Using the Participant Portal –H2020 projects
Introduction
AHSS Research Grant Resources
The European Commission’s Participant Portal is an online tool
for viewing funding calls, proposal and project details,
communicating with the EC, submitting reporting or requesting
amendments.
Under H2020 the Portal has been extensively redeveloped to
provide greater functionality for users in managing their
proposals and grants.
Whilst functionality is wider now on the portal, correspondingly
there are a greater number of processes and sections of the
website which can take time to navigate and become familiar
with.
The guidance in this document is intended as an introduction to
the main sections and processes on the Portal, to complement
the EC’s own H2020 IT manual here.
The web link to the Participant Portal is:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal//desktop/en/h
ome.html
If you don’t currently have a user account you can also create
one at this link.
The ROO’s Research Support Advisor for your Department can
assist with requests to be linked with a specific project on the
portal.
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AHSS Research Grant Resources
Once logged into the portal, the screen to the right will
appear. This provides information on the functionality of the
portal, and the left hand menu allows you to navigate to any
proposals or projects your username is linked to.
My Organisation(s) – this tab will show you the organisation
your user account is linked to, and their main details. It is
possible to be linked to more than one organisation – in that
instance both organisations’ details would be shown.
My Proposal(s) – this section details any current drafts, or
submitted applications. If a proposal is awarded, it moves to
‘My Projects’, and is no longer shown in your proposal
section.
My Project(s) – any pending awards at the grant preparation
stage or currently active awards are shown here.
My Notification(s) – This links to the notification application,
where you can check notifications about proposal submission,
grant preparation and management of active awards.
My Formal Notification(s) – It’s unusual to receive any formal
notifications so this area is usually empty. Exceptions would
be for specific communications from the EC, such as notifying
a consortium of the termination of a beneficiary.
My Expert Area – this tab shows news, quick links and gives
opportunity to create a profile and register as an expert – this
is not mandatory and is usually not populated.
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My Projects
AHSS Research Grant Resources
Under ‘My Projects’ there will be a list of all awards you’re currently linked to, which are pending, active or completed. You can use the Search function to find a
particular project by using its acronym, call type, or project number.
The Legend provides information on the different actions available, and these vary between projects, with several relating only to FP7 projects. For H2020 projects
the actions available will be Project Consortium, View Proposal and Manage Project- details of these sections are explained in the following pages.
You can also click on the name of the Call in the table to navigate to details of the funding call and associated documents.
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AHSS Research Grant Resources
Functionality for project management
By clicking on the
button, a list will be shown
of all partners within the consortium, detailing the
name of the Coordinator and all other
Beneficiaries, if applicable.
For most ERC and MSCA projects, there will only be
the Coordinator, but for other EC awards there
may be many Beneficiaries.
Clicking the
button on the left of each
Beneficiary name will show all named contacts
within that organisation that are linked to the
project, and detail what their role and contact
details are.
It is possible to obtain a PDF copy of the full proposal by
clicking on the
document.
button, and then downloading the
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AHSS Research Grant Resources
The
button will open the main Participant Portal Grant Management services. All reporting, amendments and communication with the EC takes place
via this platform. Each project can have bespoke elements, so not all grants will appear in the same way and it is advisable to familiarise yourself with the
set up for your project(s).
Key sections for project management
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1. My project – a summary section displaying top level
information on the project, including the funding call,
short name, total budget, and the EC Project Officer
contact.
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Process List is displayed as the default view, as shown in
this screenshot. Latest Legal Data displays Grant
agreement information, Document Library provides
access to all project documents, and the Communication
Center allows you to contact your EC project officer.
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2. H2020 online manual and How To – these buttons
link to the online guides for using the portal.
3. Launch new interaction – this button allows project
team members to launch amendment processes.
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4. Periodic reporting – access to any previous (grey) and
active (yellow) reporting processes (see next page).
5. Continuous reporting – this process links to SyGMa
(see page 7) so you can upload project information on
milestones, deliverables, publications and ethics.
6. Proposal Management and Grant Preparation –
access to any application, evaluation and grant
agreement documents.
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Process List details
AHSS Research Grant Resources
All sections within the Process List, including Continuous and Periodic Reporting, Proposal Management and Grant Preparation, and any amendment processes, contain
details of associated documents, communications with the EC and a timeline of steps within the process, as shown below.
