OPERAS

The collaboration between OPERAS and wemakeit explores crowdfunding as a tool to foster a dialogue between research in the SSH and society at large and to showcase projects that strive for a more human and social world. It’s a great way to get in touch with European researchers from disciplines in the Social Sciences and Humanities, get a glimpse behind the scenes of how they conduct their studies and find out why they love their research so much. We believe crowdfunding is the ideal tool for researchers to communicate their passion, broaden their audience and get financial support.

When launching a project, you will not only be supported by the experts from wemakeit, but you will also benefit from the expertise of the OPERAS community. This international community is made up of other researchers and research organisations from the Social Sciences and Humanities, scientific publishers, librarians and passionate citizens! You can find out more about the OPERAS Research Infrastructure, its mission and goals, and the community here: https://www.operas-eu.org/.

We want to empower both early career and advanced researchers who want to reach out and promote their work in the Social Sciences and Humanities. It gives creative and curious minds, within and outside academic institutions, a chance to raise their own funds to test unconventional ideas and to pursue their dreams.

Unlike the OPERAS channel, the Science Booster is addressed to both researchers and citizens planning to undertake a scientific project, and it supports projects in all scientific areas beyond those covered by the OPERAS channel, i.e. not just the SSH domain. The Science Booster is, however, only open to people based in Switzerland, while the OPERAS channel is open to all researchers with an affiliation to the European Research Area (ERA).

When submitting your project to wemakeit, you must specify that you wish to participate in the program by choosing the OPERAS channel. The wemakeit crowdfunding experts will give you feedback and tips, and help you plan a successful campaign. The OPERAS Research Infrastructure will guarantee the quality of your project as it will have been successfully evaluated by a scientific committee before being added to the OPERAS channel. OPERAS will also support you by communicating about your project and offering many opportunities to become part of this community yourself so that you can expand your personal network. For instance, we may invite you to talk about your project at OPERAS events.

No. Any researcher with a Social Sciences and Humanities project can apply, independent of an institutional affiliation. However, if you are not affiliated with an European Research Area (ERA) university or other research institution, your place of domicile must be in a country of the ERA.

As long as there is no legal or ethical issue with the project, any research topic in the Social Sciences and Humanities will be considered by the OPERAS evaluation committee. We however reserve the right to reject projects that we believe are not aligned with our values.

The European project MORESS (Mapping Research Expertise in the European Social Sciences and Humanities, 2003–2005) defined 27 categories: Biological anthropology, Social Anthropology and ethnology, Archaeology and prehistory, Architecture and space management, Art and art history, Classical studies, Demography, Law, Economies and finances, Education, Environmental studies, Gender studies, Geography, Management, History, philosophy and sociology of sciences, History, Communication sciences, Linguistics, Literature, Cultural heritage and museology, Musicology and performing arts, Philosophy, Psychology, Religions, Political science, Sociology, Methods and statistics. Click here to find the list of disciplines.

The campaign goal can be unlimited. In the past, researchers have raised anything from EUR 1,000 to EUR 150,000 on wemakeit - it is up to you to decide how much you need, and how much support you think you can find. Wemakeit will advise you on how realistic the amount is, given your specific target audiences.

Yes. wemakeit is a reward-based crowdfunding platform. If you run your campaign with OPERAS, our experts will help you build a community, choose your rewards and communicate with your supporters after the campaign has ended.