Volkswagen Foundation, The

Open Up – New Research Spaces for the Humanities and Cultural Studies

The Volkswagen Foundation is dedicated to the support of the humanities and social sciences as well as science and technology in higher education and research. The funding initiative “Original – isn't it?” aims at the scientific exploration of original ideas in the humanities and cultural studies. However, the specific nature of the themes belonging to the humanities and cultural studies, makes it difficult to say precisely what constitutes “original”, “new”, or “innovative”. It may encompass anything that contradicts established knowledge or generally accepted intuitions; or just as well the development of a new approach to research, a new hypothesis, a new theory, observation of a new phenomenon, and the discovery of knowledge gaps. With this funding initiative the Foundation wishes to encourage scholars in the humanities and cultural studies to embark on projects of groundbreaking originality. The Foundation does not specify what form this originality should take. It is up to the applicants to put forward the arguments that determine what is “new” in their proposed projects. The sub-initiative "Constellations" addresses researchers who wish to join in small teams of up to four partners to follow up on new research ideas and put their feasibility to the test in an exploratory phase. Here, too, the main criterion is the potential for groundbreaking originality. The project results are to be gathered in a co-authored publication (article, essay, book) under formulation of a common agenda, including the development of coherent terminologies or (sets of) methods. Teams comprising partners drawn from the social sciences, life sciences, natural sciences, or engineering are particularly welcome. The primary applicant must be affiliated with a German institution, but international partners are welcome.

Topics of Interest: Humanities; Cultural studies; Innovation; Social sciences; Life sciences; Natural sciences; Engineering; Interdisciplinary; Collaboration

Deadline: November

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