Call opens: 3 November 2025
Submission of applications by 15 December 2025
Results of applications will be available in February 2026.
Implementation period for Berlin-based projects: 1 March 2026 – 31 August 2026
Implementation period for Oxford-based projects: 1 March 2026 – 31 March 2027
The Oxford Berlin Research Partnership aims to further mobility and scientific connection between Oxford and Berlin. The partnership will make available funds to promote the initiation for new or continuation of existing collaborations and research projects between researchers based in Oxford and Berlin and to prepare third-party funding applications.
The funds are primarily intended to cover costs for travel, accommodation, the organisation of workshops, smaller-scale commissioned work (such as translation work) and comparable activities between Oxford and Berlin. Depending on where the applicant is based, the funds are awarded via the individual BUA partners or the University of Oxford.
Application
You will find the links to the online application forms on the page linked to at the top.
Please briefly address the following questions and aspects in your application:
What specific measures and projects will be carried out? Why are they important? What is the aim of the activities (e.g. acquisition of third-party funding, joint publications or field research, supervision of students, etc.)?
What specific benefits or added value do you expect from the activity for your own research and for academic cooperation between Berlin and Oxford?
Please note that there are different forms, depending on whether the applicant is based at a BUA institution or the University of Oxford.
Available funding
Oxford applicants: The maximum funding is £3500 per application. Travel and accommodation costs are calculated on the basis of The University’s Departmental Expenses Guide, available for consultation here: Expenses | Finance Division. The evaluation board reserves the right to reduce the requested funds.
If you are based at the University of Oxford, the funds will be transferred to your faculty or department from the central University and administered there. Before you submit your application, please make sure that you have raised this with your faculty/ department and obtained their agreement to administer this.
Who is eligible to apply?
Doctoral candidates, post-docs and professors of the Berlin University Alliance and the University of Oxford. We particularly encourage applications from Early/Mid- Career researchers.
Thematic focus
Depending on your research discipline, there might be a thematic focus for researchers based at the institutions of the Berlin University Alliance or the University of Oxford.
Interdisciplinary applications or applications in the humanities can be in any research area.
Areas where applications in the social sciences are particularly welcome include democratic resilience and colonial legacy.
Across all fields, cross-divisional collaboration in interdisciplinary projects is encouraged.
Projects that place a focus on “innovation”, i.e. researching or implementing new approaches or developing new techniques or solutions, are particularly welcome.
Procedure
Please submit the complete applications through the links below by 15 December 2025.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us under the following addresses:
BUA applicants: please contact oxber@berlin-university-alliance.de.
Oxford applicants: please contact Dr Aoife Ni Chroidheain Lau aoife.nichroidheain@dae.ox.ac.uk.
You will receive the results of your application in February 2026.
A short report must be submitted after the cooperation activities. We will send you an online form for this purpose a few months after the end of the project implementation period.
What criteria are evaluated?
Applications will be evaluated by the selection committee according to the following criteria:
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Academic Merit/Quality (40% weighting)
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Added value of the collaboration between Berlin and Oxford (30%)
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Potential for further collaboration and acquisition of third-party funding (20%)
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Diversity of the teams and topics (10%)
