Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Frequently Asked Questions

If you want to split the mobility into two parts, the total duration must be at least 2 months. The minimum duration of a single mobility is one month, and this unit cannot be divided.

If it is not possible to provide an official document from, f.e. an employer, then submit:

Declaration of Honour confirming, that the applicant personally cared for a child until the start of compulsory preschool education and that this care was the reason for the career break. The statement must include the child’s name, surname, and date of birth.
A copy of the child’s birth certificate or another document (ID card, passport) showing the child’s date of birth.

Yes, it is possible for a mentor to be included in the project without claiming remuneration from the project, i.e., without an employment contract. In the Calculator for the Return Grant application, you need to set the mentor’s workload to 0. Then proceed as if the mentor had a workload in the project: attach the mentor’s consent to participate in the project and mentor’s CV.

Only under the condition that the implementation of the return grant takes place at one of the faculties that are among the project implementers, i.e. FAFNR, FFWS, FTAS and FES. A supporting statement of the head of the department (an integral part of the project application) can only be issued at one of the faculties that are among the project implementers, i.e. FAFNR, FFWS, FTAS and FES.

No, it is not. The return grant can only be implemented at one of the project-implementing faculties, i.e. FAFNR, FFWS, FTAS and FES.

Yes, it is possible to apply for a grant, provided that all conditions are met.

Yes, be sure to submit an application. The call will be open until 31.1.2026 at 11:59 p.m. and all applications submitted by this date will be evaluated.

No, the call will not be repeated in the coming years. The grant competition will be announced only once as a single-round competition. If the allocation is not fully used, CZU management may decide to announce another round, but this is not expected.

The applicant may refuse the return grant, which would allow them to apply for the next return grant in order.
The main researcher of the return grant is not entitled to receive any additional support for identical activities funded under other schemes during the implementation of the return grant. Specifically, they cannot be the main researcher (e.g. specific university research, GA ČR Return Grants, etc.) of another grant with the same focus, nor participate in mobility with the same goal funded under a different title. It is not possible to combine the costs of this return grant with support provided within the GA ČR Return Grants group.

Applications can be submitted until the fixed deadline of 31 January 2026, after which the system will no longer allow submissions. The submission date does not influence the evaluation.

The application for the return grant may be submitted either in Czech or in English; the choice of language is up to the applicant. Likewise, all grant administration will be available in both Czech and English throughout the implementation period.

The date of the announcement of the grant competition (the beginning of the receipt of applications) as well as the deadline for the receipt of applications is set so that after the end of the evaluation process, it is possible to manage the implementation of three-year grants. If the schedule of the grant competition were to be postponed, it would significantly limit the possibility of implementing three-year grants.

Eligible applicants for a return grant are a researcher who meets the following criteria:

are students of a doctoral study programme at the date of submitting the application, or have already duly completed this study in the past (i.e. hold a Ph.D. degree or equivalent)
and at the same time
are currently on a career break (proven by a certificate from the relevant authority or a similar document from the CZU personnel system),
or
no more than 12 months have passed since the end of the career break at the date of submitting the application (proven by a certificate from the relevant authority or a similar document from the employer’s personnel system).

The applicant (i.e. the main researcher) can also be a PhD student.
A Ph.D. student is a person who is enrolled in a study (full-time or combined) in a doctoral study programme at CZU.

The applicant for a return grant must be a person who is enrolled in a doctoral study programme at CZU, both in full-time and combined form of study.

Does this refer to the beginning of the grant implementation (i.e. no earlier than 1 May 2026) or the actual submission of the application?

The requirement relates to the date of submission of the application in the system at www.projekty.czu.cz. On the date of submitting the return grant application, the applicant must provide a certificate from the competent authority (or a similar document) proving that the time since the end of the career break does not exceed 12 months.

Is the end of my career break considering the beginning of my work at the university, or the end of parental leave?

A career break is a period of at least 180 calendar days (there is no maximum length) during which the applicant could not fully perform R&D activities due to maternity leave, parental leave, long-term care, or long-term illness.
It is possible to perform R&D work at the beneficiary institution during the career break at an average level of up to 0.3 FTE for the relevant period.
In no month may the applicant exceed 0.5 FTE of R&D work.
Therefore, parental leave can be considered a career break (if the above conditions are met), and the career break ends when the applicant fully returns to their R&D activities.

The call assumes a single start date for the implementation of all supported grants, from 1.5.2026. Postponement of the start date is not allowed by default. Only in exceptional cases and on the basis of an approved written request for change is it possible to suspend the implementation of the grant and postpone the date of its commencement. In any case, it would be a postponement of the start/interruption to a maximum of 12 months. Always consult the procedure with the faculty Return Grant Officer.

