I3 Junior Projects Call 2025 - Funding Interdisciplinary Innovation @ TUHH
An I3 Junior Project refers to an innovative initiative involving two or more junior scientists. In this context, a junior scientist is defined as an active member of the research community at TUHH who has not yet obtained a PhD. Funding is provided to start a scientifically interesting project or for a project with a high degree of scientific uncertainty for the duration of up to one year. The grant covers up to 10,000 EUR in project-related expenses. A maximum of ten projects will be awarded. The selection criteria will be applied with consideration of the experience level of the Junior Project participants and with special regard towards innovative ideas.
Selection Criteria
- Scientific quality
a. Originality, scientific relevance, adequate methodology
b. Applicants’ qualifications
c. Planned contributions of applicants and their institutes
d. Innovation potential
e. Probability of realization and success of the action
f. Sustainability - Interdisciplinary Cooperation
- Applicants must be members of TUHH both at the time of application and throughout the duration of the project.
- While they may belong to the same school (Studiendekanat), they must represent at least two different institutes (for doctoral candidates) or different study programs (for students).
- The call is open exclusively to junior researchers and students; postdoctoral researchers and senior scientists are not eligible to apply.
- Relation to TUHH Strategy
- Applicants are encouraged to align their projects with TUHH’s research fields and/or research clusters and to highlight the societal relevance of their work.
- Proposals connected to TUHH’s strategic initiative “Engineering to Face Climate Change” will receive particular consideration.
Formal Requirements
All applications should be submitted in English.
The funding covers expenses up to 10,000 EUR that are directly related to the work program of the junior project, such as student research assistants (HiWi, max. 2,000€), purchase of datasets, software or licenses, traveling costs for short research stays, and consumables and small equipment where relevant. Funding of the applicants’ own positions is not possible. The project proposal should include a list of the expected cost items and provide a brief explanation of the use of each position.
Documents to be submitted:
- Funding application with the following content:
- Title
- Contact person
- Further participants
- State of the art and preliminary work
- Scientific objectives
- Work program and research methods
- Strategic objectives, correlation to TUHH research fields/research clusters, societal impact
- Requested funding list with brief justification of each item
- CVs of all applicants
- Publication lists of applicants, if applicable.
The text should not exceed two A4 pages (not including CVs and publication lists).
Submission and Timeline
Please submit the application documents as one PDF file with the following name format: I3JP_2025_ShortProjectTitle
to Dr.-Ing. Lilia Zenker (per Email) no later than December 31st, 2025.
Timeline:
- Proposals are submitted no later than December 31st, 2025.
- In March 2026 the Ausschuss für strategische Planung in der Forschung (AsPF) will review all applications and select the projects to be funded. Results will be communicated as soon as possible.
- Funding starts April 1st, 2026 and ends March 31st, 2027.
