The mission of the AXA Research Fund is to support outstanding researchers committed to contributing to global societal challenges related to Life & Health, Data & Technology, Climate & Environment and Economics.

OUR CORE PRINCIPLES

The AXA Research Fund is committed to respect and promote the principes of open access policy, intellectual property and ethics.

Open access policy

The AXA Research Fund believes that providing free and unrestricted access to the scientific outputs of the research projects it supports to be a fundamental part of its mission.

Since July 1st, 2016, an Open Access policy is effective for all new agreements and granted funding. To build on best existing practices in this area, this policy closely follows the guidelines instituted and recently updated by the European Research Council.

The AXA Research Fund supports the basic principle of Open Access to research data. Nevertheless, considering the fast evolution of current debates and the diversity of approaches between disciplines, no binding commitment to open research data will be requested.

Detailed information on Open Access Policy available here.

Intellectual property

The researcher remains fully independent in conducting the Research project. AXA will not claim any right to the ownership or use of the results coming from the Research Program, and the Institution and/or the researcher and member of her/his team retain full ownership of their results, in accordance with the legal and/or contractual provisions existing between them.

Ethics

Research projects supported by the AXA Research Fund must conform to the AXA Group Compliance and Ethics Guide which excludes (but is not limited to):

Research violating national regulations
Research with potentially dangerous environmental impacts
Research relying on the artificial production of highly infectious pathogens with potential for large scale harmful/lethal effects for humans and research involving gain of function
Biomedical research conducted without the fully informed consent of the participant
Research on embryonic stem cells (incl. animal, with inferred subsequent human application)
Research processing private personal data without the informed consent of the concerned parties (incl. genetic information)
Research activities aiming at human cloning

Cases of scientific misconduct such as fabrication, falsification, plagiarism or misrepresentation of data will be considered as breaches of fundamental ethical principles and concerned proposals will be excluded.

GRANT AND AGREEMENT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Institutions supported by the AXA Research Fund should comply with the grant and agreement terms and conditions.

Announcement and duration of the agreement

Once the Institution officially accepts the grant and the conditions, the AXA Research Fund and the Institution enter in the process of setting-up the agreement. The AXA grant is officially announced only when the agreement is signed. The agreement covers the entire duration of the research grant.

Use of grant

The AXA Research Fund only covers expenses directly connected to the research activity, excluding any administrative and infrastructural expenses.

Eligible costs are:

AXA Grantee expenses (incl. annual gross salary, travel & accommodation costs…);
Post-Doc/PhD expenses (incl. selection process costs, Junior Research Fellow Grants…);
Purchase of scientific equipment and resources (databases, survey costs, consumables…);
Academic and public engagement activities organization costs (organization of conferences, seminars, dissemination activities towards expert and non-expert public…)

Grant Payment

Payment of the grant is done in one or several installments, depending on the type of grant. For AXA Chairs only one installment is made and for AXA Fellowships several installments are done. An Institution is free to make an appointment at a higher cost level but must support the extra expenditure from its own funds. The host Institution could also make a request for additional funding partners if the conditions of the agreement with AXA are respected, in particular regarding any communication around the grant

Monitoring of grant

Every year, the Institution will commit to providing a report composed of 2 separate documents:

Activity report: to describe the activities of the research program (key highlights on progresses, achievements and outputs versus objectives
Financial report: to describe the use of the monies provided by the grant

A digital platform access will be provided to our grantees to submit their reports and the research related activities (papers, conferences, ...).

Communication on grant

Communication about the grant is intended to enable AXA to promote AXA Research Fund’s general interest role. When communicating on the AXA Research Program, the Institution, the researcher and the team members should mention the support of the AXA Research Fund. The title of the Research Program should include the name of “AXA”. The job title of the researcher should include “AXA” (e.g. AXA Professor).

Jeroen wouters