With the goal of facilitating research cooperation, Freie Universität Berlin and Indiana University have established a joint funding program to support annual joint research workshops and short-term research stays for the academic years 2016/17 and 2017/18. Each university will contribute € 30,000 / US$ 33,000 each year and commit to encouraging faculty and academic staff to seek support for joint projects from this fund.

FUB-IU joint research workshops and short-term research stays allow researchers to identify complementary research strengths and are intended to facilitate joint research collaborations. Proposals should have a clearly defined research focus and serve as a catalyst for the development of new research projects. The project format and duration is not pre-defined and workshops and research stays can take place in Berlin or in Indiana. Workshop participants should include both senior and junior researchers. Researchers can participate in more than one project provided that the projects are not submitted in the same cycle.

The scientific motivation for holding the workshop or planning a short-term research stay should be clearly explained, including how the involved FUB and IU institutes or departments can profit long term from this cooperation and what synergies will arise. Inclusion of German non-university research institutions such as Max Planck Institutes, Helmholtz Centers, and others, in the projects is encouraged; however, any additional costs must be covered by those partners themselves. The call is not limited to a specific academic field; projects can be either focused on one discipline or be of interdisciplinary character.

Submission of proposals

Proposals can only be submitted by permanent/tenured professors of Freie Universität Berlin and tenured or tenure-track faculty members of Indiana University. It is required that workshops involve at least two tenure-stream faculty members, as well as at least two junior researchers (PhD students or post-docs), at each university. Total project costs shall not exceed € 10,000 for short-term research stays and € 15,000 for joint workshops (including travel), of which FUB and IU will each cover 50% under this call.

Selection criteria

Funding for joint research workshops and short-term research stays is provided on a competitive basis. Projects will be selected by a joint IU-FUB committee, giving particular attention to the following criteria:

• Clearly formulated goals of the project
• Information on envisaged synergies
• Level of concreteness of future joint research, including timeframe and information on plans for seeking extramural funding and steps for developing a joint proposal
• Compatibility with the FUB/IU research profiles (e.g. interdisciplinary nature, excellence of project leaders, wide scope of the different fields/labs represented in the proposed project).

Submission and deadlines

Proposals for FUB-IU research workshops and short-term research stays should be submitted in English. They should not exceed 4 pages and have the following information attached:

• Timeframe/Date for the project (projects should be completed within 12 months of award)
• Budget calculation and budget justification
• Written statement of support from respective FUB/IU faculty/department.
• Information on project leaders on both sides and list of other FUB/IU participants

In 2016 and 2017, joint proposals can be submitted at the following dates:

15 September, 2016
15 May, 2017
15 September, 2017

Researchers should submit their joint proposal simultaneously in Berlin and in Indiana. Proposals should be sent electronically to the following addresses:

At Freie Universität Berlin:

Center for International Cooperation
Judith Winkler
Freie Universität Berlin
Tel: +49 30 838 73949
Email: judith.winkler@fu-berlin.de

At Indiana University:

Shawn Reynolds
Office of the Vice President for International Affairs
Indiana University
Tel: +1 812 856 9024
Email: shreynol@iu.edu

For further information please contact the above listed staff.