Program Overview

Introduction to the CAT Program

The Constructive Advanced Thinking (CAT) program is designed to foster networks of excellent early-career researchers dedicated to devising new ideas to understand and tackle current or emerging societal challenges. This program is entirely blue sky, bottom-up, and non-thematic, encouraging collaboration with stakeholders outside academia.

Goals

The aim of the CAT initiative is to provide teams of early-career researchers with time and space for thought and discussion in the best research environments Europe has to offer. During a period of up to three years, teams will benefit from a series of short stays in institutes participating in the program.

Support

CAT will cover travel and accommodation expenses for team meetings/short work stays in participating institutes. However, CAT will not fund salaries or research-related expenses. The participating institutes will support the teams by connecting them with knowledgeable and experienced researchers onsite and digitally, helping them valorise the obtained results through their legitimating channels.

Obligations for CAT Groups

At mid-term, the continuation of the institute's support to the team's work will be subject to approval after evaluation of a short progress report. At the end of their project, CAT teams will be expected to produce a final report in the form of a text, video, website, or other media, which will be made public.

Eligibility Criteria

• The project must address emergent societal issues.
• The Principal Investigator (PI) must have a stable research position in a European higher education and/or research institution for the entire duration of the project.
• PI must have obtained a PhD between January 2015 and September 2024.
• No team member should have obtained the PhD before January 2015. Doctoral researchers may also participate.
• Eligibility can be extended beyond 10 years after the PhD for certain properly documented circumstances.
• There is no specific diploma or age requirement for representatives of stakeholder organizations.
• Each team should include participants from at least two different countries.
• The team of 3 to 5 persons must be fully constituted, with CVs of all members named in the proposal.

Applications

Applications should include:

1. A 300-word abstract
2. A 3000-word max project proposal (or a video of 15 min max) describing the team's research question and how it plans to address it.
3. A work plan for the whole project duration, including meetings and activities with an indicative calendar.
4. A short description of the team.
5. CVs for each participant and an indication of where they will travel from to the meetings.
6. Letters of support: at least two letters from academic researchers; additional letters from stakeholders outside academia are encouraged.

Selection and Evaluation Process

Proposals will be examined by the participating institutes and peer-reviewed by experts. Criteria include:

• Academic quality of the proposal
• Potential for societal impact
• Interdisciplinary/intersectoral character of the project
• Motivation and fit to the call
• Ability of the team to carry out the project
• Feasibility of the project (work plan and deliverables)

Schedule

• Deadline for applications: 15 September 2024, 15:00 CET
• Successful applications will be notified by the end of January 2025
• Stays in participating institutes will take place between January 2025 and December 2027

Participating Institutes

A list of 27 participating institutes from across Europe is provided, including but not limited to:

• Aarhus Institute for Advanced Studies, Aarhus (Denmark)
• Institute for Advanced Study at CEU, Budapest
• Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld (Germany)
• Centre for Advanced Study, Oslo (Norway)
• Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (France)
• Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
• Paris Institute for Advanced Study (France)
• Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Germany)

Previous Projects

Since 2021, selected projects have included topics such as socio-ecological reshaping of European cities, methods for overcoming negative attitudes towards vaccination, and the impact of light on human health and well-being.