Governance and Specialized Funds
The Fund for Scientific Research - FNRS is a private foundation of public utility.
The FNRS is administered by a Board of Directors, which represents the foundation in all judicial and extrajudicial acts. The Council appoints a Secretary General, who ensures the daily management of the Fund. The Board of Directors and the Committees or Councils of the Specialized Funds constitute the management bodies of the FNRS.
The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors has the power to perform all acts necessary or useful to achieve the goals of the foundation.
The Office
The Office studies all questions that must be submitted to the Board of Directors, and makes proposals to it. He does the same for any other question whose examination has been entrusted to him by the Council.
The Secretary General
The Board of Directors appoints, apart from its members, a Secretary who may be conferred by the Board the title of Secretary General. He or she ensures the daily management of the Fund under the conditions set by the Council, to which he or she reports on the execution of his or her task and also provides secretarial services for the meetings of the Board of Directors and the Office.
Management bodies
Created in 1928, the Fund for Scientific Research - FNRS is the central player in financing fundamental research in French-speaking Belgium. It promotes the development of knowledge by financing research in all areas of science: researchers, at different stages of their scientific development, research projects and credits, research equipment and infrastructure, or even mobility and national or international collaborative projects.
Fundamental research, upstream of the innovation process and economic development, plays an essential role as a driver for the production of new knowledge, and lays the foundations for innovation in many socio-economic sectors. It also makes it possible to train high-level scientists in all fields and to ensure the quality of teaching in our universities.
Over the years, specialized Associated Funds have been created to finance strategic research, that is to say fundamental research carried out in predefined scientific sectors, identified as strategic because they are closer to potential applications or societal needs. These 5 funds benefit from additional public subsidies and complement the basic business of the F.R.S-FNRS. Under the supervision of the F.R.S.-FNRS, these specialized associated funds are in direct contact with the development of research. Their structure and operation have been designed in such a way that together they form a coherent whole.
The FNRS and its 5 specialized Funds are each administered by a Board of Directors or a Management Committee made up of representatives of the university institutions of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation as well as personalities from the economic, social and political world.
Board of Directors of the F.R.S.-FNRS
The CA of the F.R.S.-FNRS is competent to:
- the management and allocation of financial resources granted by the various Authorities (Wallonia-Brussels Federation and Federal State)
- representation to international scientific institutions and related contributions,
- the granting of prizes, distinctions or special endowments awarded thanks to particular donations or legacies,
- carrying out the administrative tasks necessary to carry out these skills.
Board of Directors Office
The Office studies all questions that must be submitted to the Board of Directors, and makes proposals to it. He does the same for any other question whose examination has been entrusted to him by the Council.
The 5 specialized funds of the F.R.S.-FNRS
FRIA
The FRIA, Fund for Research Training in Industry and Agriculture, was entrusted to the F.R.S.-FNRS in 1994 by the government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
FRESH
In 2012, the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation created the Fund for Research in Human Sciences (FRESH). The objective of this Fund is to respond to different and complementary needs for fundamental research in the human and social sciences.
The Board of Directors of the F.R.S.-FNRS of June 21, 2018 decided to limit the call for doctoral scholarships for graduates in humanities and social sciences.
A specificity of the FRESH Fund is societal impact research programs selected for funding as highlighted and redefined by the Board of Directors of the F.R.S.-FNRS on June 21, 2018: “The FRESH Fund supports fundamental research projects whose conclusions are likely to improve in the short to medium term the knowledge or functioning of a sector of society at the local, regional, national or international level, in aspects which may be particularly cultural, economic, political, social or socio-psychological. »
FRFS - Strategic research
The FRFS, Fund for Strategic Fundamental Research, was created in 2013 by the FWB government and entrusted to the F.R.S.-FNRS, as part of cross-policies with the Walloon Region.
The Fund for Strategic Fundamental Research (FRFS) is a specialized Fund of the F.R.S.-FNRS which finances, as part of a mission delegated by the Walloon Region, fundamental research of excellence in strategic areas.
FRART
The Art Research Fund (FRArt) is an associated Fund of the F.R.S.-FNRS created in 2018 by the government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation whose mission is to finance art research projects carried out by artist-researchers on an individual or collective basis, outside of any doctorate, validated by one or more Higher Schools of the Arts (ESA).
The Interuniversity Institute of Nuclear Sciences (IISN)
The IISN, Interuniversity Institute of Nuclear Sciences, was founded in 1947 to respond to one of the major concerns of the second half of the 20th century: to deepen the study of matter. Currently its funding is federal and it mainly supports Belgian projects at CERN. Belgium's contribution as a member of CERN is ensured by the Federal Ministry of Energy.