Yes, you can apply for a return grant. A researcher may perform R&D activities at CZU during a career break at a maximum of 0.3 FTE per month on average across the months in which the activity is performed. At the same time, R&D work may not exceed 0.5 FTE in any month. For the purposes of calculating FTE, the month in which the researcher starts R&D activity during the career break is counted from the start date of this activity, and the month of termination is counted until the end date.

The expected allocation per return grant is at least CZK 448,920.00. Depending on the length of the grant, the maximum budget per grant may reach CZK 9,982,562.00. The total allocation for return grants is CZK 61,474,776.00.

Within The flat-rate costs included in the unit cost per main researcher may include, for example, costs of materials, small equipment, translations, conferences, etc. The amount ranges from CZK 75 to CZK 94 per hour, depending on junior/senior classification. For a full-time workload of 1.0 FTE, this corresponds to approx. CZK 11,000–14,000 per month.

Example when using the average monthly number of productive hours:

Main researcher = junior has a rate of 575 CZK/productive hour.
575 * 143.3 = CZK 82,398/month (including employer's contributions),
of which the minimum personnel costs are 500*143.3 = CZK 71,650 / month (including employer's contributions),
e. 71,650/ 1.3522 (levies) = CZK 52,988 gross salary,
expenditure on consumables for research, etc., will be 15% of the minimum personnel costs, i.e. CZK 10,748 / month,
We recommend contacting the faculty Return Grant Officer with the calculation.
Under return grants, investments are not eligible expenditure.

Members of the expert team do not need to be current employees of CZU. If the grant is awarded, an employment relationship will be established with them.

Members of the support expert team participate exclusively in professional and technical activities that contribute to the achievement of the project’s research objectives. Their work may include experiments, field and laboratory measurements, sampling and analysis, data processing, creating graphs and tables, preparing experimental protocols or methodologies, conducting literature reviews, preparing materials for publications or reports, and assisting with interpretation of results under the supervision of the main researcher. They may also operate and maintain research equipment, calibrate instruments, and keep laboratory logs or technical documentation.
Members of the auxiliary expert team may be:
- students of a doctoral study programme (a student of a doctoral degree programme is a person who is enrolled in a full-time or combined study programme in a doctoral study programme at a university),
- technical staff - for the purposes of this call, a technical worker is a worker who provides professional service/operation of the infrastructure used, or other positions of specialists involved in the implementation of the return grant, while the scope of his/her work within the return grant is not to carry out research, technical staff do not include administrative or research staff),
- Researchers (For the purposes of this call, a researcher is a person who creates new or expands existing knowledge, usually by managing and/or carrying out activities that involve the conception or creation of new knowledge, processes, methods and systems, applying scientific concepts and theories. Researchers for the purposes of this call include staff who have completed at least a master's degree and are engaged in R&D activities).
- Specialists – other experts.
They do not have to be existing employees of the CZU. If funded, an employment relationship will be established.

Personnel costs of the support expert team are part of the project budget. Each team member must have their grant activities included in their employment contract, specifying their allocated time and job description. Costs are calculated and reported using productive hours, and each member submits a monthly overview of performed activities.
Extraordinary rewards cannot be financed from the project.

No, it is not possible.
Other members of the support expert team may be professional/technical/other relevant employees who, under the leadership of the main researcher, participate in the implementation of the return grant (for these workers it is no longer a return from a career break). Specifically, it can be Ph.D. students (a Ph.D. student is a person who is enrolled in a full-time or part-time study program in a doctoral study program at a university), technical workers (for the purposes of this call, a technical worker is a worker who ensures the professional service/operation of the infrastructure used, or other positions of specialists involved in the implementation of a return grant, whereby that the scope of his work within the return grant is not to conduct research. Technical staff do not include administrative or research staff.) Researchers (For the purposes of this call, a researcher is a person who creates new or expands existing knowledge, usually by managing and/or carrying out activities that involve the conception or creation of new knowledge, processes, methods and systems, applying scientific concepts and theories. Researchers for the purposes of this call include employees who have completed at least a master's degree and are also employees of the monitored organization and are engaged in R&D activities.) or specialists – other experts.

No, the resources for these two types of costs are kept separately in the return grant. The lump sum is recorded in the number of productive hours of the main researcher (it ranges from a maximum of CZK 75 to CZK 94 / hour, depending on the inclusion of junior/senior, i.e. for the full-time of the main researcher 1.0 approx. CZK 11–14 thousand / month). The costs of the support expert team will be reported in the implementation by the number of full-time members of the expert team.
It is possible to replace a given member of the auxiliary expert team with a new member, or his or her full-time work can be divided among the remaining members. In the event that a team member is not occupied, you do not incur costs for this person, and therefore it is not possible to claim these costs.
We do not recommend frequent changes of people in the positions of the professional team. Given the setting of the parameters of the call from the managing authority, this would jeopardize the fulfilment of the mandatory outputs overall for the Returns to CZU+ project. In order to successfully report the persons involved in the relevant indicator, each professional worker/investigator of the return grant must be involved in the grant for a minimum of 860 productive hours with a full-time job of 1.0 FTE and at the same time for a minimum of 180 calendar days.

