Within the framework of Danish development assistance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark hereby invites applications for research grants related to development research.
1. Objectives of the support to development research
The objective of the support is to generate knowledge in order to promote the overall objective of the Danish development assistance to reduce poverty and support sustainable development.
Grants will be awarded to research projects generating new knowledge relevant to the needs and strategies of the developing countries and relevant to Denmark’s development assistance. Furthermore, it is important that the research contribute to the research capacity building in developing countries.
2. Research themes for 2011
The themes as described with each their headline should explicitly and to the greatest extent possible be addressed and accommodated in the application. The implication is that for Theme 1, the impact of the research proposed should explicitly be linked to the issue of Climate and Climate Change, while for Theme 2 the focus is on Economic Growth and for theme 3 on Fragile States and how the research proposed may contribute to an improved understanding of factors affecting peace and stability. The text following each theme provides indicative examples only.
In 2011, the following research themes are of particular interest to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because of their relevance to development.
Theme 1: Climate, energy and sustainable use of natural resources
It is generally recognized that poor communities in developing countries will be significantly affected by climate change and by global policies to mitigate effects in the near future. Temperature increases and altered patterns of rainfall, as well as extreme events, will have an influence on livelihoods, the sustainable use of natural resources and management strategies. At the same time, increasing access to energy in both cost effective and climate friendly ways is a major challenge for many developing countries.
Relevant research areas could include investigation of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Both socio-economic and ecological aspects of climate change could be targeted by studies. Areas of special interest are: i) analysis of climate change adaptation and mitigation in relation to improved management of natural resources. This may include climate friendly and sustainable increases in food, fiber and feed production and equitable policies and methods to preserve and increase carbon in soil and vegetation; ii) analysis of climate friendly energy production and consumption, with a particular view to e.g. the resource demands; the role played by small and medium sized private enterprises in the sector; the development of bio-fuels and related products; research into energy savings and the development and adoption of low emission, renewable energy technologies.
Theme 2: Economic growth, employment and property rights
Understanding the economic performance in many developing countries requires more knowledge about the role of the state and the private sector in fostering sustained pro-poor growth and development as well as improving capabilities of policy-making and implementation. What are the drivers of private sector development and which growth models are appropriate in different contexts? What drives entrepreneurs and how can their shift from the informal to the formal sector be supported? What are the specific constraints they face with regards to property rights, access to the financial sector, rule of law, etc?
Increasing agricultural productivity and development of agribusiness can play a significant role in economic growth and as driver of change. Agricultural and agribusiness development can also have an important influence on poverty reduction, including through creating jobs for young men and women. Again, the issue of property rights is key to promote productivity and investments.
Relevant areas of research could be how government support and maintain a framework for inclusive and sustained economic growth based on the private sector, including agriculture and agribusiness. Issues could include how governments can facilitate a better business environment, including regulatory services, property rights, commercial law and a stable and predictable investment climate, and how governments can promote access to financial services, skills development, appropriate technology and local and international markets. Research in development and adoption of production and market strategies to increase the financial revenue of small holders in the private sector in order to improve their livelihood is also of relevance in this context.
Theme 3: Fragile states, conflict and civil society
The fragility of states, civil society and livelihoods are issueswhich are closely interlinked and which in conflict and post-conflict situations constitute a huge challenge in the attempt to secure sustainable peace and stability, growth, and good governance, both in a national and regional context. This can be seen in African countries like Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, and in Asian countries such as Burma, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan, in the Middle East, and in The Palestinian Territories.
Applications may in conflict and post-conflict situations address the interrelatedness between state fragility, conflict and the role of civil society, taking a social, political and/or economic point of departure. Focus could be on positive and negative impacts on development issues of efforts to reconstitute political authority and legitimacy while defending rights and maintaining a certain level of service delivery within civil society. Such analysis would i.a. involve issues such as state formation, civil society, economic growth, human rights, poverty and social inequality. Similarly, issues related to migration, health care issues, livelihoods and strengthening community resilience in fragile states through disaster risk reduction may also be addressed.
