HERA Joint Research Programme
“CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS”
I. General Facts
Julia Boman, Science Officer,
Humanities and Social Sciences Unit, European
Science Foundation
HERA Joint Research Programme:
General facts
 Pooling national and European funding: research funding
organisations in 18 countries and the European Commission
 18,5 M € available for Humanities-led research in “Cultural
Encounters”
 Supporting excellent collaborative research across borders
and beyond the state-of-the-art
 Supporting knowledge exchange with non-academic
audiences
 1 Handling Agency for the centrally managed selection
process: European Science Foundation
HERA JRP Organizational Structure
HERA JRP Board
International
Review
Panel
Handling
Agency
Applicants,
Project
Leaders’
Group
The HERA JRP budget (in million EUR)
Austria 0,666
Belgium 0,428
The EC
6
Germany
5,015
Denmark
0,456
Estonia 0,038
Finland 0,455
Croatia 0,066
United
Kingdom
3,305
Ireland 0,244
Iceland 0,06
Slovenia
0,067 Sweden 0,793
Portugal
0,273
Netherlands
1,042
Norway 0,629
Poland 0,318
Lithuania
0,047
Luxembourg
0,046
HERA JRP funding scheme
Programme
Budget
Handling
Agency
Collaborative
Research Project
Individual
Project
Individual
Project
Individual
Project
Collaborative
Research Project
More IPs
More CRPs
HERA Joint Research Programme
II. Proposal Preparation
and application process
Eligibility
 Proposals must follow the prescribed format and be
submitted before the deadline of 4 May 2012, 14:00
CET/13:00 GMT
 At least 3 eligible researchers (Principal Investigators) in 3
participating countries:
Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany,
Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom
 Maximum budget per project: € 1M
 Maximum project duration: 36 months
 All applicants and budget items must be eligible according
to the National Eligibility Rules (see www.heranet.info)
Principal Investigators (PI)
 At least three PIs from three participating countries in a
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project.
Each PI leads research activities at his/her institution.
One of the PIs also functions as the Project Leader (PL) of
the project.
Each PI must be eligible according the rules of their
national funding organisation.
There can be more than one PI from the same country in
one proposal (provided they are based at different
institutions).
Only one PI from the same institution in one proposal.
You may act as PI in more than one proposal.
Project Leader (PL)
 PL is a senior researcher with a solid experience of
managing collaborative research projects.
 PL submits the proposal on behalf of the whole project
team.
 PL is the contact point between the Handling Agency and
other Principal Investigators.
 You may act as PL in one proposal only.
If the funding is granted, the PL host institution will:
 distribute the funds to other PI’s host institutions;
 take responsibility for proper financial management of the
grant;
 take responsibility for all reporting duties.
Non-academic Associated Partners (AP)
 Non-academic APs – stakeholders in the cultural,
heritage or educational sector, media, or creative
industries, who may provide significant added value and
valuable insights to the project from the user’s
perspective.
 APs are encouraged to participate in an advisory and
collaborative capacity to help explore the knowledge
exchange potential of the proposed research.
 APs must be self-funded; only their travel and subsistence
costs can be covered from the project budget.
Application format
 Your application must be written in English.
 Access the online application system via the link on
www.heranet.info and enter the following details:
 Proposal title, acronym, keywords and abstract;
 Contact details of the applicants.
 Upload the filled out application template containing:
 A short description of the project;
 CVs of the Principal Investigators;
 Estimated budget in Euros;
 Letters of commitment from non academic Associated
Partners, if applicable.
Description of the project
(max. 2000 words)
 What research question(s) does the CRP seek to answer?
 In what way is the project original and/or innovative?
 What are the objectives of the CRP?
 By what methods will the research question(s) be tackled?
 How are the skills of the partners complementary?
 What is the added value in tackling your research question(s)
from a trans-national perspective?
 How will partners work together? What management and
coordination structures are proposed?
 What is the significance of the research question(s)? How will
these contribute to the “Cultural Encounters” theme?
 What is the potential impact of the proposed research to both
academic disciplines, and relevant stakeholders and user
communities?
 How will the CRP engage in knowledge exchange or active
dissemination engaging user communities and audiences outside
academia?
Research Integrity
The HERA partners encourage
researchers to follow the rules of good
research practice as outlined in
The European Code of Conduct for
Research Integrity, such as:
- Fairness in providing references,
- Giving credit to collaborators,
- Honesty in communication, etc.
To download the publication:
http://www.esf.org/publications.html
HERA Joint Research Programme
III. Selection Process
Selection Process: two stages
 1st stage: Outline Proposals
 Outline Proposals are evaluated by the international Review
Panel;
 Shortlisted applicants are invited to submit Full Proposals.
 2nd stage: Full Proposals
 Each Full Proposal is evaluated by at least three external
expert referees;
 Rebuttal by applicants: applicants are invited to submit
comments on referee evaluations
 The international Review Panel evaluates and ranks Full
Proposals
 The HERA JRP Board makes final funding decisions
Timeline
9 Feb 2012
Launch of the Call for Outline Proposals
4 May 2012
Deadline for the submission of Outline Proposals
Jun 2012
Review Panel: selection of Outline Proposals
Jul 2012
Invitation for the submission of Full Proposals
Oct 2012
Deadline for the submission of Full Proposals
Oct-Nov 2012
Peer review of Full Proposals
Dec 2012
Rebuttal by applicants (one week)
Jan 2013
Review Panel: ranking of Full Proposals
Feb 2013
HERA JRP Board meeting: funding decisions
Feb-Jun 2013
Contract negotiations
Jun 2013
Jun 2016
Start of Collaborative Research Projects
End of Collaborative Research Projects
Review Panel
 The Review Panel members are leading humanities scholars
appointed by the HERA JRP Board.
 24 members in the Outline Proposals stage.
 At least 12 members in the Full Proposals stage.
 Conflict of Interest guidelines are applied throughout the
selection process.
 The names of the Review Panel members will be published
after the Call for Proposals is launched.
 The Review Panel members must not be contacted by
applicants! All questions about the selection should be
directed to the Handling Agency.
Selection Criteria for Outline Proposals
 Potential for research excellence
 Novelty and originality of research
 Qualification of the applicants and coordination structures
proposed
 European added value of collaboration
 Relevance to the theme “Cultural Encounters”, including
potential impact of the proposed research beyond
academia
Relevant documents:
 Call for Proposals
 National Eligibility Rules
 FAQ
 Glossary
 Application template
All documents are available online at www.heranet.info
What you should do to succeed:
 Read all the guidance documentation published on the
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HERA website www.heranet.info.
Verify the eligibility of the applicants and budget items
according to the National Eligibility Rules.
Contact the HERA office or your National Contact Point, if
you have questions.
Make sure you understand the evaluation criteria.
Describe your project idea (incl. objectives, methodology,
collaboration and potential impact) within the given
space of 2000 words!
Arrange face-to-face meetings with your project partners
when writing the proposal to ensure coherency of ideas.
Use clear and straightforward language.
Upload your proposal well ahead of the submission
deadline!
for more information
For more information:
visit www.heranet.info
or contact us at: hera@esf.org
Julia Boman, Science Officer,
Humanities and Social Sciences Unit,
European Science Foundation