External Calls for Proposals

The programme "Fellowships for Innovations in Digital University Teaching in Thuringia" has already been announced several times by the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG) in cooperation with the Stifterverband. The projects are intended to create impulses for the development and testing of digitally supported teaching and examination formats or the redesign of modules with the consistent use of digital technologies, as well as to promote the exchange of information on digital university teaching and the dissemination of the results of the respective projects in the sense of best-practice sharing.

For funding from 1 October 2023, up to ten fellowships were again offered in this programme, each endowed with up to 50,000 euros.
The call for applications was aimed at teachers who work at universities that are state-run in the Free State of Thuringia. The duration of the projects is 15 months (01.10.2023 - 31.12.2024).

Applications for a fellowship can only be submitted via the university management. The university-internal application deadline for this was 26 April 2023. The applications were collected and sent to the Stifterverband by the university management by 11 May 2023.

For more information on the procedure and on the fellows who have been funded so far, please go to https://www.stifterverband.org/digital-lehrfellows-thueringenExternal link

Under this link you can find out more about the Fellows of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena who have been already funded.

The joint programme of the Stifterverband and the 'DATEV-Stiftung Zukunft' (DATEV Foundation for the Future) promotes the development and integration of data literacy learning opportunities in degree programmes in public and non-profit management within the framework of two model projects. The aim was to enable learners to use data for the benefit of society.

The learning opportunities consist of two to three Learning Steps, i.e. events and learning opportunities that build on each other. The learning steps must be anchored in the curricula of the funded universities by the end of the funding phase. In addition, professionals from the public or civil society sector who are interested in academic continuing education also is addressed and able to complete at least one of the Learning Steps.

Key data of the call for proposals:

Application deadline: 15 March 2023
Funding amount: 60,000 €
Duration of funding: 1 May 2023 to 31 August 2024

Further information: https://www.stifterverband.org/data-literacy-learning-stepsExternal link

With this call for proposals, the Foundation was promoting the freedom of teaching, as it did last year, and enabled university teachers to develop and test creative or experimental ideas in their teaching. There was not a thematic or subject-related focal points; the call for proposals was geared towards projects that were convincing due to their innovative potential with regard to academic teaching and that focus on the students' learning process.

Information on funding

Duration of funding, funding period and amount of funding per project:
Project funding begun on 01.04.2024. The maximum funding period is 24 months; the latest project end date is 31.03.2026. The maximum funding amount was 400,000 euros per project. The type of funding is open; applications could be made for personnel funds, material funds and funds for project-related investments.

Who can be funded?
The call for proposals was aimed at university members who are involved in teaching development: Teachers, students, university didactics experts or managers. All persons employed full-time at a German higher education institution who are involved in teaching were eligible to apply. Student projects related to teaching as well as projects by teaching assistants are expressly welcome, although here too the application must be submitted by a person entitled to submit an application.

Application procedure
The content-related selection process was preceded by a procedure for expressing interest. From 1 to 15 February 2023, expressions of interest (only one per person and per project idea) could be submitted via the Foundation's website. A draw was made from the submitted expressions of interest to determine who is entitled to submit an application. The applications, which were formulated and based on the project idea in the expression of interest, were then be submitted from 1 March to 30 April 2023.

Important information on the internal university procedure: 

A confirmation of administrative support from the university management was required for the application.
In this email you had confirmed that
(1) no other funding is available for the proposed project and that
(2) no significant changes will be made to the application or the financing plan before submission to the Foundation Portal.
The confirmation of the university management will then be obtained as soon as possible by the ALe office and sent to the applicants for independent submission of the application by 25 April 2023 at the latest.

Further information on the call for proposals
Detailed information on the call for proposals can be found on the following website of the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education: https://stiftung-hochschullehre.de/foerderung/freiraum2023/External link.

As a digital learning platform with openly licensed educational resources on the topics of artificial intelligence (AI) and data literacy, the AI Campus is looking for teaching fellows to test innovative teaching concepts for the application-oriented teaching of AI and data skills using the AI Campus learning opportunities. In the advertised funding phase, the focus is on the sustainable further development and implementation of teaching concepts for the teaching of AI and data competences. The format of the course is not specified, but it should reach at least 100 students per semester. AI Campus learning opportunities must be integrated by the fellows into their teaching over the entire duration of the programme, i.e. in the winter semester 2022/23 and summer semester 2023.

The fellowship programme is aimed at university teachers from all subject areas who would like to integrate the openly licensed learning offerings of the AI Campus into their own teaching and test an application-oriented teaching of AI and data skills.