"Mentor" is an optional activity within the Return Grant Application. The amount of the mentor's full-time work may reach a maximum of 0.2 per month (for the entire duration of the return grant). The costs of the unit activity "Mentor" include mainly funds for personnel costs (wages/salaries/remuneration from agreements) and are calculated and reported using the so-called productive hours. The mentor must fill in and submit to the faculty Return Grant Officer the P JAC form - Overview of Performed Activities on a monthly basis.

No, it does not have to be the same person; this is not required by the call. The mentor must be part of a project in which the main researcher is a Ph.D. student or a junior researcher. Minimum qualification requirements for a mentor are defined: the mentor must be a senior researcher (more than 7 years since the award of the Ph.D. degree or its equivalent) with adequate experience in the field of the given return grant.
The mentor serves as a key support person for the main researcher – providing professional and methodological guidance by regularly discussing and consulting the scientific plan, research methodology, formulation of research questions and interpretation of results. Additionally, the mentor brings practical experience – helping to connect the project with relevant professional contacts, selecting appropriate publication channels or grant opportunities, and supporting the researcher in developing career competencies, including scientific communication, team leadership and project management. The mentor also ensures that the project meets its objectives and outputs at the required quality level and assists the main researcher in maintaining the scientific excellence of the project.

The task of the mentor is to provide methodological and professional guidance and professional feedback to the main researcher. Although the mentor is not the main researcher or project leader, they may contribute to the research and therefore be listed as a co-author, as this is consistent with the nature of their role.

This is not restricted by the call. The mentor’s work is financed from the grant budget, and the mentor will submit a completed and signed Overview of Activities form every month.

This will be documented only during the project implementation, once, at the first application of the unit cost, in the form of an affidavit by the main researcher stating that he or she personally cares for a child until compulsory pre-school education begins, or for a close person in long-term unfavourable health (according to Section 3(c) of the Social Services Act), and that this care was the reason for the career break.
The affidavit must include the child’s name, surname and date of birth. It must also include the contractual document between the university and the main researcher stating the award of this allowance and its amount, which will be paid regularly.
At the same time, the main researcher will submit:
- in childcare: a copy of the child's birth certificate, identity card or passport proving the child's date of birth/a copy of the child's certificate of admission to pre-school education, the use of childcare services under the Children's Groups Act or the Trade Licensing Act containing the child's date of birth (as proof of the child's age, if the child uses any of these services);
- in the case of care for a close person: copy of the document on the provision of field, outpatient or relief services to the person cared for by the returnee grant/copy of the application for care allowance submitted by the person cared for by the returnee grant/copy of the decision on granting the care allowance to the person cared for by the returnee grant/copy of the affidavit filed with the CSSA on the management of the common household of the returnee grantee with the person dependent on his/her care/copy of the decision on granting long-term care allowance (pursuant to Section 41a et seq. of the Sickness Insurance Act) to the returnable grant investigator/a copy of a doctor's certificate stating that personal care for the person cared for by the return-grant investigator is necessary even after the long-term caregiver's allowance has been exhausted.

The contribution for the care of a child can be can be claimed for children up to 5 years of age who have not yet started compulsory pre-school education.

No, it would be duplicate funding.

The contribution for the care is not used to cover the costs of the main researcher's mobility (e.g. accommodation, travel, ...), but to cover the costs of caring for a child or a close person. You can also draw this allowance during your mobility abroad.
The entitlement to contribution for the care of a child or a close person arises for the main researcher of the return grant for each commenced calendar month when he/she meets the condition for this allowance.

Mobility is a motivational element supporting a faster restart after a career break. Its aim is to motivate, inspire and enable knowledge exchange in a foreign research environment. Mobility must have a factual and logical link to the research carried out. It is expected to enhance the qualifications and expertise of the main researcher, transfer know-how to a Czech research institution, and support networking with foreign experts.
During mobility, the main researcher may perform only non-economic activities at the host organisation.
Mobility must be based on a memorandum, invitation letter or similar document between the Czech and foreign research organisations.
After mobility, the main researcher must prepare a Mobility Progress Report. To be eligible, the main researcher must work at least 4 hours each working day.
Conference costs are included in the “Return Grant – Main Researcher” unit, which also contains the lump sum.

Mobility is only allowed to the of the return grant, for any other members of the team, this part of the activity is not an eligible expenditure of the return grant.

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