Call for Network Institute Academy Assistant Projects

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Deadline June 13th, 2025 at 23.59 pm 

The Network Institute’s (NI) Academy Assistants program (NIAA) is now entering its 15th year.  Initially funded through a KNAW grant and aimed at combining social sciences and computer  science research, it has since been adopted by the Network Institute and opened up for other  interdisciplinary projects which fall within the NI’s research themes. The Academy Assistants  program aims at promising high-potential master students who want to conduct scientific research  and possibly pursue an academic career. As in previous years, this year the program will also be  able to fund at least five proposals. 

Accepted proposals will start in October 2025. The program aims to bring together scientists from different disciplines; therefore, the projects must combine methods and themes from two different disciplines affiliated with the NI. For each awarded project, the program will fund two student research assistants (0,2 FTE) for a period of ten months. The expected outcome of the project is a published paper and/or research proposal. In addition, at the end of the project (July 2026) we will publish all project final reports on the website.  

This call is aimed at VU researchers who are willing to cross the boundaries of their own discipline, and who have a research topic in mind that would benefit from such an interdisciplinary approach. We especially encourage early career researchers, including post-docs and PhDs, to apply for this funding.  

Applicants should send us a short research proposal as outlined in the template proposal below (see bottom of the page). Send the completed proposals to: akademiestudent.fsw@vu.nl, before June 13th 2025 at 23.59.  An independent review committee will evaluate the proposals based on interdisciplinarity, quality and fit to the NIAA program (i.e., centered on student development of research interest and competence). The successful projects will be announced early July 2025. All submitted projects are invited to attend the NIAA end-of-year event, where this year’s projects will be presented (July 1st 2025, 3-5pm).

Quick facts: 

  • Proposals shall be interdisciplinary and within the Digital Society scope;
  • Project supervision by two researchers (any researcher, e.g., teaching staff, research staff, PhD students, can be supervisors); 
  • At least one supervisor has to be a member of the Network Institute;
  • Regular team meetings (2 supervisors and 2 students) and progress reports are expected; 
  • Teams can include other people in supervising roles, as long as each assistant has one  responsible co-applicant supervisor;
  • Clear research outputs are expected by the project (e.g., scientific publications, seminars,  white papers, reports); 
  • Proposed projects can be continuations of previous NIAA projects. In that case, supervisors  need to address how this new proposal is different from the previous project;  
  • A maximum of 1 project per supervisor will be awarded (although it is allowed to submit  multiple proposals. In case multiple projects are awarded to a researcher, the researcher will have to find an alternative supervisor (please already indicate this in the proposal);  
  • Funding is for two student assistants for 10 months, at 1 day per week (0.2 FTE);
  • 500€ travel/expenses budget per project will be allocated; 
  • If more expenses are expected, the supervisors can instead opt to hire the two student assistants for 9 months (instead of 10) to add an extra 1000€ of travel/research expenses to the project (please indicate this in the proposal);  
  • Each supervisor is the primary responsible for one student. In case of a conflict between the two supervisors, the resources of the project (the two students and any remaining budget) will be split equally between the supervisors;
  • A maximum of 5 eligible NIAA projects will be funded.
Duties of researchers and students:

  • The NIAA program includes a series of scheduled meetings where both students and supervisors are required to attend. This includes (1) three education meetings (targeting only students) and (2) two NIAA events (targeting both students and supervisors) where projects present their preliminary and final results. The schedule will be sent at the beginning of the NIAA projects. More than two unjustified absences will result in early termination of the funding (by either students or supervisors). 
  • A written report (light-weight) will have to be submitted at the end of the project. 

For more information and inspiration, visit https://www.networkinstitute.org/academy-assistants.  

If you have any questions regarding this call or eligibility, please contact akademiestudent.fsw@vu.nl. 

We look forward to receiving your proposals!
NI Academy Team

VU Academy Assistants Proposal 2025-2026 

 

Download proposal template here.