Internationalisation in the Humanities

With this grant instrument, the Humanities Divisional Board wants to facilitate the international cooperation between Dutch research groups and their foreign colleagues, stimulate the formation of international networks within the humanities and encourage humanities applications to international agencies.

Who can apply

Senior researchers at Dutch institutes for university education and research and/or researchers at institutes recognised by NWO. Researchers not employed at an institute recognised by NWO, can submit an application in collaboration with senior university researchers. The application must be submitted by a Dutch research group that wants to work with at least two foreign research groups. A second Dutch research group may be involved in the project.

What can be applied for

Grants are for the exchange of researchers, scientific meetings, publication costs, secondment grant, costs for setting up a network and material costs. Activities primarily related to education (such as courses, summer schools, international trips of PhD students within the framework of their doctoral research) are not eligible for a grant.

The application must be for an amount of no less than € 25,000 and no more than € 75,000. A maximum of € 56,250 of this amount will be paid by NWO. The maximum duration of a project is three years.

At least two of the foreign institute(s) or research groups need to contribute to the costs of the cooperation (at least 25% of the amount applied for to NWO in the case of a first application and at least 50% in the case of a subsequent application).

When can be applied

• Closing date for submitting applications was 1 March 2010.

Application rounds for this type of grant take place each year.

Extra Information

Applications should be related to specified research activities within the framework of a structured programmatic cooperation with one or more foreign institutes or research groups. The aim of the cooperative project must be to realise a tangible form of international cooperation. This mainly concerns 1) the added value of the international cooperation, in a form that exceeds the level of individual internationalisation (conferences, fieldwork, etc.) and 2) strengthening the Dutch research in the international arena. For further information about how the aim of this grant instrument can be realised and the weighting aspects used, please refer to the heading Criteria: Operationalisation of the objective and Intrinsic weighting aspects.

A research group may submit one application per year for scientific cooperation with two or more foreign research groups. An application must concern a single well-defined cooperative project; different cooperative projects should not be brought together under a single application.

Approved applications should start within 6 months of the grant being formally awarded. A later starting date can lead to the grant being withdrawn.

Criteria

For further information please contact the person responsible for this grant (see below).

Admissibility criteria:

1. the application must lie within the area of the Humanities
2. each research group may only submit one application per year
3. the letters of guarantee from the foreign partners must be submitted at the same time as the application
4. the application may only have been submitted on one previous occasion

Aspects of the cooperative project that need to be described in the application:

• aim of the project
• feasibility and relevance of the planned activities
• programmatic coherency
• importance and added value of the cooperation for the Dutch and the foreign research groups
• quality of the research groups involved

Operationalisation of the objective and Intrinsic weighting aspects:

The objective of this type of grant described under the explanatory notes (realising a tangible international cooperation) must seek to realise one of the following results (or a combination thereof):

1. a detailed international research proposal
2. a structurally-anchored international research network
3. research infrastructure (joint databases and the like)
4. one or more forms of other cooperative output, such as scientific publications (preferably not in Dutch)

In the event that a further prioritisation proves necessary, most weight will be attached to points 1 and 2 during the assessment.

Procedure

The applications will be assessed and if necessary prioritised by the Humanities Divisional Board. If so desired, the board can request extra information from the applicant. A decision about the awarding of grants will then be taken. No external recommendations will be obtained.

Budget

The total budget for the 2010 round is € 510,000.

Financiers

NWO Division for the Humanities (GW).

Contacts

• mw. drs. I.J. Drijfhout-Geijteman
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 0829, e-mail: i.drijfhout@nwo.nl