ACES Call for Proposals 2026 is now open

Small-Scale Research Support

19 January 2026

ACES is pleased to announce that the 2026 funding call for research activities is now open for ACES affiliates. The maximum amount that can be requested per grant is €5,000.

ACES welcomes proposals for research support from any ACES affiliate employed at the University of Amsterdam, including postdoctoral researchers and PhD candidates. We particularly encourage proposals from early-career scholars who are active within ACES.

Scope of the Call

Funding can be requested to advance or scale up research related to European or European Union studies. Projects may be interdisciplinary (though this is not required) and should preferably be linked to one or more of ACES’s five Research Themes (see Theme Groups).

Funds may be used for travel, material support, or research assistance.

Terms and Conditions

Funding

The maximum funding available per grant is €5,000. The requested budget should be proportional to the project’s objectives and expected outputs. The selection committee reserves the right to award less than the amount requested.

Applicant Eligibility

Research support grants are available to ACES affiliates currently employed at the University of Amsterdam, including PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers. Proposals that combine preparation for a major grant application with research activities leading to publications are also eligible.

Eligible Activities

Grants may be used for a combination of purposes, including but not limited to:

• Research assistance, including quantitative or qualitative data collection (which may involve fieldwork outside the Netherlands), data analysis, interview transcription or translation, and support for joint publications. Please note that only a student assistant may be funded, for up to 100 hours per academic year at a fixed rate of €19 per hour, in accordance with the VADL structure. Outsourcing is also possible to individuals or organisations with an official practice that can issue a formal invoice.
• Purchase of datasets and/or software.
• Attending a scientific conference or workshop, provided you are presenting your work.
• Fieldwork and data gathering.

Please note

ACES research support cannot cover teaching buyouts, editing costs, or publication fees. Successful applicants are expected to report on the results achieved and to explicitly acknowledge ACES support in any publications resulting from the grant. Successful applicants will receive detailed grant guidelines, including information on eligible costs, procedures for hiring research assistance, and relevant contact points. The grant must be fully spent within the 2026 calendar year.

Proposal Guidelines

Please follow the proposal guidelines as outlined in the application document.

Proposals will be assessed on the basis of:

Contribution to ACES’s mission,
Added value to the applicant’s own research,
Quality and feasibility of the proposal,
In cases of equal quality, priority will be given to ACES members who have not previously received ACES funding.

Review and Selection

Applications will be reviewed by a committee consisting of members of the ACES Governing Board (Brian Burgoon (FMG), Theresa Kuhn (FGW), Ans Kolk (FEB), and Kristina Irion (FDR)), plus one representative from each of the five ACES Theme Groups.

Deadline

Proposals must be submitted no later than 12:00 (CET) on 27 March 2026 to aces@uva.nl, with “Application for ACES Research Support 2026” in the subject line. Applications submitted in other ways may not be considered.

Application form Call for Proposals

ACES Call for Proposals 2026 is now open

Scope of the Call

Deadline

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