
- Please send your application as a single pdf document to Margje Mommers - m.mommers@tue.nl (TU/e) indicating which of the three areas the proposal targets.
In case of acceptance of your proposal:
Funding usage:
- Funding supports research activities including hiring temporary researchers, community-building events (e.g., hackathons/workshops), travel for research collaboration, joint labs, joint experiments, proof-of-concepts, research hardware purchase, and dissemination related costs. Note that costs for event bureaus assisting with project activities are also eligible.
Upon completion of the project:
- Project applicants must submit a closing report and a short video of the project for public dissemination, within two months after the completion of the project.
- Project applicants can present their results in a public session open to other NIRICT researchers (e.g., presentation at NIRICT Community Day or at a separate event organized by the project applicants).
Administration:
- The financial administration of the funding is to be discussed with 4TU.NIRICT. It can either be via a direct invoice to 4TU.NIRICT or a reimbursement. Both need accordance in advance and must be arranged within one month after the funding has been used.
- All expenses (by one of the 4TU+ institutes) must be reimbursed/declared before December 15, 2026. Note that academic/industry partners outside 4TU+ can be co-applicants. However, they cannot be reimbursed.
Contact for Inquiries: Margje Mommers - m.mommers@tue.nl (TU/e)