East Asian Development Network (EADN)
Call for Proposals for Individual Research Grants
October 9, 2008

Call for Proposals

EADN provides financial support aimed at improving research capacity/quality and policy relevance through Individual Research Grants. These are awarded to individuals and research teams on a competitive basis. A new round of proposals for Individual Research Grants is now open. This Call for Proposal is being posted on the EADN website. It will also be circulated to EADN support institutions and researchers who will also help to circulate the Call as widely as possible to research organizations, universities, and researchers with whom they have contact.

The current call for proposal will be opened until November 28, 2008.

Topic and Eligibility

The grant is opened to research proposals covering topics in all of the Social Sciences. Preference will be given to topics which are development-oriented and policy-relevant.

Applications are restricted to researchers who are nationals and residents of the East Asian developing economies. Applications can be by individual researchers or by research teams. In the case of a proposal by a research team, the team may contain researchers who are non-nationals or non-residents in the East Asian developing economies though this is not encouraged. However, such researchers must form a minor part of the team and the team leader must be a national and resident of the East Asian developing economies. As part of research capacity building, joint research proposals by senior and junior researchers are encouraged. Those who are currently studying for a degree are not eligible to be an applicant whether individually or as part of a team.

Size of Research Grant

The amount of the research grant varies depending on the scope of the research subject, complexity of the research methodology including data acquisitions and field work to collect primary data, length of time required to complete the research (not more than 12 months) and the number of researchers involved. In general, the grant will range from US$ 7,500 to a maximum of US$ 20,000.

Selection Process and Criteria

The selection will be based on the originality, quality and the policy relevance of the topic. A good mix of topics covering the range of Social Sciences, capacity building concerns and the cost effectiveness of the proposed research will also be relevant considerations. Also, preference will be given to those that have not recently received an EADN research grant.

Once a proposal has been submitted, the selection process will go through a number of steps as follows.

1) The Country Coordinator of the economy that is the focus of the research (or of the proposed project leader) will be asked to make a quick check within the country of the originality of the proposed research topic (or question) and its policy relevance to the country to make sure that the proposed research has the potential to generate useful new knowledge. The focus at this step is not on the quality of the research in terms of methodology and the ability to answer the question addressed, but simply on whether other researches covering similar topics have been or are being carried out. The Country Coordinator will use his/her contacts with colleagues familiar with the field of the proposed research to get the information.

In the case where the proposed research comes from researchers associated with the Country Coordinator’s organization, another senior researcher familiar with research in the country will be sought to perform this role instead.

The Regional Coordinator will use these information as well as other relevant information to decide whether the research topic is worth pursuing.

2) If the proposed research topic is judged to have the potential to generate useful new knowledge in step 1, then the proposal will be sent for technical review by a member of the EADN Research Advisory Panel (RAP), the Regional Coordinator and other senior researchers as selected by the Regional Coordinator. The review at this stage will be mainly on the technical merits of the proposal in terms of the clarity of the question(s) being addressed, the research design, and the ability of the proposed methodology to answer the question(s).

The Regional Coordinator will make the final decision on approving the project and the grant level based on the recommendations of the reviewers, the scope of the project and the funding available.

In some cases, for capacity building purposes, one of the RAP may be assigned to be the Advisor of the project. The Advisor provides advice to the research team for improvement of the study through the various stages of the project.

The research will normally be presented at the EADN Annual Forum or some other EADN meetings to elicit comments and suggestions from the wider EADN membership. The completed research studies are published on-line as EADN Working Papers. Researchers are also encouraged to submit their research for publication and to disseminate their research results to policy makers in their countries. In cases where the research findings are judged to have particularly important topical policy implications, EADN may provide additional funding for the organization of a dissemination seminar to policy makers, academia and other interested parties.

Submission

Proposals should contain at least the followings.

• A clear statement of the research question to be addressed and the significance and policy relevance of the research.
• A brief review of the literature to indicate what is currently known about the research question together with the relevant bibliography.
• The methodology to be used to answer the research question including the analytical framework, data to be used and methods of analyses.
• The research team together with brief CV’s and an explanation of the appropriateness of the research team for this particular research.
• The length of time required to complete the research (not more than 12 months).
• A detailed budget breakdown of the main cost components of the project. (Note that the grant cannot be used to purchase capital equipments such as computers etc.)
• The proposal should be preceded by a one page summary indicating the research question to be addressed, the novelty, significance and policy relevance of the research, the methodology to be used, the research team and qualifications and the proposed budget.

The proposal must also be accompanied by a letter of approval from the head(s) of the organization(s) that the research team member(s) belong to (e.g. university faculty, research organization etc.).

Proposals can be submitted between now and November 28, 2008. Proposals should be sent as e-mail attachments to Dr. Chalongphob Sussangkarn (EADN Regional Coordinator) at chalongp@tdri.or.th, with copies to Ms. Kwanjai Lekagul at kwanjai@tdri.or.th

Proposals can also be mailed to

Dr. Chalongphob Sussangkarn
Thailand Development Research Institute
565 Soi Ramkhamhaeng 39
Wangthonglang District
Bangkok 10310
Thailand