Interested teachers at universities in Germany can apply until 12 August 2022. The fellows will receive didactic, professional and financial support. More information on the fellowship programme and the application process can be found at https://ki-campus.org/fellowshipsExternal link

A communication channel has been created in Mattermost for queries about the Fellow Programme: https://mm.ki-campus.org/ki-campus/channels/bewerbung_fellowshipExternal link. In this way, all applicants benefit from the corresponding answers.

The Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society in cooperation with Stifterverband has already announced the programme ‘Fellowships für Innovationen in der digitalen Hochschullehre Thüringen’ several times. The funded projects are intended to create stimuli for the development and testing of digitally supported teaching and examination formats or the redesign of modules with the consistent use of digital technologies and the dissemination of the results of the respective projects in the sense of best practice sharing.
This programme will once again offer up to ten fellowships, each endowed with up to 50,000 euros.

The call for applications is aimed at teachers who work at universities that are state-run in the Federal State of Thuringia. The duration of funding is 15 months (1 October 2022 to 31 December 2023).

Applications for a fellowship can only be submitted via the University management. The University's internal application deadline is 9 May, 2022 (12:00). Please submit your complete application in electronic form to ale@uni-jena.de by this date. The ALe will inform you about any further steps that may be necessary. University management will collect the applications and send them to Stifterverband by 27 May 2022.

You can find the detailed call for applications and the application cover sheet in the download section of the ALe’s website.

For further information on the procedure and on the previously funded fellows can be found, please see https://www.stifterverband.org/digital-lehrfellows-thueringenExternal link.

You can find out more about the previous Fellows of Friedrich Schiller University Jena on the pages on Externally funded teaching projects.

On Friday, 29 April 2022 from 10:00 to 12:30, Stifterverband offers a webinar for interested applicants, where detailed information about the programme, the application modalities and selection criteria as well as the funding opportunities will be provided. Participants will have the opportunity to clarify their questions. If you would like to participate in the webinar, please register informally by email (andrea.kuppen@stifterverband.de) by 22 April 2022.

Mit dem Kolleg Didaktik:digital unterstützt die Joachim Herz Stiftung Nachwuchswissenschaftlerinnen und Nachwuchswissenschaftler der Biologie-, Chemie- und Physikdidaktik sowie der Grund- und Berufsschulpädagogik (mit Schwerpunkt Naturwissenschaften), die sich mit der Frage beschäftigen, wie ein sinnvoller Einsatz digitaler Medien in den naturwissenschaftlichen Fächern aussehen kann. Dazu fördert die Stiftung entsprechende Projekte in der Lehramtsausbildung bzw. Forschungsprojekte, die einen Transfer in die Lehramtsausbildung einschließen.

2021 schreibt die Joachim Hertz Stiftung zum vierten Mal Junior-Fellowships für Nachwuchskräfte der Biologie-, Chemie- oder Physikdidaktik mit Förderbeginn im Herbst 2021 aus. Gemeinsam mit Fachkolleginnen und -kollegen und Experten (Senior-Fellows) wird im Kolleg der Frage nachgegangen, wie gewinnbringende Konzepte zum Lehren und Lernen mit digitalen Medien im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht aussehen können.

Um ein Fellowship bewerben können sich Doktoranden (m/w/d), Postdocs (m/w/d), Juniorprofessoren (m/w/d), abgeordnete Lehrkräfte (m/w/d) und akademische Räte (m/w/d) sowie vergleichbar qualifizierte Nachwuchskräfte der Biologie-, Chemie- oder Physikdidaktik und der Sachkunde- oder Berufsschuldidaktik mit naturwissenschaftlichem Schwerpunkt.

Mit der Aufnahme in das Kolleg ist eine Förderung in Höhe von 15.000 Euro zur Realisierung eigener Lehrmodule bzw. Forschungsvorhaben verbunden. Die Förderung umfasst neben finanziellen Mitteln zur Realisierung der Lehrmodule Vernetzungsangebote mit anderen Fellows (insbesondere auch mit den Senior-Fellows) und mit Dritten, Unterstützung bei der Durchführung und Verbreitung der Lehrkonzepte, Teilnahme an Workshops, Fellow-Treffen und Stiftungsveranstaltungen.

