Secondment Grant in the Humanities

The aim of the humanities secondment grant is to give PhD students in the humanities who work outside of a university the opportunity to complete their thesis by temporarily freeing them of their paid responsibilities. The grant serves to recompense the expenses incurred by the PhD student’s employer for the temporary appointment of a replacement for the duration of the project period.

Who can apply

The professor who is also the student's supervisor should submit the application on the student’s behalf.

What can be applied for

A secondment grant can be requested for a maximum period of 1 year and is supplied in the form of a lump sum with which the employer can cover the costs of secondment. A maximum payment of 50,000 euro per application is adhered to. The employer should be located in the Netherlands.

Applications for a secondment grant can only be submitted if the following conditions are met:

• the research is clearly important for the humanities;
• it is a thesis for which the research has been completed and the grant is used for the writing phase, which must lead to a final completion of the thesis;
• it concerns research that has not previously been funded.

See General Terms and Conditions of NWO Grants, points 8 and 21.

When can be applied

Applicants for the person-specific secondment grants can be submitted throughout the year. The decision-making process shall take place on a continual basis at the regular meetings of the Humanities Divisional Board. The assessment procedure usually takes 4 months to complete.

Extra Information

The secondment grant does not cover the costs of any materials.

Criteria

Scientific quality

1 scientific problem, question and objective

• scientific importance of the proposal
• originality/innovative character of the objectives
• clarity of the formulated problem, operationability in subsidiary questions

2 theoretical framework

3 research method

• suitability of the approach/methodology for the intended objectives
• originality/innovative character of the proposed approach/methodology
• multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity
• approach/methodology
• feasibility, practicability

4 nature, size and availability of the source material

5 supervisory team

• satisfactory composition supervising/research group
• feasibility in terms of experience, supervision and logistical facilities

Relevance

• current importance of the subject matter
• societal and cultural relevance (if applicable)
• relevance for the humanities

Degree of completion

Procedure

Two independent humanities experts shall be consulted during the evaluation of the application. The applicant/supervisor will be given the opportunity to respond to these external recommendations. On the basis of all of the information received (the application, the recommendations issued and the rebuttal) the Humanities Divisional Board will decide whether or not to award the secondment grant.

Budget

300,000 euro on a yearly basis.

Financiers

NWO Humanities Division.

Contacts

• Mw. Drs. M. Berendsen
  phone: + 31 (0) 70 3440691, e-mail: m.berendsen@nwo.nl