The DARIAH Theme is a thematic funding call launched every two years, chosen for investment by the DARIAH Board of Directors. For 2024, we have chosen the topic of Mistakes. Previous themes include: ‘Workflows’‘ (5 funded projects), Arts Exchanges’ and 'Arts, Humanities and COVID-19' (9 funded projects), 'Strategic Service Sustainability for DARIAH' (6 funded projects), ‘Cultural Heritage and Humanities Research’ (7 funded projects), ‘Public Humanities’ (7 funded projects) and ‘Open Humanities’ (6 funded projects).

Topic: Mistakes

In the field of Digital Arts and Humanities, mistakes serve as more than mere errors; they are pathways for learning, discovery, and innovation. From data collection and analysis to algorithmic biases and invalid interpretation, mistakes may permeate every stage of Digital Arts and Humanities research, shaping objectives, methodologies, and outcomes. This Theme Call seeks to explore the concept of mistakes, inviting applicants to critically consider their role, impact, and potential within Digital Arts and Humanities scholarship and practice.

We invite submissions that explore a wide range of topics related to mistakes in Digital Arts and Humanities, including but not limited to:

• Error in data collection and curation

• Bias and discrimination in algorithmic systems

• Failure in the sustainability of digital projects

• Ethical considerations in handling mistakes

• Learning from mistakes 

• Mistakes as means of exclusion 

• Challenges and opportunities of error detection and correction

• Representations of mistakes in Digital Art and Culture

• Reflections of mistakes in Digital Arts and Humanities

• Reimagining success and failure in Digital Arts and Humanities research

• Art of the accident

• Risk of failure in Digital Art and Culture

• Missed opportunities in Digital Art and Culture

• Breaking the rules in Digital Art and Culture

• Mistake, context, and interpretation

• Mistakes versus complexity

How to apply

To apply, please submit a proposal (3–4 pages in length) which will include:

• A description of the goals of the project, an implementation plan and expected outcomes.
  

• An explanation of how your project will specifically address this year’s DARIAH Theme.
  

• The number of people involved in the project.
  

• The name and postal address of the budget holding institution administering the grant.
  

• The name and e-mail address of the contact person of the budget holding institution which coordinates the project.
  

• A budget (no more than 1 page).
  
  

Applications must be submitted on the website: https://dariahtheme2024.sciencesconf.org/ AND by e-mail to theme@dariah.eu.

The scientific committee for the reviewing process will comprise members of the DARIAH Senior Management Team with additional invited experts, as needed. In the case of successful submission, a grant agreement will be signed between DARIAH and the budget holding institution. The grant agreement will include a template for the final technical report and a template for the final financial report.

Terms and conditions

• Institutions situated in a DARIAH member country or a DARIAH Observer country, or institutions which have the status of a DARIAH Cooperating Partner are eligible to lead a DARIAH Theme project.
  

• Maximum allowable budget is €10,000 per project, but please note that value for money will be an assessment criterion. DARIAH reserves the right to award less than the maximum requested amount to selected projects.
  

• Any software, services or workflows developed as part of funded projects will be required to be included in the SSH Open Marketplace.

• Any pedagogical outputs in the context of this grant, regardless of the medium (textual, video, podcasts etc.), should be hosted on DARIAH-Campus.
  

• Successful applicants are expected to make their project results openly available following DARIAH’s Open Access Guidelines (HAL ID: halshs-02106332 ). They are also required to share both their outputs and their project reports either in the HAL DARIAH collection or as a part of the ZENODO DARIAH community. For practical information about self-archiving, please consult DARIAH’s green Open Access guide (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3070068).
  

• Successful applicants will be required to present the results of their funded projects during the DARIAH Annual Event 2026 (place to be confirmed).
  

• We explicitly encourage applicants of DARIAH Theme call proposals to consider a gender balanced constitution of their team (please also see: Gender Equality Plan | DARIAH).
  
  

Eligible costs

Eligible costs under the scheme include:

• Technical development including software, APIs, case studies, test suites
  

• Content development including documentation and educational materials
  

• Travel and subsistence for project members to facilitate their interaction and creation of project outputs
  

• Organization and hosting of events (seminars, workshops, hackathons etc.) to reach a particular audience or community
  

• Costs related to administrative support (overheads) up to a maximum of 8% of the budget
  

• Travel costs for one to two representatives of the project team to the Annual Event 2026 to present the results.
  
  

Any other types of cost not explicitly mentioned by the foregoing provisions, need to be approved by DARIAH before the start of the project.

Please note that personnel costs of permanent staff are not eligible.

Allocation of funds will have to comply with the budget principles of the institution administering the grant, but will be cross-checked by DARIAH. All expenses must be documented.

Key dates

• Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2024
  

• Review process: October 2024
  

• Notifications to applicants: beginning of November 2024
  

• Signature Grant Agreements: November/December 2024
  

• Start date of projects: Upon signature of Grant Agreement
  

• End date of projects: 30 June 2026
  
  

Please, submit applications directly on the website https://dariahtheme2024.sciencesconf.org/ (you need to create an account, then to register before submitting your abstract) AND by e-mail to theme@dariah.eu.

For more information contact: theme@dariah.eu