3. Types of grants
Applications can only be submitted by an organisation, such as a governmental institution, business enterprise or private organisation in Denmark. The main applicant must be attached to the Danish organisation, which will be responsible for the approved project.
Applications must be:
Larger strategic research programmes (> DKK 5 million) with substantive elements of capacity building and with focus on national priorities and ownership in developing countries.
In addition, a limited number of individual PhD and post-doc applications covering a single researcher can be funded. In 2011 the amount available for individual research projects will be limited to around 10 mill. DKK and applicants applying for PhD grants are recommended to provide proof of co-funding arrangements.
All larger strategic research applications will to go through a prequalification process.
Deadline for prequalification applications for larger strategic projects will be Wednesday December 8, 2010 at 12.00 noon. The conclusions of the prequalification process will be known before the end of January 2011.
Deadline for larger strategic prequalified projects will be Friday March 18, 2011 at 12.00 noon.
Deadline for individual PhD and post-doc applications will be Friday February 11, 2011 at 12.00 noon.
Priority will be given to larger strategic research projects/programmes with joint collaboration between several Danish institutions and partners in the South and to applications where PhD educations and post-doc projects are incorporated into larger research programmes.
In the assessment of the quality of the applications, individual PhD and post-doc as well as larger strategic applications, the innovative nature of the research will be central.
For larger research projects, grant applications may generally be submitted for phases of 3-5 year durations.
PhD educations to students from partner countries can only be supported if they are part of a larger strategic project and are enrolled at an institution in their own country, as described in the guide to applicants.
4. Application requirements
Grants under theme 1 and 2 will only be awarded to research programmes with developing countries below the GNI threshold set by the World Bank (USD 2630 per capita 2009) and will primarily be awarded towards research in Danish partner countries.
Grants under theme 3 can also be awarded to non-partner countries but only to countries where Denmark supports other types of development activities.
The main applicant researcher (except for individual PhD applicants, see below) must at the time of submitting the application hold a PhD or equivalent qualification. Applications for individual PhD projects must have completed a Masters degree at the time of submitting the application.
The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has outsourced the administration of the support to development research to Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC). The requirements regarding the applications as well as the application procedure, formats and assessment criteria are described in the guide to applicants.
The application should be submitted electronically before the abovementioned deadlines to the Research Unit, Danida Fellowship Centre at email: research@dfcentre.dk.
Questions concerning the application procedures may also be directed to this e-mail address.
5. Assessment criteria
In assessing the applications, importance will be on the factors in the application requirements as described in guide to applicants. The FFU applies the 3 criteria used by the Danish Council for Strategic Research – 1) the quality of the research, 2) its relevance and 3) the potential effect of the research. The three criteria are more specified in the application guide.
6. Application processing
No later than three weeks after receipt of the application, the main applicant will receive an acknowledgement giving a schedule for the processing of the application.
Applications will be rejected without substantive consideration if the deadlines and requirements set out in this Call for Applications and guide are not met, including if the application form is not completed correctly or if supporting documents are missing, cf. § 4 (2) of Executive Order No. 864 of 27 August 2008 on the funding function of the Danish Council for Independent Research, the Danish Council for Strategic Research and the Danish Research Coordination Committee.
All eligible applications will be assessed by the Consultative Research Committee for Development Research.
Applications for pre-qualification will not be subject to an external reviewing process but will be assessed by the Consultative Research Committee for Development Research.
For prequalified larger strategic applications, external international reviewers will be used followed by part-consultation and they will be forwarded for evaluation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Larger strategic applications not being prequalified cannot apply again under this call as individual PhD or post-doc.
All applicants can expect to learn the outcome of their application within the third quarter of 2011, so that the funded projects can be initiated at the turn of the year 2011/2012.
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