Seminar and workshop grants

Call for research & teaching workshops 2023/24 [second round]

The Manchester Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (JMCE) is a partnership between the University of Manchester (UoM), Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and the Europe and the World Centre (EWC) at the University of Liverpool (UoL). We strive to strengthen the intellectual community in European Studies (broadly defined), while also facilitating local and regional links with practitioners, researchers, students and others interested in European affairs. Further details about the centre’s activities can be found on our website: https://www.manchesterjmce.ac.uk/

The Manchester JMCE is now inviting proposals for the funding of seminars and workshops to be held in the academic year 2023/24. We welcome applications for research as well as teaching events. The maximum amount for each bid is £1,000, with no preference given to bids that request the maximum or less than the maximum. Multidisciplinary and cross-institutional proposals are encouraged because of the Centre’s nature, but there are no formal restrictions upon applications. In recent years the JMCE has supported workshops, seminar series and European-themed sessions at large conferences that are being hosted at one of the stakeholder institutions. For details on previous events, please visit our website.

With regards to teaching and learning bids, the centre is keen to fund projects which develop students’ understanding of and engagement with European issues. This could be, for instance, by inviting a guest speaker (academic/policymaker/NGO) to give a lecture to students, by improving student engagement with European institutions, by facilitating links with European minority groups in Manchester and the North West of England.

Projects funded through this call should take place before the 31st of July 2024.

1. Eligibility

The JMCE will only consider applications from its fee-paying stakeholders: the University of Manchester (you must be based within SoSS, SALC or AMBS), Manchester Metropolitan University (you must be based within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities) and the University of Liverpool (you must be based within the Department of Politics).

Proposals may be from individuals or groups of staff members based at stakeholder institutions. Any in-person event must be held at one of the stakeholder institutions.

2. Structure of proposals

Proposals should not exceed 1,500 words and should be structured as follows:

• Title of project;
• Name(s) of lead applicant(s), their Department and university affiliation, and contact details;
• Context, objectives, deliverables, and likely impact of the project;
• Project structure, partnerships involved (if any), management and timescales;
• Continuation strategy (where appropriate);
• Detailed budget;

NB: Please indicate any match funding/support in kind, if available. The Centre cannot fund normal costs of course unit delivery/staff-related costs, FeC/overheads, or contingency funds. Equipment requests should be essential to the running of the project and not routinely available for use. Funds cannot be used for continual funding of an activity.

3. Deadline

The deadline for receipt of applications is Monday the 11th of March 2024. Applications should be sent to Dr Davide Schmid (d.schmid@mmu.ac.uk)

4. Evaluation

All proposals will be evaluated after the deadline by a subcommittee of the Manchester JMCE, based on:

• Quality and clarity of the proposal and its rationale;
• Anticipated impacts of the project;
• Partnerships involved in the project (e.g. between academics, policy makers, local community, etc.), with encouragement to particularly include students and non-academic participants too;
• Whether the event is multi-disciplinary and/or cross-institutional in nature;
• Value for money.

We will inform applicants of the outcome of their bid within three weeks of the application deadline.

5. Other requirements

Successful applicants will be required to submit a brief project report of up to 400 words, which will be uploaded to the Manchester JMCE website and may be used for promotional purposes. We will be grateful if you can include within the report a photo taken during your event but understand if you would prefer not to. In general, funds will be released upon submission of this end-of-project report and upon notification of the account code to which funds should be transferred. However, funds may be released early if necessary.

6. Further information

Queries about the proposals should be directed to the Chair of the selection committee, Dr Davide Schmid (d.schmid@mmu.ac.uk)