The FED-tWIN programme is a federal research programme to support sustainable cooperation between the ten Federal Scientific Institutions (FSI) which fall under Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO) and the eleven Belgian universities.

It was launched in 2019 on the basis of the Law of 21 July 2017 and its implementing Royal Decree of 14 October 2018 amended on 14 February 2022.

The aim of the programme is to develop sustainable joint research activities between the FSI and the universities. To this end, research profiles are jointly elaborated by a FSI and a university, to be implemented by a post-doctoral researcher who is employed part-time at the FSI and part-time at the university.

As a federal programme, these research profiles are focused on the areas of competence and expertise of the FSI. The challenge is to create a collaboration of mutual added value to the FSI and the university. The implementation of the research profiles within the two institutions is funded by BELSPO, at 100% for five years and 50% for the following five years.

A total of 125 research profiles will be implemented, through 5 batches of 25 research profiles selected between 2019 and 2024. The distribution of the research profiles, between the FSI on one hand and between the universities of the two linguistic communities on the other hand, is laid down in the legal basis of the programme. The selection of the research profiles is based on an international peer-review to ensure scientific excellence.