AUDACE Program, fall 2018 (2019-2020)

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

General objective

The objective of the AUDACE program is to support bold research that offers a departure from traditional approaches. For the purposes of this program, “bold” refers to the ability of the researchers and their project to go beyond the existing paradigms of their respective scientific cultures and fields of research – theories, practices, hypotheses, methods, and even modes of thought. The FRQ also wish to encourage innovative research proposals with a high potential to transform and to produce considerable impacts, regardless of their nature (scientific, social, economic, technological, cultural, aesthetic…).

Specific objectives

More specifically, through this program, the FRQ aim to:

• Foster intersectoral networking by funding research projects at the crossroads of disciplines and sectors;
• Provide funding for projects considered risky because of their boldness and which, due to their intersectoral nature, do not fall within the scope of the regular funding programs offered by each of the three Fonds de recherche.

By “intersectoral networking”, the FRQ are referring to a research and collaboration approach which, in order to shed new light on common or shared research issues, brings together researchers from disciplinary fields or research practices from at least two of the three major sectors covered by the Fonds to work on a research topic, problem, method or question. We are talking about going beyond the simple combination or juxtaposition of several disciplines and sectors (or even the instrumentalization of one discipline or sector by another) to resolve a problem or tackle a research topic. From an intersectoral perspective, disciplines and sectors must firmly engage in a joint, co-created “research approach” whose mode of operation lies outside of the hierarchization of fields of knowledge.

Detailed Program Description