Open Up – New Research Spaces for the Humanities and Cultural Studies

  • Action type: research projects; funding of a teaching substitute
  • Opening date: 22 February 2025
  • Closing time: 3 April 2025 14:00 (Europe/Brussels)
  • Budget per project: € 400 000
  • Project duration: 1.5 years
  • Official website

Scope

To ‘open up’ something is associated with the curiosity to take the first step into something new and unknown. In this sense, we are looking for projects that not only offer new perspectives on already known research subjects, but also explore entirely new research spaces and topics. The funding offer assumes that these topics are currently characterized by a particular complexity and require a multi-perspective approach in order to reveal and understand this complexity. We therefore want to support researchers who open up new research and knowledge spaces in the humanities and cultural studies through the joint exploration of complex and previously unexplored research topics. By funding research collaborations of two or three researchers, the Foundation intends to facilitate the full creative potential of the interaction of different expertise and perspectives.

The funding initiative addresses teams of two or three researchers who aim to explore new and original research spaces. During a funding period of up to 1.5 years, projects with two project partners can be funded with up to 300,000 euros. Projects with three project partners can be funded with up to 400,000 euros.

Explicitly sought are projects with a high degree of exploration, which can also be accompanied by a corresponding risk character of the project – the possibility of not achieving the envisaged project goals is therefore not a reason for rejecting a project. At this point, we would like to invite you to think about whether  your project fits the “Open Up” funding initiative.  In the view of the Volkswagen Foundation, a project does not fit ‘Open Up’ if there are already:

  • recurring courses on the topic of your project.
  • numerous articles on the topic of your project.
  • journals on the topic of your project.
  • expert associations on the topic of your project.
  • discussions/debates on the topic in the supplements / feuilletons.

All applicants must have completed their doctorate. In individual calls it may also be sufficient that they have already submitted their dissertation. Lead applicants must be affiliated with a German university or research institution or attach a statement with their application in which the management of the university or research group confirms that it will employ them and take over the administration of the third-party funds if they are approved.

 

Remarks

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