The Scientific Meetings and Encounters (WBO) instrument of the NWO domain ENW has become increasingly well-known across the entire Exact and Natural Sciences field (ENW field) over the years. Many scientific meetings have been co-financed through this instrument. In the 2025 round, the call budget was exhausted early. To ensure a level playing field for meetings and encounters for which funding will still be requested later this year, the Domain Board of ENW (DB-ENW) has enabled a one-time increase in the budget.
To continue to use the WBO instrument effectively in the future, an evaluation has been conducted with input from, among others, the ENW research field, and the ENW Tables have been consulted for advice. The DB-ENW has shaped the frameworks for the WBO call for proposals 2026 based on the collected input in mid-September. The goal of the instrument remains largely the same, namely to promote academic networks and collaboration in (inter)national contexts. The budget to be requested and the assessment process will also not change significantly. However, several aspects will (partially) receive a different focus. Consider the following:
- Increased emphasis on national (recurring) meetings. Meetings that take place in foreign countries can only apply for funding (for the editions that take place in the Netherlands) if they have taken place in the Netherlands for at least half the time (last five times).
- Greater focus on relevance to the ENW domain (e.g., on the content of the meeting/encounter, and frameworks for speakers and participants), as it remains an instrument that is deployed from the NWO-ENW domain. Interdisciplinary meetings are still possible.
- Changed period for how far in advance an application can be submitted. This is shortened to at least 6 months prior to the meeting instead of the current possibility to submit an application up to 1 year in advance. This way, there is more visibility on the actual program of the meetings, and it can be made clearer why funding from this instrument is needed.
In the long term, the DB-ENW expects to limit recurring meetings. The board encourages the field to start looking for additional funding sources to mitigate any current dependency on WBO support. NWO-ENW is happy to think along with possibilities, such as joining congresses organized by NWO-ENW.
The WBO call 2026 will be finalized at the end of this year, and the new conditions will come into effect in January 2026. Until then, the current call remains open, and applications can be submitted as long as the call budget has not yet been exhausted.