In their continuous effort to strengthen the cooperation between their research communities, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) are happy to announce the expansion of their partnership for funding of one joint research project in the International Research Training Groups (IRTG) programme and hereby invite proposals under a joint proposal and funding scheme.

Background and Description of International Research Training Groups

International Research Training Groups (IRTG), in which German universities cooperate with research institutions in other countries and regions, combine innovative top-level research and the structured promotion of excellent early career researchers. As a bilateral programme set up by experienced researchers with a track record of previous collaboration, IRTGs promote systematic academic cooperation through joint research and corresponding qualification measures for doctoral researchers. A central feature of IRTGs are coordinated and reciprocal research visits by doctoral researchers to the respective partner institutions. IRTGs can only be established by universities and research institutions entitled to confer doctoral degrees. 

Structure of German-Canadian International Research Training Groups

Proposals for German-Canadian IRTGs intended for DFG-SSHRC funding are open to all subject areas covered by SSHRC, particularly in social sciences and humanities that are not primarily focused on health or health service delivery. Interdisciplinarity in IRTGs is encouraged. 

An IRTG is run by two teams of participating researchers in Germany and Canada, respectively. Each team should have approximately five to ten members with proven expertise both in the IRTG’s main research topic and in providing outstanding supervision to doctoral researchers. Previous research collaboration between the two groups should ideally have been documented by joint publications. The participating researchers’ expertise at the two locations should be complementary and provide added value to the IRTG. Each team of participating researchers in an IRTG should be based at a single institution in Germany and Canada, respectively. In convincingly justified cases, an IRTG may be based at more than two institutions.

The German and Canadian teams in an IRTG should jointly formulate a high-quality and coherent research and training programme to be implemented on both sides. The teams should have common research interests and objectives, and these must be reflected in a common framework and joint project. Proposals are to be submitted by the host institutions. For every IRTG, one member of the team on each side acts as spokesperson, being responsible for the proposal and the scientific coordination of the IRTG. This also includes responsibility for reporting to SSHRC and the DFG, respectively.

The programme should provide for regular exchanges of academic staff and doctoral researchers for the purposes of joint research and training. Doctoral researchers should spend a period of at least six months (and up to one year) in total during their PhD project at the respective partner institution for research and training, and each doctoral researcher should have both a German and a Canadian supervisor. On the German side, approximately thirty doctoral researchers can be funded over the course of the IRTG. The partner site in Canada should support a group of doctoral researchers of approximately 14–20 in total.

Funding Guidelines for German-Canadian International Research Training Groups

Both SSHRC and the DFG will provide funding for IRTG project-specific costs incurred by the respective partner institutions. The funds requested from SSHRC must have approximately 75% of the budget allocated directly to effective research training activities for the students (e. g. their salaries and travel).

In accordance with respective internal policies of SSHRC and the DFG, funds can be requested for the following activities of one IRTG:

• funding for PhD positions/fellowships for up to 48 months per doctoral researcher;
• project-specific funding for dissertation research projects (e. g. consumables);
• longer-term, coordinated and reciprocal research visits (one or more with an overall duration of six to twelve months) by doctoral researchers to the respective partner institutions;
• joint workshops, conferences and seminars;
• short-term visits, lectures and workshops by the participating researchers;
• further funds according to the funding organisations’ individual programme guidelines.

While SSHRC can only fund one successful project under this framework, the DFG may still be able to fund the German component of more than one joint project, if the Canadian team can secure alternative funding for their part of the project.

As an additional support mechanism, DFG will make funds available to support preparatory workshops for IRTG proposals (see below).

Duration of Funding for German-Canadian International Research Training Groups

The German-Canadian IRTG will be supported for a potential maximum period of nine years, divided into two funding periods, the first one being 5 years and the second one being 4 years. Continuation of funding after the first funding phase can be granted based on a successful renewal proposal. Both parties will accept only joint proposals by German and Canadian institutions. All joint proposals are to be prepared according to the DFG guidelines for IRTGs and have to provide separate budget requests for the German and the Canadian part of the project.

Submission and Review of Proposals 

The DFG will act as lead agency for the review of the draft proposal, the establishment proposal and the renewal proposal as applicable. The reviews of all proposals will be based on the DFG criteria for IRTG. 

Information: DFG