Europeana Research Grants Programme: 2019 Call for Submissions

Applicants are invited to submit proposals that address challenges and opportunities related to the reuse of cultural heritage data in research, or provide training to build up the digital capabilities of cultural heritage professionals involved in research projects. The Europeana Research Events Grants are made possible by the European Commission's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Programme.

Scope

The proposals must be relevant by reference to the current debate on Open Science at the European level and the general framework defined by the EU’s strategies and programmes related to research and cultural heritage.

The grants are intended for planning and organising:

• Conferences
• Workshops
• Series of seminars
• Summer schools
• Training activities

Theme

Digital Cultural Heritage for Open Science

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• FAIR
• Data Linked Open (Usable)
• Data Standardisation and Interoperability
• Copyright (Exceptions for Research and best practices)

Proposals can address the field of Cultural Heritage in general or focus on one of its specific domains (such as Galleries, Libraries, Archives, or Museums). They can also focus on challenges and opportunities for specific academic disciplines that use digital cultural heritage as a source for Research, (for instance all the disciplines within the Humanities, such as Archaeology, History, Linguistics, History of Art and Architecture, etc.).

Eligibility

The Research Grants Programme is intended for cultural heritage and/or research institutions. With duly justified exceptions, they must be based in one of the European Union member states. In case the proposal foresees the participation of more institutions, the institution in charge of the event must be based in one of the EU Member States.

This is a condition of the funding from the European Commission within the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme (cfr Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility, Chapter III, Article 8: ‘Only expenditure incurred in Member States may be eligible, except where the project of common interest involves the territory of one or more third countries and where the action is indispensable to the achievement of the objectives of the project concerned’).

Important:

Please note that Europeana DSI-4 project partners are NOT eligible for this call. Check the list before applying.

Disclaimer (13 September 2019): Depending on the outcome from the EU-UK Brexit negotiations, the proposals from institutions based in the UK might not be considered eligible. 

Grant Terms

The Research Grants Programme benefits from the total amount of EUR 25,000 per year. The funding for each proposal depends on the quality of the applications. The individual grants will support cultural heritage or research institutions interested in co-organising events with the Europeana Foundation.

The applicant(s) will propose the thematic slant, the methodological approach, the timeline and a list of speakers. Their proposal should foresee the participation of Europeana representatives in the events and ensure the visibility of Europeana, as a foundation working under procurement by the European Commission. The proposal should also indicate the event's concrete outcomes, such as reports, whitepapers, recommendations, training tutorials or video interviews. The outcomes must be published under one of the CC open licenses (CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-SA) and credit Europeana by using the Europeana Research logo in the produced text or video materials. If the outcomes are in a language other than English, their original version must be accompanied by an English translation or, in the case of videos, by English subtitles.

The Europeana Foundation will participate in the organisation by covering in full or in part the expenditure from the awarded grant, and will support promotion of the events and their outcomes through its channels. The awarded institution(s) will be in charge of all the practical aspects of the event organisation, and the event organiser(s) will regularly keep informed the Europeana Foundation about the progress as for the event programme (mainly, speakers and topics). We particularly encourage institutions to allow free entrance to the events.

The Europeana grant awarded is a gross amount and includes VAT and any other applicable taxes. The Europeana Foundation will transfer the amount to the bank account of the institution that will organise the event. To formally arrange the grant receipt, a representative of the main organising institution will be required to sign a subcontract with the Europeana Foundation. According to the subcontract, the event must be organised between 1 March and 31 August 2020.

Application Guidelines

Applications must be in English and submitted by 31 October 2019, 23:59 CET (please, find the link at the bottom).

Applicants will be asked to specify the main organising institution and provide their contact information, plus five keywords and an abstract of their proposal (max. 300 words). The abstract should mention: 1) the institution(s) involved in the event; 2) the format, the topic(s) and dates of the event; 3) the target audience and the number of expected attendees; and 4) the outcomes and delivery date for them.

The CV of the main contact person and the proposal (max. 1500 words) must be uploaded in PDF format. The proposal must describe in more detail the points above as well as: 1) the state of play; 2) the topic (focus on digital collections and/or tools); and 3) dissemination plan of the expected outcomes. A provisional list of speakers, a timeline and the allocation of the requested funding should be provided as annexes.

Make sure you read our frequently asked questions before submitting your proposal.

Important: We reserve the right to withhold a grant if false information is provided in the application form.

The Europeana Foundation will process applicants' data according to its privacy policy. If you have a complaint concerning the processing of your personal data, please contact us via info@europeana.eu.

Assessment and decision-making

The assessment and decision-making process is conducted by a committee composed of Europeana representatives and members of the Europeana Research Advisory Board. It consists of an initial screening against the eligibility criteria, a selection of shortlisted projects and a round of interviews. The committee will evaluate the eligible proposals with regard to their topic/content relevance, European dimension, methodological approach and innovation, and feasibility. The Europeana Foundation’s decision is final.

The Europeana Foundation will inform all candidates about their application status by email by 20 November 2019.

Enquiries

Please address enquiries to EuropeanaResearchGrants@Europeana.eu or via Twitter @EurResearch.

Last Update (2 December 2019): Submissions are now closed. The results of the decision-making process were announced at the Europeana Annual Event in Lisbon (video record) and in a blog post (link) on 27 November 2019.