Aims and Criteria

The Seed Grants are provided to foster and interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue between urban scholars in the humanities and social sciences, and to stimulate original research in the field of Urban Studies. In particular, we aim to enable exchange and collaborations between researchers from Creative Amsterdam - an E-Humanities Perspective (CREATE), the Amsterdam Centre for Urban History (ACUH), the ASCA Cities Project , and the Centre for Urban Studies (CUS). We especially appreciate proposals building on the ideas developed during the joint network day of January 30^th, but are certainly open to any other and novel ideas for collaboration and exchange that have arisen since.

We believe that collaborations between these two domains can be advantageous in an academic funding landscape that is not only becoming increasingly competitive, but in which the social sciences and humanities are more and more conjoined in grant calls and funding schemes. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, we find that knowledge creation is intrinsically strengthened by a combination of the societal imperative that social sciences researchers regard highly and the cultural interest and long-term perspective premised by humanities researchers.

Examples

This call is open to all sorts and forms of collaborations between the humanities and social sciences. Examples of activities to be considered for funding include (but are not limited to):

Activities exploring a new collaboration with the other domain, including around ideas emerged at the joint network day e.g.:

• A ‘playshop’ or brainstorm session on comparing research theories and/or methodologies
• An open seminar, as a platform to present and discuss each other’s work
• Joint workshops/small network days between different programme groups or disciplines
• Outreach projects with the City of Amsterdam or other stakeholders (e.g. public debates, panel discussions)

Activities exploring a collaboration to further develop an already existing project or research theme such as those of the humanities in context or the 2018-2022 plan of the Centre for Urban Studies e.g.:

• Writing retreats to collectively write a position paper, a research proposal etc.
• Seminar series where projects and work are presented
• Small scale pilot studies, student assistance, data acquisition, or other activities to support the development of a new joint research line, possibly leading to a research grant application

Activities exploring a collaboration regarding a specific grant application (e.g. NWO/NWA) e.g.:

• Brainstorm sessions to get a grant application started
• Networking activities to establish a consortium
• Writing retreats where the grant application can collectively be written

 

More examples are conceivable. On the CUS website you can find more, inspiring examples of activities funded by seed grants, both smaller and larger. We highly encourage creativity and are therefore very much open to activities and ideas other than those mentioned above. The only, but essential requirement is that the proposed activities enable exchange between urban scholars in the humanities and the social sciences, with an eye on potential future collaboration. Besides financial support, CUS and CREATE will help with the practical organization and communication of the awarded initiatives.

Eligible for seed grants are all ACUH, ASCA, CREATE and CUS members, as well as groups of applicants including at least one CREATE, ACUH, ASCA and CUS member. An important condition is that the proposal is jointly submitted by at least one member of CUS and one member of ASCA/ACUH/CREATE (at least one social scientist and one humanities scholar). If you want to apply for this grant but struggle to find either and ASCA/ACUH/CREATE or CUS member that fits your project, do not hesitate to contact Julia Noordegraaf (CREATE) or Rosa Koetsenruijter (CUS).

How to apply

To be considered for this call, please send a project description of max. 600 words to urbanstudies@uva.nl . Proposals can be submitted until the 15th of April 2020, 17.00.

The description should clearly explain:

• The immediate and longer-term goals of the project;
• How to project adds value to ACUH/ASCA/CREATE and CUS, especially in terms of collaborative potential;
• The project’s timeline, including the expected completion date;
• How the project’s results or outcomes will be shared with the Urban Studies community in the centres (and possibly beyond);
• A detailed project budget.