Gerda Henkel - Funding Programme Democracy

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.

“Democracy”, as an overriding concept of this historically-oriented funding programme spanning different eras, may be simply a search direction, a heuristic guideline, and not a universalization of any – for example, our current – social and political system. The focus here is on the history of confrontation concerning the basic principles of social order, whereby there is a clash of demands for enhanced participation, for greater scope for self-organization, for more justice, or for the dismantling of hierarchies on the one hand, and on the other the value systems of those who consider the relevant status quo worthy of preservation or who see entirely different objectives of fairness, freedom and hierarchization as worth fighting for. These confrontations took place and continue to take place from ancient times until today, sometimes with and sometimes without application of any concept of democracy. What they can provide information about is the diversity of the value systems, the preconceptions of justice, and the ideals of a good society that are brought to the field by the conflicting sides.

Talking about “future” society means describing what is new and unfamiliar in the form of a society that is only just taking shape and whose initial elements and structures we are only just starting to experience. This new form may not be entirely novel and in many regards will stem from the old one. Which fault lines and threshold points define these transformations is a question to be addressed analytically by the humanities and social sciences, whereby there is not yet any preconceived notion as to whether such changes will represent losses or gains, progress or regression at the end of the day.

Applications are open to post-doctoral researchers with links to a university from the entire spectrum of humanities and social sciences. The proposed projects must address focal themes that are being examined by a research group, which the Foundation understands to mean teams of at least two scholars actively taking part in the project work, who are to be funded by grants from the Foundation and are researching shared topics. Only post-doctoral or research grants will be considered. Applications for a research grant for the applicant (project leader) are also permitted. In total, a maximum of three grants plus funds for travel and equipment may be applied for by each research group. The prerequisite for funding is an assurance that those working on the project will produce their own research output that will be published under their names. Other people who are not funded by grants may also be involved in the project. Applications for individual grants outside of a research group are not permitted. The funding program also provides for the project partners to participate in a public “workshop discussion on democracy” or “workshop discussion on future society” organized annually by the Foundation.

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.

Electronic Application Form for the Foundation

1. Please complete the application form in full. Please be aware that each subsection has its own form. The link to the correct form appears if you click on the subsection below this text. Within the form, the header shows  which subsection you are applying for.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.