The winner will organize a workshop at the Lorentz Center in Leiden and receive research software engineering support from the Netherlands eScience Center.
This year the focus is on:
Digital sovereignty in research
Modern research increasingly depends on infrastructure we don't control: cloud providers, publishing platforms, foundation models, subscriptions on terms that can change without notice. Open or public alternatives don't match the speed, scale, user-friendliness and continuity of the largest commercial providers, leaving many researchers caught between dependence and compromise. The result: a research ecosystem that's fragile, unreliable, and unsustainable.
This call treats digital sovereignty as a research and engineering challenge: what would a sovereign digital research landscape look like and what does it take to enable, build and sustain it — technically, methodologically, legally, ethically…?
What we seek:
- an innovative research problem that takes us beyond current boundaries
- a compelling need for eScience Center RSE expertise
- an open and interactive format, with few lectures
- at least one scientific organizer based within and one outside the Netherlands
- at least one scientific organizer from academia and one from the public/private sector
What we offer
- a 5-day workshop for up to 25 people in the period September – December 2027.
- research software engineering support, equivalent to appr. 400 hours
- travel and accommodation reimbursements
- no registration fees or other organizational costs
- professional organizational support, under the philosophy ‘you do the research, we do the rest’
Procedure
- Send a 1-page expression of interest to competition@lorentzcenter.nl by 25 October using the template
- Shortlist announced end of November
- Intake meeting early December with Lorentz Center & introduction of eScience Center RSE to clarify RSE involvement before, during and after the workshop
- Full proposal prepared using the Lorentz Center application instructions and templates:
- Lorentz Center workshop application instructions
- Template participant list
- Template budgetsheet
- Useful links: Inspiration document workshop program elements | Tips for constructing an online/hybrid workshop | Lorentz Center venues and facilities | Financial support | Diversity | Our guidelines on the use of Generative AI
- Submit full proposal via the Lorentz Center online application portal.
- Deadline: January 28, 2027
- Review process: full proposals reviewed by the relevant Lorentz Center scientific advisory boards.
- Final selection by the eScience Center and Lorentz Center directors
- Final decision: April 2027
More information FAQ Lorentz Center.
More information about working with the eScience Center and the funding conditions.
Contact
Peter Kalverla
Programme Officer, Netherlands eScience Center
open-calls@esciencecenter.nl
Tanja Uitbeijerse
Program coordinator, Lorentz Center
competition@lorentzcenter.nl
eScience Center - Lorentz Competition winners
2025
Beyond Models: Distributed AI Infrastructure as a Scientific Instrument
Azza Ahmed, TU Delft
Thomas Abeel, TU Delft
Raymond Oonk, SURF
Andrew Jones, Microsoft
Arnaud Renard, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, MesoNET federation
2024
Paradata in 3D Scholarship: Intellectual Transparency and Scholarly Argumentation in Digital Heritage
Isto Huvila, Uppsala University, Sweden
Trilce Navarete, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Netherlands
Costas Papadopoulos, Maastricht University, Netherlands
Vincent Rossi, The Smithsonian, US
Kira Zumkley, Victoria and Albert Museum, UK
and
Enriching Digital Heritage with Large Language Models (LLMs) and Linked Open Data (LOD)
Arno Bosse, The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands
Rossana Damiano, University of Turin, Italy
Leif Isaksen, University of Exeter, UK
Gethin Rees, British Library, UK
Tariq Yousef, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
2023
A Time Warp in Digital Chemical Discoveries
Titus van Erp, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Peter Bolhuis, University of Amsterdam
Rosa Bulo, Software for Chemistry & Materials
Roberto Covino, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
and
Modeling the Formation of Respiratory Aerosols
Chantal Darquenne, University of California
Stavros Kassinos, TU Delft
Stefan Hickel, TU Delft
Anna-Carin Olin, University of Gothenburg
Wilbur de Kruijf, Thaerapy BV