Bewerbungsschluss ist der 24. Juni 2021
Weiterführende Informationen zur Ausschreibung und zum Vorgehen bei der Bewerbung finden Sie auf der folgenden Webseite www.joachim-herz-stiftung.de/was-wir-tun/naturwissenschaften-begreifen/naturwissenschaften-vermitteln/kolleg-didaktik:digital/External link

Das BMBF hat eine neue Förderrichtlinie bekanntgegeben, mit der das Ziel verfolgt wird, eine Nationale Bildungsplattform als Metaplattform zu gestalten, um einen individuell und gleichzeitig übergreifend nutzbaren digitalen Zugang zu innovativen Lehr- und Lernformaten zu schaffen.

Lernende und Lehrende und deren individuellen Pfade durch digitale Lehr-/Lernszenarien sollen mit der Schaffung von digitalen Bildungsräumen ins Zentrum gerückt werden.
Mit dem Aufbau einer Nationalen Bildungsplattform als Meta-Plattform vernetzter digitaler Bildungsangebote soll ein technisches und regulatives Ökosystem bereitgestellt werden, das einen Rahmen für eine leistungsfähige, interoperable Lehr-Lern-Infrastruktur und die darauf aufbauenden Funktionalitäten und Services schafft.

Um dies zu erreichen, fördert das BMBF im Rahmen der Initiative Digitale Bildung folgende drei Ziele:

1. An den Anforderungen der Nationalen Bildungsplattform als Meta-Plattform vernetzter digitaler Bildungs­angebote ausgerichtete (Weiter-)Entwicklung und Etablierung moderner lernpfadorientierter Lehr-/Lernangebote im Rahmen institutionen-, methoden- und technologieübergreifend verschränkter Curricula
2. Aufbau von Methodenwissen und digitalen Kompetenzen auf Seiten Lehrender durch die Entwicklung digitaler Lehr-/Lernszenarien
3. Zugang zu und Integration der unabhängig in Ziel 1 und 2 definierten modularen und innovativen Lehr-/Lernangebote über initiale, wettbewerblich erstellte Prototypen für eine föderierte Serviceinfrastruktur.

Antragsberechtigt sind staatliche und nicht staatliche Hochschulen, außeruniversitäre Forschungseinrichtungen, Verbände, Vereine und sonstige Organisationen sowie Unternehmen der gewerblichen Wirtschaft.

Nähere Inforamtionen zur Bekanntmachung finden Sie auf den folgenden Webseiten:

• https://www.bmbf.de/bmbf/shareddocs/bekanntmachungen/de/2021/04/3567_bekanntmachung.html#searchFacetsExternal link
• https://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/bekanntmachung-3567.htmlExternal link

Sollten Sie einen Vorschlag zur Beteiligung unserer Universität hinsichtlich der Ziele 1 und/oder 2 haben, wenden Sie sich bitte bis spätestens zum 25. Mai 2021 über cdo@uni-jena.de an die Stabstelle Digitale Universität.

The Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society in cooperation with Stifterverband has already announced the programme ‘Fellowships für Innovationen in der digitalen Hochschullehre Thüringen’ several times. The funded projects are intended to create stimuli for the development and testing of digitally supported teaching and examination formats or the redesign of modules with the consistent use of digital technologies and the dissemination of the results of the respective projects in the sense of best practice sharing.

From 1 October 2021, this programme will once again offer up to ten fellowships, each endowed with up to 50,000 euros.

The call for applications is aimed at teachers who work at universities that are state-run in the Federal State of Thuringia. The duration of funding is 15 months (1 October 2021 to 31 December 2022).

Applications for a fellowship can only be submitted via the University management. The University's internal application deadline is 10 May 2020. Please submit your complete application in electronic form to ale@uni-jena.de by this date. The ALe will inform you about any further steps that may be necessary. University management will collect the applications and send them to Stifterverband by 28 May 2021.

You can find the detailed call for applications and the application cover sheet in the download section of the ALe’s website.

For further information on the procedure and on the previously funded fellows can be found, please see https://www.stifterverband.org/digital-lehrfellows-thueringenExternal link.

You can find out more about the previous Fellows of Friedrich Schiller University Jena on the pages on Externally funded teaching projects.

On Friday, 23 April 2021 from 10:00 to 13:00, Stifterverband offers a webinar for interested applicants, where detailed information about the programme, the application modalities and selection criteria as well as the funding opportunities will be provided. Participants will have the opportunity to clarify their questions. If you would like to participate in the webinar, please register informally by email (andrea.kuppen@stifterverband.de) by 16 April 2021.

