Research support at the Alfred Wegener Institute
The Alfred Wegener Institute is one of the worlds’ leading polar research organisations and delivers significant contributions to the international research on climate, marine and coastal issues. Our annual external funding income for research exceeds 22 million EUR.
AWI has a leading role in large national and international research projects, e.g. as the coordinator of EPICA (European Polar Ice Coring in Antarctica), a joint European Science Foundation and European Commission (EC) scientific programme, funded by the EC and by national contributions from 10 countries. Overall, the AWI is involved in international projects since more than 25 years and participated in numerous European FP5 and FP6 projects.
Currently, the AWI is coordinating and/or participating in more than 60 EU funded projects granted by the European Commission. Furthermore, the AWI is host of one ERC Starting Grant and several Marie Curie Fellowships. An ERC Advanced Grant and an AWI-coordinated Marie Curie IRSES network are currently under negotiation.
The latest AWI-coordinated FP7 collaborative project PAGE21 started in November 2011. The PAGE21 consortium comprises the most elite and experienced European permafrost researchers, together with eminent scientists from Canada, Russia, the USA, and Japan. It brings together 19 institutions and small enterprises from 11 different countries, and a large number of international partners in Canada, the USA, and Japan.
The team of the Research Support Office supports the scientists at AWI regarding all aspects of financial, legal and administrative issues during proposal preparation and the project implementation. Our main tasks are:
Pre-award:
- Spreading information and advice on European and national funding opportunities
- Support of proposal preparation
- Budget calculation and approval
Post-award:
- Contract negotiation
- International project management
- Financial management and audit preparation
- Monitoring of EU activities at AWI