Universities Canada has launched a new round of funding through the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships - Advanced Scholars (QES-AS) Program.
The program will support projects in West Africa that will inform progress on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with preference given to proposals that focus on or integrate SDG 5 (gender equality). Canadian universities are invited to submit multi-year project proposals seeking funding up to $300,000 to support specialized training and/or research activities for doctoral researchers, post-doctoral researchers and early career researchers from Canada and West Africa.
For further details, please see the competition guidelines.
This recent call builds on the QES programs launched in 2014 and 2017 as well as the Advanced Scholars program launched in 2016. The University has been successful in obtaining four funded proposals in these prior competitions. In this round, universities can only submit one proposal.
Those interested in putting forward an expression of interest (EOI), or contributing to an EOI that might include other units on campus, are invited to join UAI for a virtual roundtable discussion on September 10, 2020 at 1:00 pm.
Please note you are not required to attend this meeting, but it will provide an opportunity to learn more about the program and engage in discussions on potential cross-faculty collaborations. If you are free to attend the meeting, please contact Trevor Buckle at: trevor.buckle@ualberta.ca.
Final EOI should be submitted to UAI no later than September 25, 2020 at 4:00 pm. Please ensure the expression of interest addresses the following:
- Geographic focus of project (See Annex B of the QES-AS guidelines).
- Brief overview of the project outlining how it supports the UN SDG 5 (gender equality) as well as the specific area(s) of focus detailed in section 3 (General Criteria) of the guidelines.
- The QES goals of leadership development and community engagement and how the EOI aligns with the QES logic model as outlined in Annex A of the guidelines.
- Who will be involved from University of Alberta.
- Partner organizations (international and Canadian) the project will work with and the length of time or past experience you have working with these partners.
- Which of the two components (outgoing Canadian or incoming international researchers) will the project include? If the project will include both components, indicate the percentage of activity that will support projects for Canadian researchers and what percentage will be for international researchers.
- Estimated value of the project (maximum funds available from the funder is $300K). Does the project seek the full value of the funds available?
- Estimated contribution. What in-kind or direct contributions will be contributed to the overall project? Note the expectation is that the University and partner organizations will match the $300K with in-kind or cash contributions.
EOI will be reviewed by a selection committee the week of September 28 and one proposal will be developed for submission to Universities Canada by October 26, 2020. Depending on the submissions received, this might be the selection of one project to develop into a full proposal or a combination of projects. In selecting the University proposal to move forward, the selection committee will give favourable consideration to interdisciplinary or cross faculty proposals.
Questions and submissions should be sent to:
Trevor Buckle
University of Alberta International
Interested individuals seeking advice in preparing an expression of interest or identifying potential partners are also invited to contact Trevor. Thank you for sharing this call with interested members of the UAlberta community.