Area of investment and support

Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP)

The Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) is a collaboration between humanities and social science research funders from South America, North America and Europe. It aims to enhance the ability of funders, research organisations and researchers to engage in transnational collaboration.

• Duration: 2013 onwards
• Partners involved: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

The scope and what we're doing

The Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) is a collaboration, on an unprecedented scale, between key humanities and social science funders from South America, North America, and Europe.

The platform underpins a truly transatlantic network of programme managers, and social sciences and humanities research councils and facilitators, with involvement across the Americas from Canada to the Southern Cone. The platform intends to expand to include more partners.

Why we're doing it

Major research funders in Europe and the Americas have partnered to pave the way for increased transatlantic research collaboration in the social sciences and humanities. This includes strengthening the pillars that support research cooperation and building new pillars to meet the needs of 21st century research. It includes broadening the bridges that connect research and removing the barriers that block transatlantic research projects from taking place.

The T-AP aims to enhance the ability of funders, research organisations and researchers to engage in transnational dialogue and collaboration. It works to identify common challenges and promote a culture of digital scholarship in social science and humanities research. It facilitates the formation of networks within the social sciences and humanities and helps connect them with other disciplines. It also strives to heighten awareness of the crucial role the social sciences and humanities play in addressing 21st century challenges.

Never before have research funders in Europe and the Americas embarked on a collaboration of this scale. Funded through the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (grant number 613167), the platform was formed in October 2013 and currently comprises 10 partners from Europe and eight from the Americas. It intends to expand its membership to further develop international research cooperation in the social sciences and humanities.

Opportunities, support and resources available

Find out more about current and past T-AP current funding opportunities on the T-AP website.

Past projects, outcomes and impact

The Trans-Atlantic Platform has funded projects in both social innovation and data.

Social innovation

The multinational and transatlantic projects funded under this opportunity are expected to both add to understandings of social innovation and deliver social innovation(s) through new research. Find out more about T-AP social innovation on the T-AP website.

Digging into data

The T-AP Digging into Data Challenge has been funding cutting-edge digital research in the humanities and social sciences since 2009. Now under the auspices of T-AP, the programme will support collaborative research teams from three continents:

• Europe – Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal (to be confirmed) and the UK
• North America – Canada, Mexico, the US
• South America – Brazil and Argentina.

The Digging into Data Challenge aims to address how big data changes the research landscape for the humanities and social sciences. Now that we have massive databases of materials available for research in the humanities and the social sciences, what new, computationally based research methods might we apply?

The databases of materials we have available include:

• digitised books, newspapers and music
• information generated by internet-based activities
• mobile communications
• administrative data from public agencies
• customer databases from private sector organisations.

As the world becomes increasingly digital, new techniques will be needed to search, analyse, and understand these materials. Digging into Data challenges the research community to help create the new research infrastructure for 21st-century scholarship.

Digging into Data is a grant programme sponsored by several leading research funders from around the world. Teams of researchers from at least two different participating countries send in grant applications. These applications are reviewed by an international peer review panel.

Find out about more successful awards on the Digging into Data website.

Who to contact

Ask a question about the T-AP

Email: Tapcoordination@esrc.ukri.org

Governance, management and panels

Find out more about the governance of the TA-P.

Last updated: 27 July 2023