The University of Vienna is part of the strategic partner network CENTRAL consisting of Charles University (Prague), Eötvös Loránd (ELTE) University (Budapest), Humboldt University (Berlin), University of Vienna and the University of Warsaw. The University of Vienna took over the network coordination in January 2021 and is eager to promote cooperation between scientists and scholars of the CENTRAL universities.

As part of our cooperation within the CENTRAL Network, the call for joint workshops is now open (at least 3 CENTRAL partners involved). Through joint workshops, scientists from all five participating universities will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues, discuss joint research projects and prepare external funding applications.

CENTRAL Workshops are networking projects for groups of researchers at CENTRAL universities to initiate new collaboration activities (incl. innovative teaching/training for young researchers) or to consolidate existing collaboration activities.

Open to all disciplines!

Activities supported:

CENTRAL Workshop projects will fund one or two meetings lasting 2-3 days each at one of the CENTRAL partner universities involved (or two universities, if two meetings will be held).

Implementation period: 01/06/2022 – 30/09/2023

Financing:

Funding includes:

·       Costs for travelling and accommodation: will be covered by the sending institutions.

·       Costs for catering and rental costs for seminar room: will be covered by hosting institution(s).

The funding regulations of each institution shall apply.

We are aware that some events will have to take place virtually because of the current pandemic. Should your workshop be affected by COVID-19 regulations, please contact your local CENTRAL coordinator to find out if/how your university can support online events.

Project team:

Each project team shall comprise groups of researchers from at least three CENTRAL universities. Each group of researchers should preferably consist of 2-4 researchers from one CENTRAL university (inter-/multi-disciplinary groups are possible) and has to include at least one established researcher (Post-Doc with at least 5 years of research experience), who will also act as group leader for their university, and at least one PhD student.

Application:

Applications have to be submitted before the below deadline via e-mail to central-network@univie.ac.at, using the application form. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered for evaluation.

Applicants can be any senior PostDoc academic (at least 5 years of postdoctoral research experience) of any academic discipline, employed at any university in the CENTRAL network.

Evaluation Procedure:

The assessment of applications will involve a formal check to verify eligibility (done by the CENTRAL coordination unit) and a quality assessment against the following selection criteria:

Academic quality of project (maximum 20 points)

·       Feasibility of plan (maximum 20 points)

·       Quality of team (including junior researcher and PhD students) (maximum 30 points)

·       Potential for further collaboration (incl. future externally funded project) (maximum 30 points)

Each application will be awarded up to 100 points in the quality assessment. To be considered for funding, proposals must score at least 60 points in total and at least half of the maximum points in each of the selection criteria.

Submission deadline: 17/03/2022 – 23:59 CET

Academic evaluation: by the end of April 2022