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Submit a Research Group proposal

Our Research Group Fellowships program offers opportunities for collaborative research projects, bringing together teams of researchers and scholars from different disciplines and institutions. We invite applications from All disciplines.

As a Research group fellow at the IIAS, you and your team will have the opportunity to work alongside some of the most distinguished researchers and scholars in your field, and to take advantage of the resources and support the IIAS provides. Our fellows also have the opportunity to attend workshops and seminars, and to present their research to the IIAS community.

The IIAS is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive research environment, and we welcome applications from researchers and scholars of all backgrounds.

Thank you for your interest in the IIAS Group Fellowships, and we look forward to receiving your application. Please take the time to review the application guidelines, eligibility criteria, and information about the review process before submitting your application. We wish you the best of luck in your application.

The IIAS invites scholars from Israel and abroad to submit Research Group (RG) proposals for the 2024-2025 academic year. Research proposals may be submitted by initiator(s) affiliated with any academic institution in Israel or abroad. Proposals may cover any research topic from all disciplines including interdisciplinary research, and must seek to be innovative with potential impact on their research field.

RG size is flexible, ranging from 5-8 core fellows, and each RG can include one postdoctoral fellow. Scholars spend their residency at the IIAS, located at the Edmond J. Safra Campus in Givat Ram, Jerusalem. The IIAS provides its fellows and visiting scholars with a nurturing and stimulating academic environment, as well as administrative support. Fellows from abroad receive a generous fellowship and family accommodation.

What is a Research Group?

Each RG brings together a diverse group of scholars to engage in research questions of common interest. The group fellows benefit from integrative thinking and rich dialogue, while expanding individual fellows’ research. Our expectation is that the RG’s period of residence will result in creative and original research that will be shared with the international research community.

Former fellows may apply once 10 years have elapsed from the end of their previous term to the beginning of the academic year of their Fellowship.

Period of Residence

The IIAS academic year runs from September 1 to June 30. Proposals should include a request for a five- or ten-month residency period. Exceptions may be granted to Research Groups to be in residence for a three-month period (e.g. for experimental sciences). These are the possible options:

The ten-month residencies begin September 1
The five-month residencies begin September 1 or February 7
The three-month residencies begin September 1, February 7, or May 1

Application Deadline and Notification

The online system will open for submission on September 1, 2022.
The deadline for application submission is December 1, 2022 (midnight).

Initiators are welcome to consult with the IIAS Director prior to submitting the proposal. To schedule a meeting please fill in the form HERE.

The IIAS Academic Committee announces its decisions regarding the selected proposals within seven months of the submission deadline. Rejected proposals may be resubmitted.

Application

Submission of the full proposal is to be completed online (September 1 – December 1, 2022 (midnight))

To submit a proposal please click HERE

The IIAS Academic Committee announces its decisions regarding the selected proposals within six months of the submission deadline. Rejected proposals may be resubmitted.

Submission of the Research Group proposal is completed online beginning with the submission of the Initial Form in which the organizer is asked to provide the name of the Research Group proposal and information on the organizer(s).

Once the Initial Form has been approved, the organizer will receive an e-mail with information on how to proceed with the full proposal submission.

The proposal must be submitted according to the following guidelines:

(For your convenience, we provide you with a template of the proposal document for your use: RG Proposal Template)

Research Group Proposal Guidelines

General guidelines:

Please upload in one PDF file
Please start each section on a new page

Section I. Cover Page

Length: up to 1 page

Title:

A full title, limited to 120 characters (with spaces)
Specify the specific sub-discipline of the proposal

Organizer(s):

Name (First, Last), Academic Title, Academic Affiliation

Period of Residency:

Preferred starting date (September 1, February 1)
Duration of residency at the Institute.
Flexibility in starting dates in residency period should be clearly mentioned (for research groups staying for a period of five or three months).

Abstract:

An abstract of up to 250 wordsthatstatesthe motivation and goals of the Research Group

(RG). The abstract should explain the project’s special significance to scholars that are not necessarily experts in this research topic and scholars from other disciplines.

