Bourse Fondazione 1563 (Torino) : Study Program on the Age and the Culture of Baroque

Study Program on the Age and the Culture of Baroque
NOTICE OF COMPETITION FOR 2016 FELLOWSHIPS

Foreword
The Study Program on the Age and the Culture of Baroque aims to promote research in this field of knowledge and to open up career opportunities to young scholars at academic and cultural institutions.
In this sense the Foundation has launched from 2013 to 2016 a call for proposals to award fellowships on the Culture of Baroque for young Italian and foreign scholars 35 years old and younger.
This is the fourth edition of the competition.
The notice of the 2016 competition is available online at www.fondazione1563.it.
Applications can be submitted using the online application form only. Applications submitted by other means will not be considered.
The Notice of Competition is published on 30 April 2016; the deadline for submission is 24 July 2016, h 24.00 (midnight).
Contact the Foundation’s office (ph. +39 011 440 1405, info@fondazione1563.it) for more information and clarifications.

1. Object of the 2016 call
The Fellowships Program aims to assign individual fellowships with the aim to promote original studies on the Age of Baroque, also in an international comparative perspective.
Research proposals for the 2016 call will need to pertain to the following theme:
Ornamentation and decoration. The grammar of the orders, the rhetoric of opulence, the appeal to the eye at European Courts (1680-1750).
Between the late 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, ornamentation and decoration become central at the Courts across Europe.
The peculiar formulations of the various European Courts, that reflect individual artistic expressions and diversified trends in taste, pursue the definition of a new rhetoric: the association, implementation, and reinvention of the orders; the affirmation or complete redefinition of artistic hierarchies; a new balance between internal and external spaces; new and differentiated approaches to the memories of the past.
The resulting subjects and shapes become characteristic in their own right and serve as models of variations on set themes that, together, make up whole repertoires in architecture, painting and sculpture as well as in the art of jewelry and in furniture design for the Court’s spaces.
The centrality of the ornament takes different forms in the culture of the Baroque period, and sweeps across history, literature, philosophy, and music.
Applicants are invited to submit research proposals and original projects that, in the framework of the theme and timeframe presented here, or significant segments thereof, provide a comparative synchronic or diachronic analysis of two or more geographical centers or of limited territories.

2. Eligibility
The competition is open to researchers born after 1^st January 1981 holding a university or master’s degree, or equivalent, from an Italian University or equivalent from foreign Universities.
Priority will be given to applicants holding a PhD or equivalent from an Italian or foreign university.
The competition’s relevant disciplines, that may be approached also from a multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary standpoint, are:
social and demographic history
political history
history of economics and history of economic thought
history of science and technology
history of literature
history of philosophy
history of music
history of theater
art history
history of architecture
military history.

3. Non-eligible applications
The following applications will not be eligible to participate in this call:
applications submitted by researchers who have been awarded other grants, scholarships, fellowships or similar, concerning the same topic that makes the object of the application submitted for this competition;
applications concerning projects whose subject is not original; however, the theme may be recognized as original if it is in line with past scientific projects undertaken by the applicant;
applications for projects that are not scientific research projects according to recognized solid scientific standards.

4. Fellowship description
Each of the five Fellowships will consist of an annual grant amounting to € 23,000 before tax and other charges. Each Fellowship will last for one year, starting 1^st January 2017 and ending 31^st December 2017. It may be renewed for an additional quarter, without compensation and upon request of the Fellow, supported by the tutor’s opinion and subject to approval by the Foundation, that reserves the right to decide on the matter.
A tutor will be appointed by the Foundation as an expert in the selected discipline, in agreement with the grantee, to support the grantee in the research activity and to evaluate the outcomes.
The annual grant will be paid out in three instalments:
the first, amounting to 40% of total, when the fellowship is awarded;
the second, amounting to 30% of total, upon submission and evaluation of the half-year report;
the third, amounting to 30% of total, upon conclusion of the research project and evaluation thereof.
Refunds of documented travel expenses related to the Fellowship project are envisaged for up to € 1,500 per year and must be authorized in advance by the Foundation (« mission procedure ») on a proposal by the tutor.

5. How to submit an application
Applications will be submitted exclusively through the form available online on the Foundation’s website under Bandi/ Borse di studio sull’Età e la Cultura del Barocco 2016 at www.fondazione1563.it.
Applications must be submitted by 24 July 2016 at h 24.00 (midnight).

