Stimulating creativity and innovation across borders
Researchers from different European countries have answered the joint call of the ERA-NET HERA JRP - CE (Humanities in the European Research Area - Joint Research Programme - Cultural Encounters) to examine how cultural encounters can help improve our understanding of contemporary society. The project brings together a consortium of 19 European research funding organisations from 18 countries. HERA JRP CE will draw upon insights and methodologies from a wide range of research, boosting the humanities' contribution to European research. Funding of around EUR 18.5 million (of which EUR 6 million is from the EU) is going to new and creative humanities-centred projects linking creativity to innovation. Each of the 18 projects will involve researchers from three or more participating countries. Sorcha Carthy, the HERA JRP - CE Programme Manager at the Irish Research Council), said the cultural encounters programme has generated a lot of interest among researchers. The programme received 593 project applications, of which 18 have received funding. The projects range from those on cultural encounters in interventions against violence, to mediations in nationality, identity and community. The current call for projects follows the success from the first round of proposals in 2009, when HERA launched the Joint Research Programme (HERA JRP) under two themes: 'Cultural Dynamics: Inheritance and Identity' and 'Humanities as a Source of Creativity and Innovation'. It created a programme of 19 international project consortiums from across Europe. The first JRP received 234 proposals under both themes involving some 700 humanities scholars across Europe. Examples of the research projects which received funding include a study into inherited traditions and practices of European jazz cultures in five countries, and a project which examined creativity and craft production in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe. Sorcha Carthy adds: 'We in the HERA network have gained considerable expertise through the first HERA JRP, particularly in bringing together funding agencies from different nationalities, which have different national restrictions. Working with so many European countries has been a huge learning curve, and ultimately enabled us to better understand and deal with any issues in setting up this second programme of projects.' Humanities funding research agencies from across Europe which have received funding through the ERA-NET HERA JRP on Cultural Encounters include Austria (FWF), Belgium (F.R.S. - FNRS), Belgium (FWO), Croatia (HAZU), Denmark (DASTI), Estonia (ETF), Finland (AKA), Germany (BMBF via PT-DLR), Iceland (RANNlS), Ireland (IRC), Lithuania (LMT), Luxembourg (FNR), Netherlands (NWO), Norway (RCN), Poland (NCN), Portugal (FCT), Slovenia (MIZS), Sweden (VR) and the United Kingdom (AHRC). The programme will officially launch the selected projects on 30th September 2013 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.For more information, please visit: HERA http://www.heranet.info/ A short film about HERA produced by AHRC http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/Watch-and-Listen/Pages/HERA-film.aspx Project factsheet
Countries
Ireland