The programme Heritage Science Austria 2.0 of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which is funded by the National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development (Fonds Zukunft Österreich) is published for the second time in 2024 after a first call in 2020.

The programme will once again support multi-year funding of research projects in the field of cultural heritage at research and cultural heritage institutions in Austria. It aims to provide sustainable research impact for Austrian cultural heritage research, to strengthen both basic research and application-oriented research, and its consolidation within the respective European research infrastructure (E-RIHS).

Call 2020

Funded projects 2020/2021

Objective

Heritage Science is a highly relevant interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field of research that combines approaches and methods from the humanities and natural or technical sciences.

It includes research into the understanding, communication, preservation, documentation, management, conservation, and restoration of cultural heritage and, in view of the challenges of climate change and the need to protect often unique and irreplaceable objects, it is particularly challenged to find innovative and in the widest sense also sustainable solutions.

The Heritage Science Austria 2.0 call focuses explicitly on research on material (tangible) cultural heritage that is carried out in Austria and whose objects (such as artefacts, monuments and collections, archaeological finds and sites as well as palaeontological sites of cultural heritage significance) are located in Austria or are at least kept in Austria.

The funding programme’s intention is to increase the quality and diversity of heritage science research carried out in Austria and, in particular, to contribute to the development of new or the improvement of existing research infrastructure as well as to secure and develop fields of expertise that can have an impact beyond the conclusion of the project.

The interdisciplinary projects must pursue a clear research objective in which both humanities and natural or technical science approaches and methods are applied or developed.

They must be implemented by several institutions, ideally as a collaboration between research and cultural heritage institutions, in order to jointly develop Science based solutions and contribute to networking and knowledge transfer between the stakeholders of cultural heritage and the scientific community. The results shall be made available with open access.

Digital Humanities projects or cultural research projects that do not involve methods from the natural or technical sciences (i. e. Heritage Science) are not eligible for funding.

Target group

The funding programme addresses institutions of all disciplines in Austria where research into cultural heritage is conducted (archives, libraries, excavation sites, memorial sites, museums, collections, university and non-university research institutions). The project must be realised at at least two research/cultural heritage institutions in Austria. The project teams must be interdisciplinary, and attention must be paid to the participation of young researchers and a gender-balanced team. Further partnerships in and outside Austria are welcome.

Requirements for the application
 

• Submission as a team of two to five applicants with degrees in different scientific disciplines and from at least two different research institutions (based on the catalogue of research institutions of Statistics Austria) or cultural heritage institutions in Austria.
• The disciplinary set-up of the project team is not determined, but at least one of the applicants should have a degree in the natural or technical sciences and at least one a degree in the humanities.
• One of the applicants is the principal investigator, all others are co-principal investigators. Principal and co-principal investigators must be affiliated to a research/cultural heritage institution in Austria.
• Each principal or co-principal investigator may only participate in one application.
• The applicants agree to actively participate in the public presentation of the Heritage Science Austria 2.0 funding programme and to take part in public events.
• The project must be carried out at at least two research/cultural heritage institutions in Austria. The approval of the representatives of the host institutions must be enclosed with the application (declaration of consent). In the full proposal phase, a letter of consent from all participating institutions is required.
• Partnerships with foreign research/cultural heritage institutions are possible. Joint applications with foreign research/cultural heritage institutions are not possible.
• One research/cultural heritage institution can support several applications.

Duration of funding

• minimum of 2, maximum of 4 years

Amount of funding

The budget can be between EUR 300,000 (mininum) and EUR 550,000 (maximum). The total amount available is EUR 4.5 million.

Funding should include overhead costs in the amount of 10% of direct project costs. The following categories of direct costs are eligible for funding:

• personnel costs
• material costs
  • research infrastructure
  • costs for consumables
  • travelling expenses
  • other costs (such as licences, software, commissioning of external services)

The relation between personnel and material costs should be balanced. Costs for foreign partners can be applied for, but may not exceed 25% of the total budget.

Application process

It is a two-step application procedure: step 1 of the application (short proposal) is open to all applicants who fulfil the application requirements (see above); step 2 of the application (full proposal) can only be entered into upon invitation.

Start of the call: 4 November 2024
 

Application stage 1:

• The principal investigator must submit the following documents by 15 January 2025 by email to the Research Support Division - National and International Programmes (programmmanagement(at)oeaw.ac.at )
  • Fully completed application form ‘Short Proposal’ (template see application documents),
  • Applicant’s record (of the principal and the co-principal investigators), consisting of a CV, list of up to 10 most relevant outputs, incl. publications, copy of academic qualification, signed signature form of applicant’s host institution (template see application documents) = in 1 file per applicant.
• Receipt of the documents will be confirmed by e-mail.
• All submissions that fulfil the necessary formal application requirements (see application requirements) will be forwarded to an independent international jury. In line with the objectives of the programme and on the basis of scientific excellence and originality of the research project, the jury will invite selected project teams to submit full proposals by the end of March 2025. No expert reviews will be obtained during this phase. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed immediately of rejection.
• At the beginning of stage 1, the programme management organises an information webinar in German and English, in which questions about the application process can be discussed. Participation is optional and recommended for potential applicants.
   

Webinars

Webinar (German language) – Monday, 11 November 2024, 4-5 p. m.

Webinar (English language) – Wednesday, 13 November 2024, 4-5 p. m.

Webinar (English language) – Wednesday, 4 December 2024, 4-5 p. m.
 

Application stage 2 (by invitation only):

• The expected submission deadline for the full application is 15 June 2025.
• The full proposal essentially consists of a specification of the short proposal in terms of content, methodology, technology and project organisation (work and budget planning). The full proposal must be compatible with the short proposal. The Research Funding Division - National and International Programmes must be informed of any changes. Applicants and implementing scientific institutions must fulfil the requirements for submitting an application.
• External expert assessments will be obtained for all full proposals.
• A hearing before the jury will take place at the end of September/beginning of October 2025, at which the projects will be presented and discussed with the jury. All project teams submitting full proposals may be invited to the hearing.
• The funding decision by the independent international jury is expected to be announced in October 2025. Applicants will be informed of the outcome.

Data protection and rules of good scientific practice

By taking part in this call applicants acknowledge and agree that the related data and documents will be forwarded to the jury members. The data and documents will be forwarded for the purpose of evaluation of the application and decision-making with regard to the award of grants (see also the Data Protection Information of ÖAW). ÖAW abides by the Guidelines of Good Scientific Practice of the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity (ÖAWI). All applications will be checked for plagiarism using Similarity (Turnitin). Violations of the rules of good scientific practice will result in immediate exclusion of the application.

Funding modalities (extract)

• The selected projects must start no later than 6 months after transmission of the grant letter and have a maximum project term of 48 months. A funding agreement will be concluded with principal and co-principal investigators and the research/cultural heritage institutions. Provided that no extra costs arise, the project term may be extended by up to 6 months if well-founded reasons are given.
• The project progress and the use of funds must be reported once a year. The programme management must immediately be informed of any changes to the project plan. Changes which have not been reported will result in the discontinuation of the project. The programme management shall decide at their discretion whether to accept changes or to have them evaluated externally or, in the worst case, to reject them.
• After completion a comprehensive final project report must be submitted, which will then undergo evaluation. The project shall only be deemed completed after successful evaluation of the project results.

Application documents

Call

Short proposal form

Signature form (Declaration of consent)