Funding commitments have already been given to eight projects in the field of “Social Inequality”, for which a total of 11.6 million euros is being made available by a consortium of foundations comprising the Volkswagen Foundation, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Sweden), Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy) and Novo Nordisk Fonden (Denmark).
In one of the projects now being funded, the researchers are using the example of the Congo Basin to investigate the question of what inequalities are caused by the dynamics of commercial forest use, and what role institutions, international initiatives and agreements play in this. Another project looks at different forms of labor exploitation in the ‘global south’ from a historical and contemporary perspective: What significance do they have for the emergence and manifestation of permanent inequalities?
A condition for funding is that each research group must include at least two partners from low and middle-income countries, in addition to a project partner in a European high-income country. In this way, the foundations aim at stimulating closer cooperation between scientists from different regions of the world, open up new perspectives and enable new cooperations and networks.
Under the umbrella of “Global Issues – Integrating different Perspectives”, two topics are currently open for proposals. In the call “Cultural Heritage and Change” (closing date for applications: 25 March 2020), Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy) and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Sweden) are participating as funding partners. In the call “Mobility – Global Medicine and Health Research” (closing date for applications: 17 April 2020), Novo Nordisk Fonden (Denmark), La Caixa (Spain) and Wellcome (Great Britain) are the co-sponsors. A funding offer on the topic of “Human-Environmental Interactions” is also planned for 2020.
Background
The calls for proposals are part of the international funding scheme “Global Issues – Integrating different Perspectives” initiated by the Volkswagen Foundation and implemented in close cooperation with various European partner foundations. The initiative aims to generate new insights into challenges of global relevance that have so far been little researched. The calls are based on some of the challenges addressed by the United Nations’ “Sustainable Development Goals”. With the “Global Issues” program, the participating foundations also want to contribute to strengthening research cooperation between the ‘Global South’ and the ‘Global North’.
