ESRC Society Today

The UK Economic and Social Research Council and the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Austrian Science Fund - FWF) are pleased to announce their bilateral agreement to facilitate collaborations between social scientists in the UK and Austria.

As of the 3rd November, collaborative research proposals may be submitted in any area of the social sciences within the remit of both agencies. There is no deadline, and proposals will be accepted on an ongoing basis. Proposals should be drafted, and will be assessed, according to the criteria set out in the International Common Application Process.

Collaborative research proposals should be submitted only to the ESRC. The ESRC will take the lead role in processing and assessing applications, with appropriate input from the FWF. A decision on bilateral proposals will be made by ESRC's Research Grants Board, within its normal standard and small grants competitions. Those proposals approved for funding will be jointly supported by the ESRC and FWF.

Applicants should note the following in preparing their application:

1. Proposals should be submitted via Je-S into the call for bilateral grants (small grants) or bilateral grants (research grants), depending on the level of funding requested. However, the small grants call should only be used if the total costs for the entire collaborative project (ie both UK and Austrian components) are under £100k. The title field of the proposal must begin with the words 'Bilateral Austria:'. In completing the Je-S form, applicants should also consult the Je-S guidance on submitting a bilateral proposal (PDF).
2. The 5,000 word proposal document described in the ICAP criteria should be included as the 'case for support' in the Je-S application. This 5,000 word limit supersedes the normal 6 page limit for a case for support. A word count should be included at the end of this document.
3. All other relevant sections of the Je-S application (Objectives, Summary, Beneficiaries, etc.) should also be completed in accordance with the normal guidelines for small or standard grants. 
4. In order to facilitate the identification of all members of the research team in different national application formats, the 5,000 word research proposal document should begin by listing the names, roles (Principal Investigator, Co-investigator, etc.), and institutions of all named researchers from both participating countries who are included in the proposal. This list of names is not included in the word count of the proposal document.
5. CVs of all named researchers in the proposal should be included, both UK and overseas. In all cases, these should not exceed the normal ESRC limit of 2 pages per CV.
6. The Austrian Researchers should complete the following additional forms, which should be included as additional attachments in Je-S:
   • The FWF Application Form (Antragsformular inkl. Kostenaufstellung)
   • The FWF International Cooperation Form (Erfassungsblatt internationale Kooperationen)
   • The FWF Equipment Form (if appropriate) (Erfassungsblatt Geräte)

These forms may be downloaded from the website of the FWF.

For further information on this bilateral agreement, please contact international@esrc.ac.uk

Further information can also be found on the FWF website.