The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) together with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will launch a bilateral call for collaborative research proposals bringing together Arts and Humanities researchers in the UK with Humanities (including Law and Linguistics) researchers in Germany to conduct outstanding joint UK-German research projects. This is the third in a series of annual bilateral DFG/AHRC calls, following successful calls launched in 2018 and 2019.

Both funding agencies are aware that some of the best research can only be achieved by working with the best researchers internationally. Accordingly, the aims of the call are:

• to support academic research of the highest quality in the Humanities undertaken by UK-German teams, whose primary aim is to make fundamental advances in human knowledge;
• to deepen and strengthen cooperation between UK and German researchers in the humanities, and to foster the growth of a transnational UK-German research culture.

The call will be open to applications addressing any research topic where there is significant potential to advance knowledge through collaborative research bringing together Arts and Humanities researchers in the UK, whose research falls within the remit of the AHRC, and Humanities (including Law and Linguistics) researchers in Germany.

Applicants in Germany must meet the DFG’s eligibility requirements, and applicants in the UK must meet AHRC eligibility requirements. Funding will be distributed among the research partners according to the researchers’ place of work and, in general, according to the funding rules of each individual agency.

The duration of the projects will normally be, and must not exceed, three years. Successful projects will be expected to start in early 2022. The UK component may seek up to £350,000 FEC, to which the AHRC will normally contribute 80 percent FEC. Projects should be integrated but do not have to be symmetrical, in the sense that neither the sums requested nor the items requested have to be identical on the UK and German sides. However, we would expect the work packages to be delivered reasonably equally. Applicants should demonstrate the added value which cross-national collaboration, bringing together researchers based in the UK and Germany, will make to advancing research.

A single integrated case for support for the joint UK-German collaborative research project will need to be submitted in English. Where appropriate for the research topic, applicants may also submit their proposals in both English and German, although they are not required to do so.

Applications will be assessed on the basis of their scholarly merit and the added value of UK-Germany collaboration through a joint two-stage process. The first stage will involve assessment by two peer reviewers. The second stage will be consideration by members of a joint academic panel selected by the DFG and the AHRC, which will make funding recommendations to the funders. The peer review process will be undertaken in English. Funding will be granted from the core budgets of AHRC and DFG.

The immediate resubmission of unsuccessful proposals from the second call (2019/2020) under the AHRC-DFG MoU to the third call (2020/2021) is not permitted, even if the proposal is revised. Any application judged to be a resubmission of an application under the second call will be rejected.

First AHRC-DFG Call (2018/2019) – Unsuccessful Applicants:
Applicants unsuccessful under the first call may submit a reworked proposal under this call.

Second AHRC-DFG Call (2019/2020) – Unsuccessful Applicants:
Applicants involved in unsuccessful applications under the second call may submit, or be involved in, different or new proposals for this second call. Applicants unsuccessful under the second call may submit a reworked proposal under 2021/2022 call to be launched in November 2021.

The detailed call for proposals is planned for 19 November 2020 with a deadline on 
24 February 2021.

Further Information

Lead responsibility for the administration of calls rotates between the AHRC and the DFG. The DFG is leading the administration of this third call and should therefore be the first point of contact for general enquiries relating to the call.

• DFG:
  AHRC-Ausschreibung@dfg.de
  Sigrid Claßen
  phone +49 228 885-2209
  Dr. Nora Böttcher
  phone +49 228 885-2693
• AHRC:
  enquiries@ahrc.ukri.org
  Please put DFG in the subject heading.
  Dr. James Davies
  International Partnerships and Engagement Manager
  phone +44 1793 416060