Keywords:

Provide 3-5 keywords that are relevant to the proposed topic (do not use keywords that appear in the title).

Section II. The main body of the proposal

Length: Approximately 3000 words and up to 6 pages, not including bibliography/ references:

A description of the project, including subtopics and questions to be addressed.
A description of the anticipated contribution to the field of research and the discipline.

Please describe the potential impact of the Research Group on the current status of thisfield.

Proposed activities of the RG (conferences, seminars or other activities) that the group plans to initiate. Please describe the nature of these activities for the benefit of the RG and for the benefit of the academic community outside of the Institute.
Potential interactions with other academic programs and national/international projects

during residency (if relevant).

A list of anticipated outcomes of the Research Group (articles, books, etc.) and how/when

you plan to achieve these results.

Information that will help to evaluate the proposal (including possible additional funding;

special honorary guests; relation to Advanced Schools and other national and international academic program.

Section III: Group Members Summary Table (Organizer(s) and Fellows only)

Please list organizer(s) information first.

Please copy and complete this table:

*For status of participation please write of the options below:

Approached and confirmed
Approached and not yet confirmed
Other

Section IV: Group Members Information (Organizer(s) and Fellows only)

Length: up to 3 pages.

Please list the proposed fellow’s information. Please list organizer(s) information first.

For each participant please include:

Current institutional affiliation
Academic degree and detailed academic status (e.g. chair, director, emeritus,

postdoctoral, independent scholar)

A short summary of his/her relevant research explaining the specific and unique

contribution to the Research Group (3-4 sentences per participant)

Year of PhD approval
Previous residency at the IIAS: if relevant, please specify the title and academic year of the past Research Group.

For each proposed fellow please list his/her most relevant and significant publications

which are related to the proposed research (limited to 4 publications). Explain in 1-2

sentences the contribution to the field by each of these listed.

Section V: List of publications

Length: up to 3 pages

Please list up to 12 publications which are most relevant to the proposed topic (not restricted to group members). All publications/bibliography/references should appear in full format (and no more than 10 co-authors).

Section VI: Additional Information

Length: up to 1 page

a) Issues of consent

Please clarify any issues of consent of proposed fellows, i.e. fellows who may split the residency year, fellows who have been approached but can only participate under certain conditions, etc.

If none, please add a statement to this effect.

b) Additional Needs of the Group In this section please list any additional needs of the group (special tours, video conference room etc.).
c) Conflict of Interest

Please mention any potential conflict of interest (e.g. family relations, academic relationships).

If none, please add a statement to this effect.

d) Diversity

Please mention issues related to (lack of) diversity (e.g. geographical, women, post-doctoral,

academic maturation of members/guests).

Section VII: Organizer Bio Sketch

Please fill out this section for the organizer(s) only.

EDUCATION / TRAINING

(Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, include postdoctoral training and residency training if applicable.)

INTERACTION with Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS)

(List chronologically your participation as a former Research Group fellow if applicable)

INTERACTION with any other IAS

(List chronologically your participation, if applicable)

NOTE: The following section may not exceed four pages. Please follow the formats and instructions below.

Personal Statement (up to 450 words)

Briefly describe why your experience and qualifications make you particularly suited for your role as a Research Group fellow/ Visiting Scholar, in the project that is the subject of the application.

Positions and Honours (up to 150 words)

List in chronological order previous positions, concluding with the present position. List significant honours and chair. Include membership on academic or public advisory committees/ other relevant academic and public roles.

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications (up to 500 words)

Please limit the list of selected peer-reviewed publications/manuscripts/books to no more than 12 that are most significant in your academic career. You may include manuscripts/books that were already submitted or in advanced phase of preparation. Please provide a full reference and full list of the co-authors.

