Gerda Henkel - Funding Programme Lost Cities

The Gerda Henkel Foundation was established in June 1976 by Lisa Maskell in memory of her mother Gerda Henkel as an incorporated foundation under civil law, headquartered in Düsseldorf. 

The funding programme is designed to be interdisciplinary and to facilitate projects in which there are varied dimensions to the examination of abandoned cities. At the same time, there should be a focus on causal correlations, both with regard to specific individual cultures and spanning all cultures, and on specifics of place and time. Thus far, such places have emerged for very different reasons, including military destruction, natural disasters, epidemics, environmental pollution, economic collapse, financial speculation, mobility, migration, centralization, deindustrialization, or post-colonial change, to name but a few.

Eligible to apply are post-doctoral researchers based in a university and working in the area of the humanities and the social sciences. Funding can be provided for projects with a thematic focus being addressed by a group of researchers. The Foundation uses the term “group of researchers” to mean associations of at least two researchers actively involved in the project work which is to be funded by means of scholarships from the Foundation and who are carrying out research into the same issues. Applications can only be made for PhD or research scholarships. Applications for a research scholarship by the applicant (project leader) are also possible. A maximum total of three scholarships per group of researchers can be applied for, as well as funds for travel and materials. A fundamental prerequisite for a grant is that project staff conduct their own research, which is published under their name. Other contributors who are not financed by scholarships can also be involved in the project. Scholarship applications made by individual researchers outside of the group are not accepted. The funding programme also provides for the project partners to participate in a public “workshop discussion on Lost Cities” organised by the Foundation.

The Foundation generally accepts applications for research projects made by universities, other research institutes or comparable institutions as well as by one or several Postdocs or scholars with Post Doctoral Lecture Qualification.

The grants for research projects involve, depending on the type of project, the assumption of costs for personnel, travel, materials and/or other costs.

The maximum duration is 36 months.

The applicants must be actively involved in the research work of the project.

Project staff on research projects may only be financed by PhD or research grants. A fundamental prerequisite for a grant is that project staff conduct their own research, which is published under their name. The simultaneous receipt of salary or retirement pension and a research scholarship is not possible. The period of support for Foundation stipend holders working on Ph.D. or research projects can be extended by up to 12 months if the holder becomes a parent during the period covered by the stipend and has an entitlement to maternity or parental leave. Individual arrangements must be discussed with the Foundation’s administrative office.

As part of a research project, the costs incurred of visiting (foreign) scholars can also be financed.

Electronic Application Form for the Foundation: 

Please complete the application form in full. 

The application form can be saved at any time. Using your own personal link, you can return to and edit the form for a period of ten days. However, after this period (10 Days), your data will be deleted from the server.

Once you have completed the form, you will receive a short summary, which needs to be confirmed in order to be sent to the Foundation electronically.

During the transmission process your data will be sent to the Foundation in electronic form. Confirmation of receipt will be sent to the e-mail address provided in the application.
 

Please follow these rules when uploading your application files:

All documents need to be uploaded as pdf-files.

Please do not upload protected PDF documents.

A single file may not exceed a file size of 6 MB each.

You cannot upload more than one document per upload field.

The application can only be sent, if all necessary documents are included.
 

Please note the following additional information:

Your data will be stored by the Gerda Henkel Foundation for the purpose of processing your application and will not be passed on to third parties.

The Gerda Henkel Foundation will be happy to provide you with information about the data that we have stored on your person at any time. If so required, personal data can be changed or deleted.

This form may only be used to make an application to the Gerda Henkel Foundation. The Foundation reserves the right to delete application data without prior notification, if necessary.