Max Planck Society and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports announced the first call for proposals for Dioscuri Centres (DC) of Scientific Excellence in the Czech Republic. The purpose of the grant is to support establishing a research group at a Czech scientific institution with the support of a partner from Germany. The Dioscuri Committee selects up to3 applicants for funding.

Under Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences the grant is intended for the following disciplines:

• Fundamental questions of human existence and the nature of reality - philosophy, cognition, the study of religions, theology
• Culture - literary theory and comparative literature, history of literature, linguistics, library science, cultural studies, fine arts, architecture
• Study of the human past - history, archaeology, ethnology, cultural anthropology
• Individuals, institutions, markets - economics, finance, management, demography, social and economic geography, urban studies
• Norms and governance - law, political science, regional and social policy
• Human nature and human society - psychology, pedagogy/education, sociology

The basic condition of DC:

• DC duration five years
• the maximum amount of subsidy is 300K EUR/year
• the minimum amount of co-financing by the host institution is 25K EUR/year
• involvement of a researcher (senior-level) employed at a German university or research institution

Condition for DC leader:

• Ph.D. max. 15 years before the application deadline
• International mobility during his/her career
• his/her main research activity must not have been carried out at the host institution for more than 12 months out of the last three years

The host institution also provides a full-time English-speaking administrative coordinator for the DC, an institutional guide, and administrative and other support for the DC. If you are interested in submitting a DC proposal to the competition, please send information about the DC's intention and a brief annotation (in a .docx file) to R&D by 4 May 2022. The information will be reviewed by the MU Faculty of Arts management.