Inter CIRCLE U. Prize Call For Applications deadline May 10th

The Circle U. alliance wishes to celebrate and highlight some of our best examples of inter- and transdisciplinary research. The Inter Circle U. Prize (ICUP) is awarded annually and all members of our universities are invited to apply. 

Application materials should be submitted to the Inter Circle U. Prize Coordinator (icup@uclouvain.be) as a single attachment by May 10 2022 (midnight CET).

About the Inter CIRCLE U. Prize

The Inter Circle U. Prize is the first honour designed by a European university alliance and specifically dedicated to its members. The prize will be awarded annually by Circle U. to three nominees, after evaluation and selection of applications by a multidisciplinary panel comprised of Circle U. academics and external stakeholders from partner organisations with experience in the fields of inter- and transdisciplinarity. 

The three Prize recipients will have the unique opportunity to showcase their inter- and transdisciplinary research project by getting professional support to record a short promotional video to highlight their inter-and transdisciplinary research project to a wide audience. These videos will be widely shared through the communication channels of the Circle U. Alliance and its partners, offering a high visibility to these initiatives. All related costs will be covered by the Circle U. ERIA project. 

In 2022, the Inter Circle U. Prize ceremony will be held at the Conference on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research for sustainable development at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) on November 25, 2022. 

Eligibility

The Prize is open to academic members, postdocs and PhD candidates. There are no age, career stages or nationality restrictions. 

Applications for the prize should present the members of the research team. 

The research team members should represent two or more disciplines, according to the following requirements: 

• These disciplines may be any social sciences and humanities, scientific, health, technological, engineering, mathematical, or computational field.
• Research teams may engage in basic and/or applied research. 
• One of the team members should be designated as the principal investigator (PI). The PI will submit the application and represent the team to Circle U. The PI must be affiliated with a university member of the Circle U. university alliance, while members of the team do not have to fulfil this requirement. 

Selection Criteria

The evaluation panel will base its evaluations on the overall content quality of relevant contributions and achievements by the nominee. Consideration will be given to: 

• Originality and quality of research
• Conceptual and methodological approaches of the research, drawing significantly on inter- and trans-disciplinarity*(see concept definition in Appendix).
• Teamwork, with the involvement of different stakeholders or sectors of society (private, public, civil society, etc.) who have collaborated in new and innovative ways and/or the experience of “radical” interdisciplinarity by crossing the traditional boundaries between SSH and STEM disciplines. 

Submission Procedure and Deadlines

To apply for the prize, the PI should submit the following materials (in English) to the Inter Circle U. Prize coordinator: 

• Brief summary of the research contributions of the team to date with respect to inter- and trans-disciplinarity. 
• The summary should include an account of how these contributions emerged from the integration of research approaches from more than one discipline, point out the innovative aspect and, if applicable, explain how practitioners outside academia were involved in the research process. (This summary should be 750–1,500 words; references, figures, and tables may be included and do not count against this word limit.)
• Curriculum Vitae (2 pages per CV) of team members with brief descriptions of their scientific and management roles on the team: The member who serves as PI should be indicated.
• List of up-to five major publications with respect to inter- /trans-disciplinarity, along with electronic copies of, or links to full text. 

Application materials should be submitted to the Inter Circle U. Prize Coordinator (icup@uclouvain.be) as a single attachment by May 10 2022 (midnight CET). 

Prize recipients will be notified by May 30, 2022. 

More Information

Please refer questions to Circle U. Prize Coordinator (icup@uclouvain.be). 

Read more about the call for applications here.