Gerda Henkel Foundation: Funding Programme Democracy: Contours of Future Democratic Society Grant

Gerda Henkel Foundation: Funding Programme Democracy: Contours of Future Democratic Society Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Gerda Henkel Foundation
Amount: US $69,120 - US $133,920
Last Updated: December 20, 2024

Summary

The Gerda Henkel Foundation's funding program focuses on democracy, exploring its historical context and future transformations. It invites post-doctoral researchers to propose projects addressing the current challenges faced by democratic societies, including political crises, technological changes, and social inequalities. The initiative emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences, aiming to foster innovative approaches that contribute to understanding and shaping the future of democratic governance.

Overview

Principles The Gerda Henkel Foundation is an incorporated foundation under civil law (§ 1 StiftG NW). The object of the Foundation is to promote science, primarily by supporting specific projects in the field of the humanities that have a specific specialist scope and are limited in time and the related publications, in particular: by supporting research projects by scholars inside and outside Germany on carefully defined themes in the humanities,by awarding scholarships (in particular for research and Ph.D. projects) to scholars inside and outside Germany,by undertaking and supporting measures on a scientific basis in the field of monument preservation as well as by undertaking and supporting all measures that are suited to further the object of the Foundation,by carrying out measures to enhance public awareness in the above-mentioned fields that support the Foundation’s object. Other objectives of the Foundation are: to promote assistance for persons subject to political, racial or religious persecution, refugees, expellees, war victims, surviving dependents of war, people injured by war, injured and disabled civilians as well as the victims of crimes.to promote an international mindset, tolerance and understanding among nations.to promote development assistance. Fields Supported Support is primarily provided for the historical humanities, in particular to support research projects in the following fields: ArchaeologyHistoryHistorical Islamic StudiesArt HistoryHistory of LawPrehistory and Early HistoryHistory of Science Funding Programme Democracy Taking this present-day experience as a starting point, the Gerda Henkel Foundation has established a new funding initiative for democracy, which is divided into two subsections with different perspectives: The first, historically oriented subsection on the topic of Democracy as a Utopia, Experience and Threats aims at placing the aforementioned problematic issues in the broader historical context and considering the history of conflicts over the foundation of the social order.The second subsection, which is oriented towards analysis of the present situation and predictions for the future, focuses on Transformations of Democracy? Or: The Contours of Future Democratic Society. It represents an invitation to venture contributions, speculations and assertions so that we might learn to better understand the complex present-day situation and the processes of profound transformation that are taking shape while also trying to trace the contours of future society. Call for Applications for Subsection 2: Contours of Future Democratic Society Points of reference for a number of transformation processes can be identified with relative clarity within three major, extensively interwoven areas: The much-maligned crisis of democracy as we know it – liberal, constitutional, representative – is manifested in the political sphere. The new forms of populism have not only called into question the self-evidence of who constitutes “the people” and who can represent them, but have also cast democratic institutions and authorities radically into question, which has sown seeds of doubt about these agencies, and about whether and how legitimate political decisions can actually be made within large collectives at all. Here, complex questions arise concerning the conditions of resilience and renewal of democratic forces in the age of marred political authorities and legitimation, as does the question regarding the evidently changing relationship between emotions and politics, argumentative discourse and emotional rhetoric. It seems clear that many traditional forms of democratic consensus-building have reached their limits, since the places and media for sensible, informed discussion are increasingly fragmented or undermined. The influence of international acts of sabotage of discourses, and this involving meddling in elections and opinion-formation processes by means of manipulation and propaganda, is also hampering democratic consensus-building.Rapid technological change in virtually all areas of life poses challenges on an almost unforeseeable scale for human coexistence. The fact that almost all communication is conveyed through media and the ultra-fast and omnipresent interconnectedness of previously distant contexts are profoundly changing what it means to be in one place at one time, to share living spaces and habits with others, to be private or public. These transformations create problems and challenges that arise from the technologies and digitization themselves: the exploitable nature of information differences, new forms of surveillance and control – in a nutshell new forms of digital power or technical dominion. Research must be carried out into the ways our societies are finding to deal with these challenges, which norms and criteria, which ideals and models in the entirely mediatized and largely data-encapsulated world promise guidance and shelter, which skills and critical capacities individuals in this world need, and in which areas the old “natural” intelligence is perhaps a few steps ahead of its new “artificial” counterpart.It is more than clear that from a social perspective the world which is emerging recognizes, creates and condones distortions and inequalities, whereby these are not sufficiently captured by the old terms of ‘class’ or ‘social stratum’. After all, being ‘left behind’ in the present day is not measured merely by economic or sociocultural status, but rather also depends on the often now almost imperceptible practices of symbolic exclusion, fate determining attribution of identity characteristics, or a lack of access to knowledge and education. The emerging form of society appears to be traversed by new and complex kinds of stratifications and divisions, some of which appear flexible and negotiable while the old class divisions were not, yet others appear to have a harshness and persistence that seem almost inconceivably rigid. Here, questions arise with regard to the mechanisms and techniques of such exclusions, the vectors and levels of these new fault lines – and possible strategies for overcoming them. These three dimensions (political, technological, social) indicate only roughly which direction one might look towards in order to trace the contours of a future society. The ecological question will play a preeminent role in all three directions as our states, technologies, and societies are dependent to a great extent on natural resources and at the same time equally greatly responsible for how these are used and destroyed. In no one direction is there anything entirely new, yet in all of them one can identify processes of profound transformation that could be grasped and interpreted in research by way of a small contribution to shaping the future. The Foundation is looking for innovative research questions and ways of working that tackle these challenges and make initial forays into descriptive, explanatory or even prognostic propositions.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applications are open to post-doctoral researchers with links to a university from the entire spectrum of humanities and social sciences.The proposed projects must address focal themes that are being examined by a research group, which the Foundation understands to mean teams of at least two scholars actively taking part in the project work, who are to be funded by grants from the Foundation and are researching shared topics. Only post-doctoral or research grants will be considered. Applications for a research grant for the applicant (project leader) are also permitted. In total, a maximum of three grants plus funds for travel and equipment may be applied for by each research group.The funding program also provides for the project partners to participate in a public “workshop discussion on democracy” or “workshop discussion on future society” organized annually by the Foundation.The maximum duration is 36 months.The applicants must be actively involved in the research work of the project.Applications which the Foundation has turned down cannot be resubmitted, even for a different funding initiative or in a revised version.Candidates can apply regardless of their nationality and place of work.

Ineligibility

Applications for individual grants outside of a research group are not permitted.The simultaneous receipt of salary or retirement pension and a research scholarship is not possible.Support is not provided for:Final projects of bachelor and master studentsStudies under PhD levelPositions (temporary or permanent)Academic institutions by way of endowmentsFestschrifts or dictionariesAnnual meetings and academic anniversariesPublications which are not related to projects already being supported by the FoundationExcursionsConferences that are not initiated by the FoundationIndividual trips to attend scholarly conferences outside the scope of the projects receiving fundingExhibition projects which are not related to projects already supported by the FoundationIf not part of the thematic special funding programmes, support cannot be provided for projects and persons in the following fields:MedicineNatural and Engineering SciencesPsychologyLinguistics and Literature StudiesDrama or Film StudiesEconomicsFoundation does not cover overhead costs.Foundation does not cover college or tuition fees.