The deadline for proposals to the 2024 call is 28 June 2024, at 17:00 CEST.
The overall aim of the Una Europa Seed Funding Initiative is to support the initiation of long-term collaborative activities among the academic community of the Una Europa partner universities, including the preparation of Joint Innovative Formats for education, research or outreach. Proposals that design formats of cooperation suitable to attract third party funding in the long run are strongly encouraged. The call is open to all academic disciplines. The 2024 call for proposals has a strong focus on the engagement of early-career researchers. Connect with fellow researchers interested in this call through joining the dedicated LinkedIn group.
Examples of Activities
A non-exhaustive list of activities includes the following examples:
•Preparation of joint modules or teaching units based on innovative teaching strategies
•Organisation of research and/or educational seminars and/or winter or summer schools
•Organisation of PhD workshops or other joint doctoral activity
•Development of research teams with a view to e.g. preparing joint proposals for external funding or joint publications
•Organisation of activities that contribute to development of early-career researchers, e.g. mentoring schemes
•Organisation of congresses or conferences to disseminate the project’s activity
•Engagement with the non-academic sector, e.g. community-based research, entrepreneurship and start-up initiatives, public outreach and science communication.
Eligibility
Seed Funding projects must involve:
• One coordinator at the Una Europa university coordinating the project;
• At least one academic lead per university at a minimum of three additional Una Europa universities;
• At least one early-career researcher at each participating partner university.
Please note that for the University of Bologna:
In addition, the creation of interdisciplinary research teams with the participation of other academic staff, professional staff and students is encouraged.
For the purposes of this Seed Funding Call, early-career researchers are defined as doctoral degree holders from any discipline who are actively pursuing research but who are not yet fully independent in these pursuits. Applicants must be affiliated with one of the Una Europa universities and have no more than seven years of experience since completion of the doctoral degree. Applicants whose doctoral degrees were awarded earlier may be considered on a case-by-case basis, subject to justification (e.g. career breaks for family-related reasons or to seek asylum due to political instability).
Contribution to the Una Europa 2030 Strategy
The final decision-making for the funding of projects lies with the Board of Directors of Una Europa vzw. In case of equal ranking, funding will be granted to the project with highest number of points under the Quality criterion.
Submission and deadlines Proposals should be submitted by the project coordinator in English via the online application system. The application consists of an application form including endorsement letters signed by the respective Dean or Faculty or Department Head, or legal representative of each partner university in line with internal university procedures. Through the endorsement letter the respective Dean, Faculty or Department Head or legal representative confirms that the Faculty or Department supports the proposal and that the applicants from the respective Faculty or Department are considered to be early-career researchers. The project description should be short and concise and should include a clear description of the vision, the proposed activities, as well as the budget and timeframe for these activities.
The duration of the project can be up to one year. The proposed activities should be conducted between January 2025 and December 2025.