Message: 2
Date: Mon, 06 May 2002 20:40:22 +0200
From: Florian Bieber <bieber@policy.hu>
Subject: CfAERGE GDN Social Science Research Grants for SEE


CERGE-EI Announces Research Competition

CERGE-EI, with financial support provided by the World Bank through the
Global Development Network and additional funding provided by the
Government
of Austria for the South-East European region, announces a research
competition in all fields of the social sciences. Proposals are invited
from
economists, demographers, political scientists, sociologists, and other
social scientists. Projects with a significant commercial aspect or
that
propose funding the distribution of previous results (such as book
preparation) rather than original research are explicitly excluded.
Projects
from the South East European region will be administered in conjunction
with
the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW).
Proposals
must be postmarked by 15 July 2002.

For the 2002 competition, the sponsors have identified the following
priority areas of research. While funding for research in other areas
will
be provided, projects in these areas will receive priority:

I. Enterprise Development and Behavior
II. Labor Markets
III. EU Accession including Euro Adoption
IV. Globalization including Regional and International Economic
Policy
Coordination
V. The Reform Process
VI. Education including Educational Policy, Reform, Funding and
Outcomes

Area VI. has received additional financial support from the World
Bank's
Development Grants Facility and, therefore, it is anticipated that an
especially large number of projects will be funded in this area.

Funding Details


* Maximum funding will be US $20,000 although it is expected that the
vast
majority of grants awarded will be for substantially smaller amounts.
The
median grant awarded to start in January 2002 was approximately US
$12,000.
Grants must begin no later than 31 December 2002 and end no later than
31
December 2003.

* Applicants must be residents of any of the following countries:
Albania,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Former
Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, or Yugoslav Federation. Applicants must be resident
for
the substantial majority of each year in the country from which they
are
applying although they may be of any nationality or citizenship.
Graduate
students now outside of the region are encouraged to collaborate with
current residents but will not be considered residents unless they
provide
credible evidence of an intention to return to Central Europe after
completion of their degrees. An example of such evidence would be a
binding
labor contract with an employer granting leave for study.

* Applications may be submitted by individuals or teams of
researchers. In
the latter case, at least 50% of the researchers must be residents of
eligible countries. No grant funds may be used to pay compensation to
non-residents. Grant funds may, however, be used to pay travel and
other
direct costs required to enable participation by non-residents if such
participation serves a clear scientific purpose. No applicant can
submit or
be a part of more than one proposal. Formal application must be made by
an
institution with which the applicant is affiliated and that will
administer
funds if awarded. No funds may be paid directly to individuals.
Examples of
eligible institutions include Universities, Research Institutes or
Non-Profit Organizations. Administrating institutions may charge no
more
than 10% of the total grant as overhead.

* Funds will be released one-third upon award of the grant, one-third
upon
receipt of a progress report at the mid-point of the grant and
one-third
upon receipt of final deliverables from the grant. Where this schedule
would
result in a serious hindrance to the proposed research, the applicant
may
petition for funds to be released on a different schedule after award
of the
grant. Final deliverables must include at least one formal research
paper
that has been submitted to an international peer-reviewed journal.
Proof of
submission will be required.

* All successful applicants must agree to come to Prague to present a
seminar on the completed work at CERGE-EI's expense if requested.

* In addition we anticipate smaller workshops involving recipients in
the
various thematic areas held either at CERGE-EI or WIIW in order to
facilitate development of links across researchers.


Proposal Submission


* Eight (8) complete printed copies of all proposals must be
submitted. In
addition, all materials should be included on a diskette in WordPerfect
(.wpd), Word (.rtf or .doc) or Acrobat (.pdf) format. All proposals
must be
submitted in English.

* Proposals must be postmarked by 15 July 2002 and sent by the fastest
practical method of delivery. The mailing address is:

GDN 2002 Research Competition, CERGE-EI, Politickych veznu 7, 111 21
Prague
1, Czech Republic


* In order to ensure against postal problems, when a proposal is sent,
an
e-mail indicating that it should be expected should be sent to:
research.competition@cerge-ei.cz. Proposals must, however, be submitted
in
hard copy and on diskette. No e-mail submissions will be accepted.



Proposals must include the following seven components:


1. A cover sheet clearly specifying the project title, thematic area
addressed from list of priorities if any, names of principal
researchers,
e-mail contact addresses (very important - e-mail will be used for
follow-up
requests and questions).

2. An abstract of no more than 200 words outlining the significance
of the
research and the methodology to be used.

3. A research proposal of no more than ten (10) doubled-spaced pages
showing sufficient familiarity with the topic and methodology to
provide
confidence in the project's successful completion.

4. A bibliography of relevant literature.

5. CVs of all participating researchers.

6. A budget showing expenses in all categories. While the categories
will
vary from grant to grant, they should, where applicable, include as a
minimum:

* Salaries and other compensation for the grantee(s) (including
payroll
taxes and fringe benefits); Salaries and other compensation for
research
assistants and clerical personnel (including payroll taxes and fringe
benefits); English Editing Fees; Grant related travel; Equipment
Purchases;
Data and software purchases; Materials, supplies, telecommunications
charges; Institutional Overhead.

7. A letter signed by a responsible officer of the sponsoring
institution
agreeing to administer the grant.


Proposal Review Process


Applications will be screened to ensure that they fall within the terms
of
reference for proposals. All qualified proposals will receive a minimum
of
three external reviews. Anonymous reviewers' comments will be shared
with
applicants after the final selection of grants to be funded. Final
selection
will be made by an independent panel of senior scholars into
consideration
the external reviews along with the evaluation criteria enumerated
below.


Evaluation Criteria


The primary criterion will be the scientific merit of the proposed
research.
Scientific merit will be evaluated based on:

* Clarity of the proposed research question.
* Originality (preference will be given to projects that develop new
methodologies or use the transition experience to obtain new insights
into
fundamental questions rather than those that call for mechanistic
application of conventional techniques to new data).
* Use of the most modern and appropriate techniques.
* Competence of the principle investigator(s).


Other things equal, preference will be given to projects that:


* Are relevant to current policy concerns and interests of the World
Bank,
broadly defined. For an overview of the types of research of interest
to the
bank, please see http://econ.worldbank.org.
* Are cost effective. Smaller proposals will receive priority over
larger
ones in order to increase the number of projects that can be funded.
* Request funds for direct research expenses rather than income
augmentation (i.e. could not be undertaken without the proposed grant).
It
is recognized, however, that low academic incomes often mean that
scholars
in the transition economies must supplement their base salaries from
other
sources including research grants and that grant support may facilitate
research output by enabling scholars to substitute scholarly for
non-academic activity (such as corporate consulting).
* Promote cooperation between residents of eligible countries and
scholars
from those countries who currently reside elsewhere (including advanced
graduate students).
* Increase the geographic, disciplinary, ethnic, gender, or other
diversity
of funded proposals.
* Expand the pool of research-active scholars in the region.

Questions and inquiries may be addressed to:
research.competition@cerge-ei.cz



notice released 18 April 2002