Science4Arts

The Science4Arts research program aims to investigate changes in artworks with regard to an object’s chemical and physical dynamics, significance and substance, as well as its frame of reference. Collaboration between specialists in the fields of conservation, humanities, physical and chemical sciences is pivotal as they collectively investigate an object or group of related objects in a museum environment. The program aims to develop and strengthen interchange between the research of various research institutions and the museological field.

Two areas of research are central to the program, namely ancient art and modern and contemporary art. Ancient art is in this case a collective term for visual and applied arts and works on paper before 1880. Modern and contemporary art covers the same categories from 1880 onwards, but additionally includes all facets of installation art, conceptual art and new media art. The differences in the use of materials, aesthetics, ethics and presentation between these two areas demand different approaches to conservation. The Netherlands plays a leading role in both the conservation fields. This program aims to strengthen and expand this prominent position, not in the least by integrating the results from both research areas where possible.

NWO works internationally together with the SciArt program of the NSF. NSF and NWO will therefore accept joint bilateral research proposals between researchers from the US and The Netherlands. On the US side these proposals must fit in the SciArt program solicitation.

Who can apply

Proposals are submitted by interdisciplinary teams consisting of senior researchers of different research disciplines and one or more museums. The main applicant is employed at a university, whereas the co-applicant is connected to a museum. In case a museum or conservation institute in the Netherlands has a regular research activity at academic level in conservation science, it may be eligible as a main applicant after consultation of NWO and approval of the steering committee. In that case the co-applicant has to be from a university to ascertain beforehand the availability of a thesis advisor for Ph.D.-students.

The museum(s) must have an active involvement in the research. The involvement of museums therefore is obligatory. Besides giving access to relevant collections they must cooperate by providing the involvement at an academic level of staff for instance from their own personnel of at least 1.0 fte over 4 years (this matches € 15,000 a year).

What can be applied for

This call is the second phase in the application process of the NL and US-NL proposals. The first phase of NL proposals and US-NL proposals for applications for network grants is completed. Participation in the first phase is obligatory for participation in the second phase.

Science4Arts provides grants for long-term research projects (max. 5 years) of multidisciplinary research teams. The budget for a grant is minimum € 500,000 and maximum € 600,000 per project.

The grant can be used for:

Personnel costs:

• a combination of Ph.D.’s, postdocs and/or replacement for (senior) researchers
• one employee of a cultural heritage institution to participate in the research project for at least 0.25 fte or at maximum 0.5 fte for one to four years; this can only be requested by cultural heritage institutes in the Netherlands;
• bench fee

Material costs:

• necessary technical support, material costs, project related equipment and/or software;
• costs in order to realize knowledge utilization and international activities.

When can be applied

• Closing date for submitting the proposal for the NL or US-NL network grant to NWO was 15 March 2011
• Closing date for submitting full proposals for the NL or US-NL network grant to NWO was 8 September 2011

Additional for joint US-NL proposals
The Dutch principal applicant is required to submit a proposal for a networking grant on behalf of the envisioned US-NL cooperation.

Extra Information

The research program is an initiative of the NWO (The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) divisions Humanities and Chemical and Physical Sciences. It is a follow up to previous NWO programs in the field of interdisciplinary art-technological and scientific research as applied to conservation (e.g. Molart (1995–2002) and De Mayerne (2002–2006)).

The National Science Foundation runs a program CHS (former SciArt). The program focuses on collaborative activities between conservation scientists and chemists and materials scientists to address grand challenges in the field of science of cultural heritage. NWO and NSF collaborative in this field. The NSF Division of Chemistry and NWO will accept bilateral research proposals between researchers from the US and The Netherlands who work in academic institutions.

Applications for the full NL or US-NL proposal must be submitted as a PDF document by the main (Dutch) applicant. Applications have to be submitted through NWO’s electronic submission system Iris.

Criteria

The applications for will be evaluated the criteria listed below.

The scientific quality (intellectual merit):

• scientific gains from the proposal;
• innovation (development of new concepts or techniques OR new ways of applying already existing techniques and methods);
• clarity of the research objective;
• competency of the research team;
• (feasibility of) the work program;
• relationship between research objective and requested resources;
• urgency of the proposed research.

The multidisciplinary collaboration should be evident from the composition of the project team. Each team must be composed of scholars and scientists from at least two different disciplines and have an active involvement of one or more museums.

The relevance of the proposed research:

• What are the broader impacts of the proposed activities?
• How relevant will the results be for museums and galleries?
• What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society?
• Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific, scholarly and technological understanding?

Procedure

The full proposals will be assessed by an international committee, consisting of experts both from universities and museums.

Each proposal will be assessed by two or three (inter)national reviewers for the relevant criteria. Applicants of Dutch proposals will be given the opportunity to respond to the reviewers' reports with a rebuttal.

The committee will discuss and rank the proposals during a meeting. Dutch full proposals and Joint US-NL full proposals are assessed in separate pools by the same committee.

The Steering Committee will make joint and consistent funding decisions, based on the rankings from the committee. Policy grounds like proportional distribution over research areas and research themes, and universities can lead to adjustments in the ranking of the proposals.

Additional for joint US-NL proposals:

Also for joint US-NL full proposals two reviewers will be asked to assess the proposals for the relevant criteria. Applicants of US-NL proposals will not be given the opportunity to respond to the referee’s reports in writing with a rebuttal (in accordance with common practice of NSF).

For joint US-NL full proposals the Science4Arts Steering Committee (NWO) and NSF will make joint and consistent funding decisions, based on the rankings from the committee.

Committees

The International committee will be installed by NWO and NSF consisting of experts in the field of conservation with relevance for both the scholarly/scientific and museological aspects of the program Science4Arts. During the selection of the members every effort will be taken to ensure that the committee members have as large a level of independence and expertise as possible.

Budget

In this round M€ 3,475 is available for full proposals, including the M€ 0.6 that is reserved for US-NL proposals only.

Depending on the budgets of the proposals, 5 to 6 projects can be awarded.

Financiers

NWO Divisions for the Humanities, Chemical and Physical Sciences 

Contacts

• Ms drs. M. Berendsen
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 06 91, e-mail: m.berendsen@nwo.nl