Information on the Foundation's activities and grant programs

Content

• Introduction
  
• Grant program (WSF Award for Research Papers)
  
• Previous activities of the Foundation
  

Introduction

The concept of 'world society' focuses on the whole of mankind. It is based on the assumption that there exists a unique social unit that encompasses all other types of societies, though the members of world society may not yet strongly identify with this unit. The concept of world society implies the question of how 'global' processes affect the perceptions and actions of individuals, groups and nations. But it also implies the question of how individuals and groups again shape this global sphere they are embedded in.

World society has not yet reached the level of social integration achieved by societies organized as nation-states. But the increasingly dense web of transnational interactions has created a social sphere that needs to be studied its own right. This global sphere has an impact 'from above' on all units it includes, such that any analysis of processes at the local, national or regional level must also take into account the global perspective. On the other hand, the global sphere comprises a network of social forces working 'from below'. The analysis of world society can thus promote insights into emerging perspectives and potentials for hitherto powerless and marginal actors.

Social sciences to date have mainly concentrated on the study of national societies, their contexts, and the relationships between such societies. The study of world society as a single and complex whole has lacked scholarly attention. Therefore, the 'Foundation for the Promotion of Social Science Research on World Society' (termed 'Foundation' in the following paragraphs) aims at sponsoring research that will fill this gap.

The aim of the Foundation is laid down in its charter. The Foundation is designed to encourage and support research on world society-its structure, historical development, and current transformation. Research proposals eligible for grants should focus on the various processes of social integration within world-wide systems (world culture, world economy, world politics and intergovernmental systems). These processes and their consequences may be studied from different levels of analysis, focusing on units such as individuals, sub-national regions, nations, transnational social networks etc. It should be clear, however, that research projects need not necessarily cover all of these aspects at once.

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WSF Award of Excellence Program for Research Papers (2003-ongoing)

Until 2003, the main purpose of the Foundation's sponsoring activities was to finance entire research projects (see below). Its current sponsoring policy is to provide a large number of grants for research articles (as opposed to sponsoring only a few 'big-size' research projects). In accordance with this new policy, the Foundation has introduced its WSF Award Program for Research Papers on World Society and held a series of international conferences. The call for papers for the Award Program 2010 can be found here.

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Previous activities of the Foundation

Note: The above-described WSF Award of Excellence Program for Research Papers currently substitutes all other sponsoring activities. Hereafter, we give information on the sponsoring of entire research projects as practiced from 1984 to 2003. By means of these project grants, the Foundation sponsored over 100 researchers from all over the world. A possible return to project sponsoring is foreseen for the coming years. In the years 2009 and 2010, however, the Foundation does not sponsor entire research projects! As a general rule, the Foundation does not sponsor the development of new research institutions or provide scholarships. Nor does it finance research projects resulting in the achievement of academic degrees (e.g., Ph.D. projects).

Grants were awarded each year on a scale of up to about 15,000 US-$ for smaller projects and up to about 40,000 US-$ for larger projects (with the budget based on the local currency of the applicant's country). The amount of the credit depended on expenses arising from the research plan and on the cost of living in the country in which the research was carried out. As a rule, support was extended for a period of one year; however, an extension for a further year could be applied for; it depended on a positive evaluation of research results of the first year by the Board. In particular cases the Board granted financial support exceeding the above limits.

The Foundation invited proposals from scholars at universities and non-academic research institutions specializing in empirical and theoretical analyses on the above-mentioned issues. Research experience and knowledge of ongoing discussions in world society research were necessary conditions of eligibility. Grants were awarded for empirical and theoretical research that results in scholarly publications. The Foundation's grants were intended mainly for the intermediate researcher generation.

The grants provided the financial basis to carry through a research project from beginning to end or else, a) to initiate a project with the aim to get access to other financial resources, or b) to bring a successfully started project to termination (e.g. by further analyses of existing data and the integration of findings). Pure editing work in view of the publication of an existing manuscript was not sponsored. The same applied to expenses related to the participation in congresses, as far as this was not immediately resulting from the research work. Neither did the Foundation finance fees for project management or administrative overheads. We expected that the applicant provide a part of the research budget from other sources such as his/her home university or other institutions.

Finally, in certain cases support of a portion of a current research project was considered, to enable consolidation of additional aspects of interest to the Foundation. In case of such supplementary support the overall financing of the whole research project was to be guaranteed, and the part financed by the World Society Foundation to be clearly definable.

Grants were, in general, to be administered by the university or other institution with which applicants are associated. Successful applicants were required to submit a final research report. They were also expected to publish their results in journals or books, mentioning the sponsorship of the World Society Foundation, but the Foundation did not fund such publications.

Sponsoring of meetings

The Foundation may occasionally sponsor meetings of researchers in order to foster the discussion and diffusion of research results or to plan and coordinate research. The initiative for such international meetings, however, must be taken by the Board of the Foundation. Meetings organized by other parties may not be funded.

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Zurich, July 2009