Third call in the humanities incl. law and linguistics, 2020/2021

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) are launching a call for proposals for outstanding joint UK-German research projects in the humanities. Proposals should strengthen cooperation in the fields of arts and humanities, law and linguistics between Germany and the UK.

Both funding agencies want to strengthen international cooperation in these fields, to fund academic research of the highest quality within their own countries, and are aware that some of the best research can only be achieved by working with the best researchers internationally. The scheme will provide funding for integrated UK-German projects. The partner agencies will organise a coordinated peer review and a single joint selection process. Funding will be distributed among the research partners according to researchers’ place of work and, more generally, according to the funding rules of each individual agency.

Proposals may be submitted in any area of the humanities, as defined in the research funding guides. Only proposals whose primary aim is to make fundamental advances in human knowledge in the relevant fields may be submitted in response to the call for proposals. Applicants who are uncertain whether their proposal would be eligible should contact the relevant agencies for clarification.

Projects must have well-defined joint working programmes, clearly demonstrating the added value of UK-German collaboration. We expect that each partner substantially contributes to the common project; this also includes taking on organisational responsibilities. This division of responsibilities should also be reflected in the amount of funds requested by each partner.

Immediate resubmission of unsuccessful proposals from one call under the AHRC-DFG Memorandum of Understanding to the next call is not permitted but is acceptable for future calls. Applicants unsuccessful under the last call may submit different proposals for this call.

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.

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.

The closing date for this call is Wednesday, 24 February 2021. Applications for this call will need to be submitted through the DFG elan-system (by midnight CET). German applicants should note, that if they are using the elan system for the first time, they need to set up an elan-account by 19 February 2021 at the latest. UK applicants are requested to also set up an elan account, although they are not required to do so.

Further Information

For more detailed information, please refer to the DFG website:

• www.dfg.de/ahrc

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.

• Germany, DFG:
  AHRC-Ausschreibung@dfg.de
  
  Sigrid Claßen
  phone +49 228 885-2209
  
  Dr. Nora Böttcher
  phone +49 228 885-2693
• United Kingdom, AHRC:
  enquiries@ahrc.ukri.org

Please put DFG in the subject heading.

• Dr. James Davies
  International Partnerships and Engagement Management
  phone +44 1793 416060