Sixteen collaborative projects will contribute to research excellence across the arts and humanities through an ongoing collaboration between the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). This will bring the two funders’ programme of collaboration, which has been ongoing since 2018, to a total of 110 awards.

Discovery-Led Model

Through the discovery-led model adopted for this programme, researchers are empowered to pursue areas of international research significance as identified through their own work. The projects funded this year cover a wide and diverse range of topics, utilising humanities methodologies to boost new understanding of research fields, including archaeology, history, literature, linguistics, media and music.

Developing Research Relations

The AHRC-DFG funding programme has been foundational in developing research relations between the UK and Germany. Since the inception of the AHRC-DFG funding programme, the DFG has signed an overarching memorandum of understanding with UKRI, which builds on the success of the programme so far and the way in which it has created opportunities for research excellence.

Projects Funded (Alphabetical Order):

Communicating Causality

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Michael Franke (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen)
UK principal investigator: Dr. Dan Lassiter (University of Edinburgh)
Discipline: linguistics

Competing Socialisms and African Agency: The Sino-Soviet Rivalry in Tanzania during the Cold War, 1950s–1990

German principal investigator: Privatdozentin Dr. Kirsten Bönker (Nordost-Institut an der Universität Hamburg)
UK principal investigator: Dr. Thoralf Klein (Loughborough University)
Discipline: history

Craft Interactions in a New Kingdom Industrial Landscape (Egypt, 1550–1069 BCE)

German principal investigator: Dr. Anna Hodgkinson (Freie Universität Berlin)
UK principal investigator: Dr. Frederik Rademakers (British Museum)
Discipline: archaeology

Forging and Belonging: Researching Children’s Social Relations and Imagined Futures through Crafting in Rural West Africa

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Erdmute Alber (Universität Bayreuth)
UK principal investigator: Professor Karen Wells (Birkbeck, University of London)
Discipline: ethnography and anthropology

Linguistic Practices of Coal Mining Communities in the Post-Industrial Era: Variation, Documentation, Representation, Regeneration

German principal investigators: Dr. Nantke Pecht (Universität Münster); Professor Dr. Evelyn Ziegler (Universität Duisburg-Essen)
UK principal investigators: Professor Natalie Braber (Nottingham Trent University), Dr John Bellamy (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Discipline: linguistics

Multilingual Dynamic Assessment for Language and Content Learning: Addressing Sociolinguistic Diversity in India’s Primary Schools

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Jacopo Torregrossa (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
UK principal investigator: Professor Ianthi Maria Tsimpli (University of Cambridge)
Discipline: linguistics

Networked through Sound: Listening to 20th Century Wildlife Sound Archives

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Sandra Jasper (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
UK principal investigator: Dr. Jonathan Prior (Cardiff University)
Discipline: cultural geography

Project StoryMachine: Exploring Implications of Recommender Based Spatial Hypertext Systems for Folklore and the Humanities

German principal investigators: Professor Dr. Claus Atzenbeck (Hochschule Hof); Professor Dr. Sarah Diefenbach (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München); Professor Dr. Astrid Ensslin (Universität Regensburg)
UK principal investigator: Professor Jane Winters (University of London)
Discipline: languages & literature

QuBisM – Questions, Bias, Multimodality: Negotiating Meaning in Interaction 

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Sophie Repp (Universität zu Köln)
UK principal investigators: Dr. Rebecca Woods (Newcastle University); Dr Johannes Heim (University of Aberdeen)
Discipline: linguistics

Relocating Filmstrips, Remapping Europe 

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Vinzenz Hediger (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
UK principal investigator: Professor Tom Rice (University of St Andrews)
Discipline: media

Same but Different: Systems for Smoothing Noun Entropy in Communication in German and English 

German principal investigator: Dr. Michael Ramscar (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen)
UK principal investigator: Professor Elizabeth Wonnacott (University of Oxford)
Discipline: linguistics

Technologies of Touch 

German principal investigators: Professor Dr. Ariane Jeßulat & Professor Dr. Berit Greinke (Universität der Künste Berlin)
UK principal investigator: Professor Atau Tanaka (Goldsmiths, University of London)
Discipline: music

Toxic Heritage: Socio-natural Landscapes of Extraction and Pollution in the Harz and Cornwall 

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Tina Asmussen (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
UK principal investigator: Professor Peter Oakley (Royal College of Art)
Discipline: ethnography and anthropology

Transitions: Examining Changing Regimes of Sexuality in Post-Soviet Muslim Republics 

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Timothy Nunan (Universität Regensburg)
UK principal investigator: Dr. Vlad Strukov (University of Leeds)
Discipline: theology, divinity & religion

University Students as Migrants: A New History of Educational Mobility in Western Europe, 1960s–1980s 

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Isabella Löhr (Leibniz-Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam)
UK principal investigator: Dr. Daniel Laqua (Northumbria University)
Discipline: history

Unlocking Upcycled Medieval Data: North Sea Networks, People, and Commodities in the London Customs Accounts 1380-1560 

German principal investigator: Professor Dr. Werner Scheltjens (Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg)
UK principal investigator: Dr. Justin Colson (University of London)
Discipline: history

Further Information

Please find information on the current call on the DFG website: 

• www.dfg.de/ahrc

Contact at the DFG:

• AHRC-Ausschreibung@dfg.de 
• Sigrid Claßen, Humanities and Cultural Studies, phone +49 228 885-2209
• Dr. Nora Böttcher, Humanities and Cultural Studies, phone +49 228 885-2693

Contact at AHRC:

• Frazer Singlehurst, International Partnerships and Engagement Manager, AHRC
• international@ahrc.ukri.org
• Include “DFG” in the subject line. We aim to respond within five working days.