6. Evaluation criteria
The selection of applications will be carried out by the Foundation’s Executive Board assisted by external experts, based on the applicant’s credentials and the research proposal submitted and may require an interview with the selected applicants
to discuss the research project and the applicant’s scientific curriculum.
Projects will be evaluated based on the following criteria (in no particular order):
coherence with the call’s theme;
originality, quality and scientific relevance of the research project;
familiarity with concepts and methods;
a clear description of objectives, envisaged activities, expected results and criticalities;
contribution to the advancement of knowledge in international research;
capacity to establish relations with qualified Research Institutions;
indication of evaluation parameters for the research and its outcome.

7. Awarding of Fellowships
The Fellowships will be awarded by the Foundation’s Executive Board. The Foundation reserves the right not to award all the Fellowships, in case the projects submitted are deemed qualitatively inadequate. The winners will be announced in no particular order. Non-selected projects will all receive the same evaluation.
The winners will be announced no later than 30 November 2016 in the BANDI (CALLS AND COMPETITIONS) section of the www.fondazione1563.it website.
The winners will be notified in writing and will be required to send to the Foundation the Fellowship Acceptance form, according to the terms contained in the form, within 7 working days of reception of notification.

8. Research project conditions and reporting
Fellowships will start on 1^st January 2017 and will last for one year, except for extensions under par. 4 above.
Each grantee will be assigned a scientific tutor whose task is assisting and monitoring the grantee’s research activities. The tutor will be appointed by the Foundation in agreement with the grantee.
The grant instalments will be paid out provided that research activities are carried out and subject to the tutor’s approval based on the project’s progress.
Six months after awarding the fellowship, the grantee will submit a written progress report (no more than 12,000 characters) and sit for an interview to illustrate project updates to the tutor and/or to scientific experts appointed by the Foundation.
The grantees will submit a final project report within twelve months of the awarding thereof, except for extensions as per par. 4 above. The report will be a written scientific report containing at least 200,000 characters (including spaces), and it will include a bibliography and critical references, and an abstract in English if the research project is carried out in Italian, and vice-versa, no more than 12,000 characters (including spaces) in length. The report will be drawn up in both digital and paper form and will be accompanied by the tutor’s report.
The Foundation may revoke the fellowship, with an irrevocable decision, in case: the research activity differs from or falls below the quality standards envisaged in the original project; the activities performed by the researcher have not been approved by the tutor; the eligibility criteria are no longer met.
If the fellowship is revoked or the project cannot be completed, any sums that have already been paid out at that point in time will be returned to the Foundation within 30 days of the Foundation’s notification to the grantee that the fellowship has been revoked.

9. Use of Research Projects and Outcomes by Fondazione 1563
The research projects carried out under the Fellowship Program will be collected by the Foundation in the Program’s Research Archives. The grantees will be invited to participate in the creation of the archives by contributing relevant research texts and materials. The archives will be located on the Foundation’s premises and will be made available to interested parties. The Foundation will regulate access to the archives according to the protection of each grantee’s intellectual property rights.
In order to promote the research projects and to provide additional scientific recognition to the grantee, the Foundation will publish the research papers or any updates thereof, in digital form in the series of publications « Alti Studi sull’Età e la Cultura del Barocco », and the publication will be registered with ISBN Agencies. The research may also be published in the collection of the « Quaderni sull’Età e la Cultura del Barocco » curated by Fondazione 1563.
For these purposes, the grantee, by participating in the competition, hereby authorizes the Foundation to publish his/her research papers and related images in digital form, without any additional earning for the grantee, on condition that the Foundation will gain no financial profit from the said publication.
Any other publication of the research activities carried out by the grantee, as well as the presentation thereof at conferences or seminars, shall be notified by the grantee to the Foundation and shall contain a reference to the fact that the research on which the publication or presentation is based was financed by the Foundation through a Fellowship grant.
If deemed necessary for the development of research funded through the fellowships, the Foundation may, after hearing the tutor’s opinion, organize intermediate workshops to discuss progress on the various projects and any problems that may arise in connection thereto. Upon project conclusion, the grantees will present their activity in the framework of the public activities that may be organized by the Foundation.