The Austrian Academy of Sciences is calling for proposals for a new digital humanities programme. The objective of this programme, which is financed by the National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development, is to continue and intensify the expansion of digital humanities in Austria. The programme is primarily aimed at young scientists who wish to apply and enhance digital methods within the framework of cooperation projects.
Deadline for submissions 15 May 2018, 12:00 (CET)
Target group
Groups of scientists from university and non-university research institutions in Austria who are still at the beginning of their careers are entitled to apply. An application should be submitted by at least two proponents from different disciplines. Partnerships between representatives of cultural heritage institutions and representatives of research facilities outside the areas of the social sciences and humanities are explicitly welcome.
Objectives of the programme
The programme is intended to improve the framework conditions for data-based and data-driven research in the social sciences and humanities by
- intensifying the use of existing infrastructures, digital data and tools,
- focusing on the role of social sciences and humanities in society,
- promoting cooperative approaches,
- offering young researchers opportunities to combine scientifically innovative research questions with innovative digital methods,
- working towards more gender equality in research,
- promoting relevant discourses within the research community and
- building on the FAIR principles as a basis for modern data management.
Application requirements
- Scientists from all disciplines with a maximum of 8 years since completion of their most-recent academic degree (calculated from the issue date of the certificate until 1 January 2018; copies of certificates of all proponents must be enclosed with the application).
- Submission as a group of at least 2 scientists and an approximate gender balance among applicants. The share of female scientists in the group shall be at least 50 %. In the case of an uneven number more female scientists must be represented.
- One scientist must assume the role of application coordinator.
- Each scientist may only take part in one application.
- The applicants must be prepared to pro-actively contribute to the public presentation of the programme and take part in associated events.
- The project must take place in an Austrian research facility.
- Approval from the representatives of the relevant research facilities must be enclosed with the application.
- A research facility may support multiple applications.
Funding term
Amount of grant
The budget for each of the projects is between a minimum of EUR 150,000 and a maximum of EUR 220,000. Up to 15 projects are envisaged. The grant shall also cover overheads in the amount of 10% of the direct project costs. The following direct costs may be applied for:
- Staff costs
- Costs for consumables
- Travel expenses
- Other costs
(Other costs means costs which cannot be allocated to staff costs, consumables or travel expenses, such as e.g. reimbursement for the use of research infrastructure; offers must be enclosed) - Contracts for work or services
Procedure
- The application form "Short Proposal" (description of the project), completed in full, CVs, publication lists and declarations of consent including enclosures must be submitted by the coordinator by email to programmmanagement(at)oeaw.ac.at by 15 May 2018 (stage 1 of the selection procedure).
- All submissions which meet the necessary formal requirements for application (see application requirements) will be presented to an independent international jury. According to the objectives of the programme and based on scientific excellence and originality of the research project the jury will invite selected project managers to submit full applications. No expert opinions will be obtained in this stage. Unsuccessful applicants will immediately be notified of the rejection.
- Full applications must be submitted by email by 1 October 2018 (stage 2 of the selection procedure). Expert opinions may be obtained.
- Public hearings of all project groups invited to submit full applications will be held in autumn 2018.
- The award decision of the independent international jury is expected to be announced by email in December 2018.
- The selected projects shall start on 1 June 2019 and will have a project term of a maximum of 24 months.
By their submission in connection with this call for proposals the applicants acknowledge that the related data and documents will be forwarded to the members of the jury and experts for purpose of evaluation of the application and decision-making with regard to the award of grants.
Application for stage 1 of the selection procedure
Young scientists are invited to develop projects to address research questions regarding the social sciences and humanities where modern paradigms such as open innovation and the broad spectrum of digital humanities methods are applied and existing infrastructures, digital data and tools are utilised. Applications reflecting the consciousness of the social component of digital research paradigms and the connection between science and society (also in the sense of citizen science), and also take into account the rapidly changing role of research in society as a result of increasing digitalisation are explicitly welcome.
Applications must be made in English by submitting 4 files (no protected or scanned electronic documents):
Filenames for electronic documents:
- Short Proposal_(short project title/acronym).pdf
- CVs_( short project title/acronym).zip
- Publications_(short project title/acronym).zip
- Signatures_(short project title/acronym).zip
After submission of the short proposal, the proponent(s) or research facilities cannot be changed any more.
Deadline for submission
Please send your application to the following address by 15 May 2018, 12:00 (CET): programmmanagement(at)oeaw.ac.at
Application for stage 2 of the selection procedure
(= full application submission, only following invitation by the jury)
Requirements as to the content
Full applications must be compatible with the short proposal (see application for stage 1 of the selection procedure) and must include the following specifications in particular:
- Volume and type of the sources to be digitised, or planned provision of digital materials for scientific use, respectively.
- Description of use of existing infrastructures, digital data and tools.
- Specific methods used for implementation of the projects. The best practices applicable to the relevant discipline must be taken into account and internationally accepted standards, such as TEI (Text Encoding Initiative), RDF (Resource Description Framework), SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System), DC (Dublin Core), CMDI (Component MetaData Infrastructure), SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructures), etc., use of which is planned, must be stated.
- Detailed information on planned workflows, applied tools and infrastructure which, in the ideal case, will be used jointly (scanner, storage, repository ...).
- Information on the type of metadata used to describe the digital resources created in the course of the projects.
- Time/date at which the data will be made freely available.
- Names of the repositories for archiving of data (see, inter alia: https://www.re3data.org).
- Ensuring the citability of data (see, inter alia: https://www.force11.org/datacitation),
- Clear information about the planned provision of resources for subsequent use by the Austrian and international research community that is as unrestricted as possible (see, inter alia: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/reports/guides/How_To_License_Research_Data.pdf). Strategies to ensure long-term availability of the data must be formulated. In addition, information about the planned licensing (preferably Creative Commons or similar free licence models) and about the modalities of digital publication is required. The data must be available at the time of submission of the final report at the latest.
- Generally, FAIR principles must be applied with regard to research data generated in the course of the project. The application details stated above must be reflected in a data management plan, including:
- treatment of research data during and after the project term
- description of the data collected, processed or developed
- description of the methods and standards applied
- volume and type of data provision
- data security measures (during and after the project)
During the project term, the applicants must be ready to locate themselves in the context of the CLARIN-ERIC and DARIAH-EU infrastructure projects and under the funded projects to work towards Austrian contributions in kind (data, workflows, best practices) jointly with CLARIAH-AT.
Applications must be made in English by the coordinator by submitting 3 files by email to programmmanagement(at)oeaw.ac.at (no protected or scanned electronic documents):
- Full application consisting of:
- Project description (short proposal, specifications)
- Data management plan
- List of the costs applied for as defined in the template
- One-page summary for OeAW's public relations, including the title of the project and a description in layman's terms.
Filenames for electronic documents:
- Proposal_(short project title/acronym).pdf
- Costs_(short project title/acronym).pdf
- Summary_(short project title/acronym).pdf
Deadline for submission
Please send your application to the following address by 1 October 2018, 12:00 (CET): programmmanagement(at)oeaw.ac.at
