Deadline: 4 June 2020
The Volkswagen Foundation especially welcomes projects that – in light of the current pandemic – challenge or question, established social assumptions or existing scientific paradigms. The foundation supports research projects that can also provide impetus for overcoming major societal challenges in the medium to long term. In particular, the Foundation encourages interdisciplinary approaches and the integration of a global perspective.
The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and the associated respiratory disease COVID-19 are spreading at a rapid pace, dominating all areas of public and private life worldwide and challenging basic, clinical and translational viral research. These new and unprecedented developments have both immediate and not yet fully foreseeable long-term consequences that raise new research questions and may even lead to new research fields.
Funding Information
- Applicants may apply for a total funding amount of EUR 120,000 for a term of up to 18 months for individual or cooperation projects involving up to 3 partners.
This call is not confined to any particular subject area and invites applications from life, natural and engineering sciences as well as social sciences and the humanities. It includes two funding opportunities:
- Small Grants: Support for individual or cooperative projects to test or develop new scientific approaches, methods and/or theories.
- Additional modules within the context of currently funded research projects: This provides an option for grant recipients of projects currently funded by the Foundation – in addition to the grants already made – to extend their respective projects by an additional module addressing the above mentioned challenges.These modules need to be complementary or an add-on to the (overarching) ongoing project.
Eligibility Criteria
This call targets postdoctoral researchers and professors who are employed by a university or an extramural research institute. The proposal must be submitted by an applicant employed at an institution in Germany, the participation of researchers from abroad is welcome. In case of cooperation projects, the main applicant’s university will be responsible for administering the grant.
Application and Selection Procedure
Following an internal assessment by the Foundation, an international and interdisciplinary expert panel reviews the applications based on the following criteria:
- relevance of the topic (in light of the Coronavirus pandemic induced challenges and changes),
- quality and originality of the research project,
- quality of the research team, also (where applicable) with respect to the composition of the applying team and the integration of inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives,
- potential for innovation and transformation of established research fields,
- potential for addressing major sociatel challenges beyond the current pandemia,
- relevance of the topic for science, the general public and society as a whole.
For more information, visit https://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/en/funding/our-funding-portfolio-at-a-glance/corona-crisis-and-beyond-perspectives-for-science-scholarship-and-society