Third round of the ORA in the social sciences is now open

The Open Research Area (ORA) partners are pleased to announce their third joint call for proposals. The current partners (ANR, DFG, ESRC, NWO) are delighted to welcome the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) to the 2012-13 round of the scheme.

This will establish the ORA plus scheme, allowing US researchers to collaborate in ORA projects. Through this expansion, thousands of new researchers will be available for cooperation in ORA applications, offering interesting opportunities to cooperate on a wider scale.

This change means that there are now five countries participating in the next call: France, Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.

Proposals will be accepted for research projects in any area of the social sciences involving researchers from any combination of three or more of the participating countries.

Unlike previous rounds, ORA will not accept applications for proposals from only two countries. In this pilot phase of ORA plus, this is necessary to manage demand for what is already a very popular scheme, and to ensure proposals can be assessed in a timely fashion. The partners will continue to review the response to the scheme and consider what steps may be taken to support bilateral research collaboration in future through ORA or other mechanisms.

The closing date is 15 February 2013.

Call documents

• Call specification (PDF, 230Kb)
• Frequently asked questions (PDF, 58Kb)

For further information, contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk