HUMAN+ Fellowship Programme

HUMAN+ is an international and interdisciplinary fellowship programme led by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and ADAPT, the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Digital Content Innovation at Trinity College Dublin, and supported by the prestigious European Commission (EC) Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Action. It will select up to 18 experienced researchers for a 2-year post-doctoral programme and unique research and training space.

Only a few research and industry approaches to technological development to date have included the nuanced and deep perspectives of the arts and humanities disciplines. HUMAN+ will connect computer science researchers with arts and humanities researchers and enterprises to forge a human-centric approach to technology development allowing for interdisciplinary research, integrating insights from the arts, humanities and computer sciences as well as enterprise.

To achieve this, HUMAN+ research topics are divided into two research strands which the applicant must choose at the application stage.

Research Strands, Clusters and Themes

• Applicants have the freedom to choose their individual research project. However, the research topic must be aligned with one of the programme’s research Strands, Clusters and Themes which ultimately match prospective Supervisor’s research interests. A key component of the HUMAN+ Programme is its interdisciplinary nature and the co-creation of projects which integrate both disciplines. The HUMAN+ Strands, Clusters and Themes have been carefully crafted to reflect this.
• You must contact a HUMAN+ Supervisor, whose research interest is aligned with your research topic before applying and get their agreement to support your application. Please be sure to include the HUMAN+ Project Manager (humanplus@tcd.ie) in all correspondence.
• If you are interested in applying for a HUMAN+ Fellowship, but you are unsure whether your proposed topic falls under the programme’s research Clusters and Themes, please register your interest by contacting us and we will be happy to discuss this with you.

Financial Allowances

The financial allowances offered by the HUMAN+ fellowship programme are outlined in the table below. This table is for guidance only. Please see the HUMAN+ Terms and Conditions for more information.

Allowance Type / Amount per year €:

• Living Allowance / €42,061.36
• Mobility Allowance / €6,483.57
• Family Allowance (if applicable) / €5,402.97

In effect, the total gross allowances for fellows with family obligations is €53,947 while the total gross allowances for fellows without family is €48,544 (to be paid monthly as salary).

All Fellows will be appointed as Trinity staff for the duration of their contract and receive the same pension and social security benefits as all Trinity employees.

For more information on the eligibility of the family allowance, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Secondments

The secondments in the HUMAN+ non-academic partner organisations will increase the fellows’ competitiveness in the industry labour market. Combined with entrepreneurship training modules, and participation in the HUMAN+ Future Lab and Summer Schools, these interactions are expected to encourage many fellows to follow this path to creating new innovative European enterprises.

The HUMAN+ Team are in discussions with a number of potential secondment organisations across many sectors of enterprise and industry. Such enterprises are drawn from, but not limited to industry sectors such as ICT, Content & Media, Communications, Entertainment, Healthcare, Business & Legal as well as public organisations (galleries, museums etc.), governmental departments and philanthropic enterprises.

New relationships are developing constantly therefore please contact the HUMAN+ Project Manager and/or your potential Primary Supervisor for an up to date list of organisations that best fit your research project and your developmental needs.

Training and Development

Human+ is a full research training and career development programme. At the start of the fellowship, a Personal Career Development Plan will be developed to support fellows in achieving their short and long term career goals and prepare them for their future career trajectory. HUMAN+ is designed to provide a structured training programme in domain-specific areas and transferable skills, its components include:

• Future Labs
• Supervised Interdisciplinary and intersectoral research project
• Complementary advanced research and transferable skills training
• HUMAN+ Summer/Winter Schools
• Intersectoral and interdisciplinary transfer of knowledge (through secondments and/or short visits to industry partners)
• Specific training in communication and outreach activities
• Compulsory induction training delivered by TLRH and ADAPT that includes research ethics, gendered innovations training, Open Science and research practices at the start of all fellowships.

Process

Call 2 to the HUMAN+ Fellowship Programme will consist of a number of application rounds with regular cut-off dates. Following each cut-off date, applications received will move forward to the evaluation stages allowing fair competition between applying researchers.

Important Dates

The next application cut-off date for Call 2 will be 19 August 2022 at 23.00 GMT. Only applications received before the cut-off date will be assessed under that application round. Applications received after the cut-off date will be assessed in the next application round.

Applications received on or before the application cut-off date will be assessed for eligibility and moved forward in the process.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must have a relevant background to the strand of the programme they wish to apply to: Arts & Humanities (Strand 1) or Computer Science & Engineering (Strand 2).
• Applicants may be of any nationality and must agree to the programme’s Terms & Conditions.
• Applicants must comply with the Transnational Mobility Rule: at the application deadline, applicants must NOT have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Ireland for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the application cut-off date.
• Applicants must, at the time of the call deadlines, be an Experienced Researcher, i.e. in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent (FTE) research experience. FTE research experience is measured from the date when a researcher obtained the degree which would formally entitle them to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the researcher is recruited or seconded, irrespective of whether or not a doctorate is or was ever envisaged.
• Applicants must be fluent in English (written and spoken).
• Applicants are required to produce evidence of genuine interdisciplinary experience or interest regarding the scope of the programme.

How to Apply

Research Strands, Clusters and Themes

• Applicants have the freedom to choose their individual research project. However, the research topic must be aligned with one of the programme’s research Strands, Clusters and Themes which ultimately match prospective Supervisor’s research interests. A key component of the HUMAN+ Programme is its interdisciplinary nature and the co-creation of projects which integrate both disciplines. The HUMAN+ Strands, Clusters and Themes have been carefully crafted to reflect this.
• You must contact a HUMAN+ Supervisor, whose research interest is aligned with your research topic before applying and get their agreement to support your application. Please be sure to include the HUMAN+ Project Manager (humanplus@tcd.ie) in all correspondence.
• If you are interested in applying for a HUMAN+ Fellowship, but you are unsure whether your proposed topic falls under the programme’s research Clusters and Themes, please register your interest by contacting us and we will be happy to discuss this with you.

Strand 1 - Arts and Humanities Researchers: Questions that consider technological developments from the humanistic perspective

Strand 2 - Computer Science & Engineering Researchers: Research for the development of computing technology with insights informed by the Arts and Humanities

Finding a Supervisor

• Applicants must have the support of a Human+ Supervisor from their selected strand when making their application.
• To find a supervisor go to the supervisor section.
• Before contacting a supervisor with similar research interests, applicants should draft a 200-word abstract that briefly addresses how their research proposal could align with the supervisor’s expressed area of Human+ interest.
• If the supervisor is unable to support your application contact humanplus@tcd.ie and the project manager will see if other supervisors can be found.  

Application Documents

More info on the call website.