^{*Note: You can apply ONLY using the template}

The Seed Grants XL

The Seed Grants XL (€10.000) will be awarded to support bigger and more innovative research initiatives, which cannot be realised within the budget of a regular Seed Grant (€2.500).

We particularly welcome proposals that:

• Experiment with novel ideas and methods
• foster exchange and collaborations between researchers from CUS and researchers from outside the faculty of social and behavioural sciences
• foster exchange and collaborations between researchers from CUS and international partners and business partnersd
• facilitate dialogue between academic researchers and local, national and international stakeholders
• involve PhD students or (research) master students
• contribute to the development of the thematic focus of the Centre on the ‘urban commons’  or ‘urban environment’ (for more information on the thematic focus, see the 2018-2022 strategic plan).

Important notes

1. All applications can be initiated by both permanent and temporary staff (PhDs, Post Docs, contracted staff).  But all grants have to include in the team at least one permanent academic staff at UVA. This person(s) will act as the coordinator and the person responsible for the budget and the deliverables;
2. People on the UVA payroll (including funded PhD students) cannot receive any personal payments from CUS seed grants. Hiring people outside the UVA as assistants etc. is eligible for funding;
3. Students and in particular research Master’s students can be hired as student assistants and be paid the maximum amount of 1.500;
4. All applications should include a plan on how to develop the seed grant into larger research funding proposals.

What can be funded

Budget elements  can include:

• Funding of joint conferences, workshops or seminar series between different disciplines;
• activities reinforcing international collaborations;
• outreach projects with stakeholders that go beyond just a one-off events, with local national or international formats; e.g. series of public debates, continuous panel discussions, interventions in public space;
• funding an urban artist or journalist who will contribute to disseminating academic work;
• funding a video, animation, exhibition, podcast, or performance to communicate an urban research publication to the wider public (published international peer reviewed journal articles and book monographs will be given priority);
• writing retreats (to collectively write a research proposal, but also a paper);
• larger pilot studies, funds for data acquisition for an existing project, or other activities to support the development of a new research line, preferably leading to a research grant application.

These are examples, but we highly encourage creativity and are therefore open to new activities and ideas other than those mentioned above. 

Eligibility rules

Eligible for Seed Grants and Seed Grants XL are all CUS members. All groups of applicants should include at least one CUS member. One person can only apply once for the same call (either regular or XL). Each proposal should involve a member from at least two different programme groups, departments or faculties. Seed grant budgets cannot be used for compensating work hours or replacing teaching hours for UvA staff. People on the UVA payroll (including funded PhD students) cannot receive any personal payments from CUS seed grants. But hiring people outside the UVA as assistants etc. is eligible for funding.

Follow up Support from the CUS

Besides financial support, and advertising events via our email and web channels, the Centre for Urban Studies does not have the capacity to assist in practical organization of activities conferences or internal communication of the funded projects. All activities, bookings etc. remain the responsibility of the grant holders. The projects must begin and end in 2023, including. All financial claims should be completed by the 15^th of November 2023.  Any claims not made by this date will be lost.  

Application procedure

To be eligible, your proposal should:

1. be submitted using the attached template
2. not exceed the word limit in each section
3. Have all the sections in the template filled in
4. Sent the filled attached template proposal to: urbanstudies@uva.nl by Friday April 15^th 2023 at the latest. Applications arriving after this date will not be considered.

Selection process

If applications only marginally outnumber the available funding (when there are seven or less applications and/or when there is a significant difference in quality), the grants will be awarded by the director and coordinator of the Centre for Urban Studies, based on the CVs of the applicants and the criteria stated above. We expect to do this in early March 2023. If applications significantly outnumber funding possibilities (when there are more than seven applications and/or when there are no significant differences in quality), the director and coordinator will set up a selection committee comprising two other permanent academic staff of the CUS from two different departments. The decision will be submitted to the Executive board of the Centre for Urban Studies for approval. In case a consensus cannot be reached, a vote will be called.

Further information

Do you have any questions or do you require additional information? Please contact:

• Francesca Ranalli, coordinator of the Centre for Urban Studies  (urbanstudies@uva.nl)

Would you like to learn more about the members and work of the Centre for Urban Studies? Visit our website.

Important points

1. If you are awarded a CUS grant (standard or XL) you commit to taking part and presenting the results of your project to the CUS annual Harvesting Day and to the CUS dialogues. 
2. CUS visiting scholars cannot apply on their own and only UvA staff members can be the holders of the grant. Moreover, the group of applicants needs to include at least two other CUS members from different departments, such as Human Geography and Urban Planning, Sociology, Anthropology, and Political Science. The project to be eligible needs to have at least one grant holder who is a permanent member of the CUS. In case of PhD students and postdoc researchers, they can be applicant for small grants and for the XL, they will need at least one of their supervisors to be co-applicant. This will guarantee that the projects will be able to continue and be disseminated.
3. The projects must begin and end in 2023, including all the financial claims being issued by the 15^th of November 2023. Any remaining funding will not be able to be spent after this date.
4. Given the cut in CUS funding, we regret the CUS does not have the capacity to allocate time to assist grant holders with hotels, room bookings or any other organizational matters. If you need such assistance, this should be outsourced and included in your budget as a separate item.

We very much look forward to receiving your project proposals!