AHRC Religion and Society Small Grants

The Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Religion and Society Programme is offering approximately eight Small Research Grants. These grants will support projects from less established as well as established senior scholars, and from those wishing to undertake small scale innovative or short projects of up to one year.

The project can be for between £20,000 and £100,000 Full Economic Cost (fEC).

The recently introduced requirements of Impact Summary, Academic Beneficiaries and Impact Plan are compulsory for proposals submitted for this scheme.

The closing date for the receipt of applications is 4pm on the 30th April 2009.

For more information see: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/ReligionandSociety-SmallGrants.aspx

EU Launches Call for Proposals to Promote International University Cooperation (UK)

The European Commission has launched a new call for proposals under its new Tempus IV Programme (2007 – 13). The aim of Tempus IV is to support projects that facilitate cooperation in the field of higher education among Member States of the European Union (EU) and partner countries in the surrounding area. Tempus support two types of actions:

• Joint Projects, which are based on multilateral partnerships between higher education institutions in the EU and the partner countries. They can develop, modernise and disseminate new curricula, teaching methods or materials, boost a quality assurance culture, and modernise the management and governance of higher education institutions.
• Structural Measures, which contribute to the development and reform of higher education institutions and systems in partner countries, to enhance their quality and relevance, and increase their convergence with EU developments.

Institutions and organisations which may participate in the Tempus Programme range from higher education institutions and organisations through to non-academic institutions and organisations such as non-governmental organisations, companies, industries and public authorities. The total amount of funding available for this call for proposals is €53 million and the financial contribution from the Commission cannot exceed 90% of the total eligible direct costs.

Application form is available from the website – must be submitted electronically.

Deadline: 28th April 2009.

For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/tempus/call09_en.html
and http://ec.europa.eu/tempus

AHRC and BT Research Networking Pilot Funding Call

Deadline: 4pm, Thursday 21 May 2009

'Digital Heritage: understanding the personal, social and cultural contexts of consumers of cultural heritage'

The AHRC and BT are working together to develop a collaboration to bring together the arts and humanities research community with BT researchers and other stakeholders and partners with an interest in digital heritage to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaborative research. Project proposals to this call should involve BT through for example, provision of staff expertise and/or ‘in-kind’ access to technology and capability. Academic researchers should contact John Seton from BT Research (john.seton@bt.com) to discuss appropriate BT involvement and/or other parties with a potential interest in participating in this call.

The AHRC/BT Pilot Research Networking call is intended to support interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers to explore the theme of ‘Digital Heritage: understanding the personal, social and cultural contexts of consumers of cultural heritage’. The AHRC and BT welcome networks which involve academic colleagues from the arts and humanities and BT staff as well as non academic organisations, businesses and other parties whose interests compliment the aims of the pilot programme.

For more information see:http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/AHRCandBTResearchNetworkingPilotFundingCall.aspx

Times Higher Education Awards - Research Project of the Year

Deadline: 5 June 2009

This will be awarded to the individual or team for innovative research that has a far-reaching impact on its field and has caught, or has the potential to catch, the imagination of the public. It is open to individuals or teams in any discipline at a UK institution. Nominations must be endorsed by the applicants' institution.

• Explain the background to your project.
• Why was the research necessary, and what were its primary objectives?
• Describe how the research was funded, what the work involved and what challenges arose.
• What did the results reveal, and what are the potential wider benefits to society?
• Has it led to other projects or new avenues of exploration?
• Judges will look for evidence of significant or novel results, creative collaborations and imaginative communication of research results.

The awards will recognise achievements in the 2008/2009 academic year and entries will be accepted between 26 February 2009 and 5 June 2009. Judging will take place in June and the shortlist will be announced in July. The winners will be announced at a dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London on 15 October 2009.

For more information and online application form see: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/hybrid.asp?typeCode=352&;pubCode=1&;navcode=98

Fellowship Program Research in Germany for PhD Student - Travel and living costs

The Gottlieb Daimler und Karl Benz-Foundation offer awards of up to £2,300 to enable PhD students working towards a dissertation to undertake a research stay in a German host institution.

A period of study or traineeship at a foreign research institution is likely to represent an important milestone in the career of a young researcher. With its fellowship program the foundation offers both German and foreign PhD students the chance to get acquainted with a different scholastic system and to pave the way, through successful academic cooperation, for long-lasting relationships.

The program is open to all disciplines, subjects and countries. Germans wishing to pursue a research stay abroad and foreign students intending to work in Germany in connection with their PhD may apply. The support provided by the Foundation is for a maximum period of 2 years.

Applicants should not be older than 30, and must have been awarded their most recent academic degree (Master’s degree or Diploma degree) within the last year at the time of the application deadline.

Fellowships are granted for the sole purpose of covering living costs in the host country. The Foundation does not fund tuition fees, materials, supporting staff, stays in the candidate’s home country or outside of the host institution, or travel costs within the research project. Max award £2,300.

Closing date: 1st October 2009 (Two deadlines each year 1 March and 1 October)

For more information see: http://www.daimler-benz-stiftung.de/home/fellowship/en/start.html

EU funding for training and career development of researchers

The European Commission's Directorate-General for Research has published three calls for proposals under the 'People' programme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

Intended to provide support for training and career development of researchers, the calls include:

• Intra-European Fellowships (IEF);
• International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF);
• International Incoming Fellowships (IIF).

The Intra-European Fellowship scheme targets experienced researchers seeking to enhance their individual competence and acquire new skills at an interdisciplinary level.

International Outgoing Fellowships aim to reinforce the international dimension of European researchers by giving them the opportunity to work in a high-level research organisation in a third country.

By contrast, the International Incoming Fellowship scheme is addressed at top-class researchers active in third countries, who would like to work on research projects and share their knowledge with colleagues in Europe. Ultimately, the goal is to develop mutually beneficial research cooperation between Europe and third countries.

To see the full details of the call, please consult the following web address: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/calls/

The deadline for all 3 calls is 18th August 2009

The ESF is inviting Proposals for new EUROCORES Themes

The European Science Foundation (ESF) European Collaborative Research (EUROCORES) Programmes offer a flexible framework for researchers from Europe to work on questions which are best addressed in larger scale collaborative research programmes. The EUROCORES Programmes allow excellent researchers from different participating countries to collaborate in research projects ‘at the bench’. They also allow, when appropriate, colleagues from non-European countries, for example the US, to participate. The Programmes encourage and foresee networking and collaboration of researchers to achieve synthesis of scientific results across the programme, to link to related programmes, and to disseminate results.

EUROCORES Themes are "bottom-up" proposals for the creation of new collaborative research programmes dealing with broad and complex topics which are best addressed through multinational cooperation. Through its annual call for theme proposals, ESF solicits new ideas from the scientific community with a view to creating large-scale European Collaborative Research (EUROCORES) programmes in and across all scientific domains. In 2008, 6 out of 38 EUROCORES Theme Proposals were invited to be developed into EUROCORES programmes.

Theme Proposals must be submitted online.

Deadline for submission: 29 May 2009 (noon CET).

More information on website: http://www.esf.org/index.php?id=50