Background

The Berliner Antike-Kolleg invites the ancient studies community to engage in creative exploration and innovation relating to its 2022/2023 annual theme: Mit!Reden – Transdisciplinarity and Participation in Ancient Studies

Collaborative research across and beyond the boundaries of ancient studies’ subject areas is an inherent part of and an accepted basis for more comprehensive inquiry into ancient societies, their transformation processes and life-worlds. Berlin’s ancient studies community possesses rich and varied experience with and an extensive network of interdisciplinary partnerships within the regional, national and international research systems.

Transdisciplinarity – with trans- in the sense of across, beyond, to the other side of – goes one step further, explicitly encompassing research partnerships formed outside of these research systems and across and beyond the academic disciplines. The interconnections with collaboration partners from the political domain, industry and civil society produce new stimuli and lead to research questions of greater relevance for society and greater participation in research. Transdisciplinarity is also seen as a basis for addressing the "grand challenges" facing the world.

Moreover, transdisciplinarity is also an important component of processes of restructuring and transformation currently underway in university education, and it is at the centre of current philosophy of science debates.

Having chosen to take up this complex issue with the selection of its annual theme for 2022/23 academic year, the BAK is making funding available for the exploration, conceptual development and implementation of transdisciplinary initiatives in ancient studies in Berlin.

What will be funded and funding objective

The funding is being made available in order to support the exploration of opportunities and possibilities for non-academic research partnerships and transdisciplinary research questions, transdisciplinary research network-building, and the implementation of transdisciplinary research approaches in all areas of ancient studies research and research communication. The BAK will provide funding for projects and initiatives of this kind in all project phases, e.g., topic selection and conceptual design, obtaining assessments by external experts, search for and procurement of non-academic research partners, networking activities and the concrete planning and implementation of relevant projects.

The BAK will also accept applications for funding to support the evaluation, documentation and communication of (best-practice) experiences from ongoing or already completed transdisciplinary research projects.

Who may apply

Any scholar holding a doctoral degree who is affiliated with one of the institutions represented at the BAK is welcome to submit a proposal.

Award amounts and funding period

The maximum award is EUR 25,000 per proposal, with a maximum funding period of 12 months. The funding period is tied to the academic year associated with the Mit!Reden theme, i.e. it must begin on or after 1 May 2022 and end on or before 30 April 2023.

Eligible measures

There are no restrictions as to the formats or implementation of transdisciplinary measures. Possible formats might be, for instance, workshops, discussion series, public "science cafés"/"Bürgercafés", "labs", surveys and other initiatives for exchange with non-academic stakeholders. Inviting fellows and/or external experts (in-coming) for transdisciplinary exchange or the development and establishment of transdisciplinary concepts and research networks are other examples of possible measures. Further possibilities include acting as a transdisciplinary partner in projects and initiatives that have not (yet) been influenced by ancient studies (out-going) and thus enabling them to benefit from ancient studies perspectives and approaches. The funding can be used for the following types of expenses (eligible expenditures):

• Personnel expenses in line with the pay scales of the universities. The researcher submitting the proposal is responsible for providing workspace and other spaces needed, etc.
• Expenses for research material; mobility, accommodation, publication, and communication expenses; and service contracts
• Expenses for visits by researchers to and from Berlin

Ineligible expenditures:

• Investment expenses and standard instrumentation/equipment
• The forwarding of funds to partners outside of the ancient studies institutions represented in the BAK.  

Submission deadline and procedure

Proposals must be submitted online via the BAK’s e-submission portal and must include the following:

• Primary and, if applicable, secondary applicant(s) (input manually)
• Brief CV of primary and, if applicable, secondary applicant(s), including a list of five significant publications (upload as PDF)
• Project title (input manually, 200 characters incl. spaces)
• Abstract (2,000 characters incl. spaces)
• Written proposal (input manually, 12,000 characters incl. spaces)
• Timeline (input manually; timeline must list the individual phases/work-steps of the project separately, detailing the duration of and justification for each phase/step. Max. 850 characters incl. spaces are available for justification of each phase/step)
• Budget plan, including explanation and justification of items and amounts (input manually; personnel and material expenses must be itemised on the appropriate forms. Max. 850 characters incl. spaces are available for text justifying each item)

Please bear in mind that only persons who have registered at the BAK can access proposal data and submit proposals. It will therefore be necessary for the person responsible for the project register to use the e-submission portal in advance. Please contact sekretariat@berliner-antike-kolleg.org in order to register.  

The e-submission portal will be available as of 15 March.

Contact:

Birgit Nennstiel (birgit.nennstiel@berliner-antike-kolleg.org)