Under H2020 the EC have set timeframes for expected response times, and start-to-finish turnaround times, so for ongoing processes you will see how many days the
process has taken so far, the % completion, and/or the expected completion period. This does include a count of how many days a process has overrun by in some cases!
The process specific documents and process specific communications sections can be
expanded to view or create further associated information for the process.
Under process specific documents you can download any of the files which have been
uploaded; particularly useful on consortium projects where other beneficiaries are
uploading information to the portal.
The process specific communications section tracks all actions taken on the process and
can be used to write a message to your EC Project Officer. The EC state this is the
preferred method to communicate with your Project Officer, though due to the limited
functionality, many Project Officers allow project teams to email them as an alternative.
Please check the preferred method of communication with your individual Project Officer.
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System for Grant Management (SyGMa)
AHSS Research Grant Resources
SyGMa is the online platform where information for continuous and periodic reporting can be uploaded. This includes summaries of research activity, uploading project
deliverables and milestones, reporting on publications, dissemination, and ethical considerations (where applicable).
The main tabs, as shown in the screenshot below, will vary depending on your project type and activity being undertaken. Generally, European Research Council grants
and MSCAs have fewer active tabs, as these projects don’t specify deliverables and milestones. Consortium based projects including Societal Challenges, Industrial
Leadership and Future and Emerging Technologies are likely to have a significant number of deliverables and milestones, as shown in the screenshots below.
All H2020 projects will be required to report information via SyGMa, so it’s advisable to familiarise yourself with the specific set up for your grant, and the information
requested within each tab.
Deliverables and milestones are set out
as per your grant agreement; detailing
the information required, which
partner is leading on the activity, and
timescales for submission to the EC.
If your project has ethical
considerations, these requirements will
be listed under the deliverables tab.
If a deliverable is late in being uploaded
this is shown as
If you wish to upload a document
against a deliverable, use
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AHSS Research Grant Resources
Amendments
Any formal amendment processes are managed via a process on SyGMa, and an amendment can be created by using the ‘Launch new interaction with the EU’
button from the process list.
There are many reasons an amendment can be requested, and either a member of the consortium or the EU themselves can request one. A list of most frequently
cited amendment clauses is below, with the most frequently requested in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) highlighted.
Addition of a new beneficiary
Change of coordinator
Change of reporting periods
Change of the action's duration
Change of the action's starting date
Change of the action's title and/or acronym
Change of the pre-financing
Change to the action's estimated eligible costs
Changes of Annex 1 (description of the action)
Changes of Annex 2 (estimated budget of the action)
Removal of a beneficiary whose participation was terminated
Resuming the action after suspension
Once the amendment is launched a new process, as shown above, will be available on SyGMa. Before launching an amendment, please speak with the Research
Operations Office and HSS School Research Team, as guidance specific to your project can be provided.
Please note that under H2020, no amendment is usually required for the following changes, unless the project methodology/outputs or total budget is being altered:
• Changes in project Personnel - if named Personnel are replaced during the project, or staff posts are revised to allow more effective delivery of project
outputs, shorter or longer post duration than originally anticipated
• Virement of costs between cost headings – transferring budget between activities is permitted. The exceptions to virement are 1) moving funds to or from
Subcontracting or Third Party in-kind contributions, 2) introducing a new activity heading
• Transfers of budget between beneficiaries – on projects involving a consortium, the budget may be reallocated between partners where necessary.
Guidance is also provided on the AHSS Research website at https://www.ahssresearch.group.cam.ac.uk/RGA/RGAaward/managing-ec-grants/amendments
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Ethics
AHSS Research Grant Resources
The European Commission has increased its focus on ethical considerations in research under the H2020 framework. Many AHSS projects now have ethical reporting
requirements on their EC grants, most commonly for:
H – Humans – including informed participant consent, research methods, protecting vulnerable participants
POPD – Protection of Personal Data – including safe collection, storage of data, data management planning for personal or sensitive data
NEC – Non-EU countries – implications where fieldwork or data collection is undertaken in non-EU countries
OEI – Other Ethics Issues – including relevant permissions to undertake fieldwork or examine archaeological remains.
For projects with these ethical reporting requirements, details will be listed within the deliverable section on SyGMA, with timescales for when information needs to be
submitted to the EC.
You can find further information on the AHSS Research website at https://www.ahssresearch.group.cam.ac.uk/RGA/RGAaward/managing-ec-grants/research-ethics
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