Information for Researchers, No. 51 | June 8, 2021

Open Research Area for the Social Sciences

Pre-Call Announcement

Pre-Call Announcement

The partners of the Open Research Area (ORA) are pleased to announce that their seventh joint call for proposals will open in July 2021 and close in November 2021. This pre-call announcement is being issued to allow interested researchers to begin discussions with potential research partners ahead of the formal call for proposals.

The Open Research Area was created to strengthen international cooperation in social sciences by funding high quality scientific research projects.

Similarly to the previous call, four funding organisations will participate in this seventh ORA call: the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), France; the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), Germany; the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), United Kingdom; and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada. ANR will be the coordinating agency of the call.

The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) will again collaborate with ORA as an associate partner. Applicants to the ORA call may seek partnerships with Japanese researchers. Researchers affiliated with Japanese research institutions will be required to submit their applications to JSPS, which will organise a specific assessment.

Proposals will be accepted for research projects in any area of the social sciences. Proposals must involve researchers from at least three of the four main participating countries (Canada, France, Germany, and United Kingdom). Stand-alone projects in different countries will not be admissible. Proposals are expected to make an original and significant contribution to scientific knowledge.

Application process

Proposals for this call will be submitted through the ANR’s electronic submissions system (SIM). Detailed guidance about how to apply will be provided with the publication of the call for proposals documents. The upcoming call will follow a one-stage procedure consisting of a single, full proposal.

Provisional timetable

We intend to announce the full call for proposals in July 2021 on the websites of the participating funding organisations. The closing date for proposals will be in November 2021. The full call specification and relevant documentation, including timetable, will be provided when the call is officially launched. We will not be able to provide additional information about the full call in advance of its publication.

Further Information

For general information, and to be notified when the call is announced, please contact:

Please note the DFG’s data protection notice on research funding, which can be viewed and downloaded at:

If necessary, please also forward this information to those individuals whose data will be processed by the DFG due to their involvement in your project.

If you have any further questions, please contact:

Canada, SSHRC

France, ANR

Germany, DFG

United Kingdom, ESRC

Japan, JSPS