Selected Publications towards IIAS RG (up to 500 words)

Please limit the list of selected peer-reviewed publications. List no more than 4 that are most influential and relevant to the research field, and/or to the current RG proposal. Please provide a full reference and full list of the co-authors. You may include manuscripts/books that were submitted. The publications may also appear in section C.

Research Projects (up to 500 words)

List both selected ongoing and completed research projects for the past 7 years. Begin with the projects that are most relevant to the research proposed in the application. Briefly indicate the overall goals of the projects and your responsibly and contribution.

Grants (up to 250 words)

List both selected pending, ongoing and completed grants that supported your research (if applicable). Limit to the last 7 years. Mention the project title, years of funding, funding agency and estimation of the total support (in $).

More (up to 250 words)

Within this section you may, if you choose, briefly describe any personal factors including hobbies, personal interests, expectation, and previous experience in being a fellow. For initiators from abroad: please specify your connection to Israel and to Israeli academia.

NOTE: If there is a second organizer he/she will receive a requested to fill out an online bio sketch form once you have uploaded and submitted the proposal.

Pre-Submission Consultation

(June 1 – July 31)

Initiators are welcome to consult with the IIAS Director prior to submitting the proposal. To schedule a meeting, please fill out the pre-proposal form and e-mail the IIAS secretary, Ms. Shira Barak (shirabar@savion.huji.ac.il), to schedule a meeting.

At the pre-proposal stage, the organizer provides an extended abstract that clearly poses the core research question to be examined by the Research Group (RG) and describes the importance and originality of the topic. The organizer provides a list of potential members of the RG and specifies the potential contribution and relevance of each member towards the main theme. Key scholars should be mentioned. Following the submission of the pre-proposal, the organizers will be invited to schedule a meeting with the IIAS Director. The goal of the pre-proposal meeting is to familiarize the organizers with RG residency life, both from an academic and administrative perspective.

Evaluation Process

IIAS Committees

The Academic Committees and the IIAS Board of Directors oversee the proposals to ensure the diversity and balance of topics and disciplines for the academic year.

Proposals are evaluated by the Institute & Academic Committees, appointed by the Rector of The Hebrew University, the President of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Yad Hanadiv Foundation.

The IIAS has two Academic Committees: (i) for evaluating proposals in the Natural Sciences and (ii) for evaluating proposals in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Its members are listed on our website.

Short List

All proposals are reviewed and evaluated by the IIAS Academic Committees who will select a number of proposals to be included in a short list. Notification of rejection will be sent to all other proposal initiators. Proposals that have been selected for the short list will be evaluated by external referees. The majority of the external referees are from abroad. Each proposal will be evaluated by at least 3 external referees in addition to the assessment of the Academic Committee members.

Upon receiving approval of the proposal in the short list, the proposal initiator is required to submit an updated and confirmed listing of all group participants with their explicit consent, and to complete missing information (e.g. CVs, change in academic status, key visiting scholars). In addition, the initiators should address specific comments and requests raised during the evaluation process (when appropriate).

The updated proposal is then reviewed by the Academic Committees and by a number of external referees. In recent years, the acceptance rate for proposals that were on the short list was 40-50%.

Submission of a detailed proposal does not constitute a commitment on the part of the IIAS or the nominees until a proposal receives final approval. Nominees must be informed that their appointment is subject to the approval of the IIAS Academic Committees.

A letter of acceptance or rejection will be sent to applicants by July 30.

Post-acceptance steps

The IIAS asks the initiator of an accepted Research Group to schedule a meeting with the IIAS Director and Administrative Director (see timeline for specific dates). The agreement between the initiator and the IIAS will be signed in order to clarify the commitment of the group initiator. Additional practical and budget information will be shared with the RG initiators.

Nominee consent is considered a declaration of intent, and once a group has been created and fellows and visitors have been approved, any changes to the list of participants or the status of a participant must be determined in consultation with the IIAS Director and the Academic Committees. Any change in the approved list of Research Group members should be justified in writing by the group initiator and approved by the IIAS Director and representatives of the Academic Committees.