The eTeach Netzwerk Thüringen promotes innovative stimulus projects that digitally enrich teaching and learning at Thuringian universities and take it to the next level. Formats of learning, teaching and examination are to be further developed in a competence-oriented way and with a very good fit to student requirements. This also involves the implementation of innovative digital tools that contribute to the didactic enrichment of teaching and learning in the real and virtual world. The results of the projects serve as stimuli for teachers at all Thuringian universities and can be integrated into learning, teaching and examination offers.

Teachers at Thuringian universities are invited to submit an application for funding for a stimulus project. Every year, up to six projects with a duration of six months or up to three full-year projects are funded. For each project, the participation of at least two project partners from different universities is desired. In exceptional cases, the partners can also be working at the same university.

Project applications are submitted centrally via the university management. The internal application deadline at the University of Jena is 9 April 2021. Please submit your complete application in electronic form to anna.svet@uni-jena.de by this date.

You can find more information on the call for proposals and the required application documents on the following website of the eTeach networkExternal link.

If you have any questions about the application process, funding modalities and funding, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Anna Svet (anna.svet@uni-jena.de, +49 3641 9-401041) from the University’s Office Digital University or the eTeach core team (kontakt@eteach-thueringen.de).

The funding announcement ‘Förderung der künstlichen Intelligenz in der Hochschulbildung’ has now been published and is currently available at the following link:

https://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/bekanntmachung-3409.htmlExternal link.

Faculties of Friedrich Schiller University Jena that would like to submit an application please contact Dr Frederik Schulz (Head of Digital University, www.uni-jena.de/digital de de, as he will coordinate the applications. The universities are to submit initial information on the number of planned applications to the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society by 22 March 2021; project descriptions are to be submitted by 16 April.

As part of the Smart Qualifiziert programme, the Daimler Foundation and Stifterverband have published a call for proposals in a second funding round entitled ‘MINTplus—plusMINT’ to promote holistic and cross-disciplinary STEM education. Both overarching university strategies and concrete implementation measures at the level of study programmes and projects are eligible for funding. The involvement of external partners is also strongly encouraged.

In a first step, up to 15 projects will be funded, each receiving up to 10,000 euros. At the end of the first year of the three-year project period, these universities, designated as Fellows, can apply for further funding from an innovation fund, for which resources totalling 300,000 euros are available. The Fellow universities can apply for these funds individually or in association with other Fellows who are pursuing similar project ideas or a corresponding scale.

For the first application phase, each university can submit several applications from different faculties, but only one per faculty.

Friedrich Schiller University Jena has defined the following central application procedure for this phase of the call:

1. by 15 April 2021: submission of an expression of interest in participating in the call for proposals with a brief description of the project content and details of those involved in the project to ale@uni-jena.de;
2. by 30 April: feedback from the university management as to whether the project application is supported in principle and, if so, request for submission of a complete project application;
3. submission of the complete project application by 20 May 2021 to ale@uni-jena.de and subsequent review of the applications by the university management (feedback to the applicant if adjustments are required);
4. submission of the applications to Stifterverband by 31 May 2021 (presumably centrally by the university management).

You can find further information on the call for proposals and the application form at: https://www.stifterverband.org/smart-qualifiziertExternal link.

Funding Announcement 2020—Strengthening Higher Education Teaching through Digitization.

Due to the pandemic, the first funding announcement of the Innovation in Higher Education Foundation was brought forward in time. The Foundation explains that the ‘corona pandemic [...] has created acute pressure for universities to rethink their teaching and learning, to develop digital teaching and learning formats on an ad hoc basis and to rapidly expand their infrastructure and support structure.’

In the current call for proposals, each university can submit a maximum of one individual application and one joint application. Following a decision by the university management, our University will submit an individual application on a central and transferable cross-sectional topic and a joint application from the Faculty of Medicine.

Duration of project funding: 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2024, maximum 36 months

Amount of funding per application: 0.5 to 5 million euros.

You can find further information on the current funding announcement at: https://stiftung-hochschullehre.de/ausschreibungen/foerderbekanntmachung-2020/External link.

As part of the Curricula der Zukunft programme within the framework of the Thuringian strategy for digitalization in higher education, innovative study projects were supported. This created stimuli for the further development of study content and academic forms of teaching and learning. The funded pilot projects help to adequately prepare students for a living and working environment increasingly shaped by digitization. The aim of the funding is to develop innovative curricular reform projects that showcase new approaches and can be transferred to other study programmes, departments or institutions.

In 2018 and 2019, three projects at Friedrich Schiller University Jena were supported with a total of approx. 180,000 euros.