ELDP: Major Documentation Project (MDP) Grant

ELDP: Major Documentation Project (MDP) Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP)
Amount: Up to €300,000
Last Updated: June 17, 2025

Summary

The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) invites applications for the Major Documentation Project (MDP), aimed at documenting endangered languages worldwide. With grants over 10,000 € and up to 300,000 €, this program supports individuals with a proven track record in linguistic documentation. MDP projects can span from 6 to 36 months, encouraging fieldwork and collaboration with local scholars. Successful projects will produce accessible multimedia collections to benefit both language communities and the broader scientific field.

Overview

Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) Goals The goal of the Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) is to support the documentation and preservation of endangered languages globally. To this end we give grants worldwide to individuals to document endangered languages. We provide funding for documentation projects led by individuals such as linguists, linguistic anthropologists and community members with skills in linguistic documentation. The funds allow grantees to undertake fieldwork to record speakers/signers of endangered languages on audio and video, compiling a documentary collection of an endangered language. These documentary collections are then archived and preserved and are made freely available through the digital online Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR). Objectives Our key objectives are: to support the documentation of as many endangered languages as possibleto encourage fieldwork on endangered languagesto create a repository of resources for linguistics, social science, and the language communitiesto make the documentary collections freely available Major Documentation Project (MDP) There is a cap of 300,000 €; the panel welcomes modest requests and we strongly encourage you to submit value-for-money proposals that are clearly justified. Applicants for large MDPs must have a proven track record in language documentation and linguistic analysis and have demonstrated the skills to manage such a project. The panel will expect to see evidence of positive outcomes of previous grants, including accessible archived data and previous research. Major Documentation Projects could involve a number of elements, including fieldwork, salary costs of researchers and stipend costs of graduate students (while engaged in the field and in processing work) whose doctoral research will contribute to the project as a whole. You may request support for between 6 and 36 months. ELDP especially welcomes applications from documenters from language communities, local scholars and students from the country where the language is spoken/signed, as well as collaborative projects. Potential Projects Outcomes of funded projects should include a collection of materials such as digital video and audio recordings, texts of various kinds. Projects should ideally result in documentation materials that are: accessible to and usable by members of the language community and the wider scientific communityas comprehensive as possible, including a range of recordings of language usage from everyday conversation to narrative, oratory, ceremonial speech, and verbal art, as well as transcription, annotation and analysis of such materialsrepresented and described using standard formats, conventions and theories in order to maximise access and useflexible and cumulative, to allow data to be annotated and supplementedin archivable form to provide for long-term preservation of the datacontributions to the on-going development of documentation methodology Projects should create materials in several types of media: videoaudioimageswritten (e.g. transcription, annotation, notes, description/analysis)metadata (structured data about the primary and secondary materials) Together, these will form the language documentation and may contain a range of linguistic materials, such as: spoken language in a variety of styles and contexts, recorded (in video and/or audio), with transcriptions, translations and notes and annotationswritten texts in a variety of styles, with transcriptions, translations and annotationsrelevant sociological and cultural informationformal linguistic resources such as dictionary and sketch-grammarpedagogical materials

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Who Can Apply?ELDP welcomes applications from researchers of any nationality to undertake projects in any part of the world. Applicants should be researchers with qualifications in linguistics and experience in linguistic fieldwork (including suitably qualified graduate students). Projects may be undertaken by teams or individuals. MDP applications from established principal investigators are welcome. IPF awardees are required to hold their fellowship at an institution other than the institution where their PhD was awarded. If an applicant chooses to hold their fellowship at the same institution where their PhD was awarded, they must provide sound and convincing reasons for this decision. Although IPFs may fund team-based research, the primary grantee is the principal investigator.To apply to our program you need to be affiliated with a host institution such as a university, which is a registered entity and has experience in administering grants.Note that all grant funds are paid to an accredited institution which administers the grant. Attention is especially paid to these criteria: the degree of endangerment of the language(s) and the urgency of the documentationthe potential of the project to significantly contribute to language documentationthe training and preparation of the applicant(s) for the proposed projectthe track record of the applicant in terms of documentation work (deposits available online)the goals of the project and whether they can realistically be achieveda clear methodology for project worka clear justification of equipment in relation to the methodologycareful consideration of ethical issuesa clear archiving plan and acknowledgement of ELDP’s open access requirementclear evidence of institutional support and super vision support

Ineligibility

The Principal Investigator must not be a director, owner, or similar, of the host institution.This means that directors, founders and heads of financial administration at the host institution cannot apply for grants.Although documentation and revitalisation are linked, projects aimed only at revitalisation without significant emphasis on documentation will not be funded.Note that a salary for a main PI who holds an established research position is not eligible for funding. A MDP will also not provide salaries for extended post-doctoral projects