The ACDH-CH works with many partners both within and beyond the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The following outlines the steps required to successfully initiate a project with the ACDH-CH.
CONSULTING WORKFLOW – How to get started
To ensure adequate support throughout the entire project, it is crucial to involve ACDH-CH early in the proposal process and to follow all stages of the consulting workflow outlined below.
1. Contact Phase
1. Contact Phase
First point of contact: the ACDH-CH Consulting Team
All collaborations with the ACDH-CH are initiated by contacting the Consulting Team via email. If you have already spoken to a member of the ACDH-CH about your project, this colleague will inform our Consulting Team.
Contact our Consulting Team via ACDH-CH-Helpdesk(at)oeaw.ac.at
During the contact phase, one consultant is assigned as a primary contact person for all matters concerning the project proposal. They will also communicate all relevant decisions about the possible cooperation of the ACDH-CH as soon as possible (see approval phase below).
We will require the following basic information as early as possible during the contact phase:
- Short description of the project framework: funding institution and call (and associated deadlines!), other research partners and their contact details
- Short description of the project context: such as an exposé or abstract.
Based on this information, together with the directors of the institute we will assess the alignment/match with the institute's general research agenda as well as the resources needed to further develop the proposal.
2. Joint Proposal Phase
2. Joint Proposal Phase
During the joint proposal phase, the Consulting Team works with potential partners to:
- clarify requirements for the prospective project infrastructures: technologies to be used, concept for technical support and running time of IT-services after the end of the project.
- formulate the parts of the proposal pertaining to DH methods, standards, and best practices.
- draft the personnel and financial resource plan to make sure that it appropriately reflects the role and workload of the ACDH-CH.
3. Approval Phase
3. Approval Phase
Once the proposal and the budget are solidified, the approval phase begins. Please note that the necessary administrative procedures typically take three weeks to complete.
- The consultant submits the proposal for approval to the directors.
- Once approved by the directors, the proposal is submitted to the Grant Service of the Academy for administrative review and approval, which requires at least 14 days.
It is submitted by the consultant, unless the principal investigator is a member of another institute of the Academy, in which case they communicate with the Grant Service. - The consultant will inform the project partners of the result of the review, possible suggestions for formal adaptations to the proposal, and the procedure of collecting necessary signatures.
General considerations for a project proposal
- Alignment with the research profile of the institute
- Approval from the head of the research unit corresponding to the project topic
- Legal aspects: Compliance with GDPR, IPR, chiefly the clarification of rights of ownership and property rights for material to be digitized.
Our legal issues project survey (ALPS) offers assistance in such matters. - Licensing and all its implications (especially concerning the use of data, tools and code stemming from the project).
- Handling and maintenance of the applications, software, and data after the project’s runtime (see Policy on research data, results and software).
- Clear and consistent work plans, data management, and budget plans.
Would you like to collaborate with us on a joint research undertaking? Please reach out to us via acdh-ch-helpdesk(at)oeaw.ac.at. We are looking forward to hearing from you!