The Call for Regional Research Projects in the Field of Social Sciences, Western Balkans

Deadline: 31 March 2012
Open to: Researchers and institutions from and residing in the Western Balkans
Grant: 75,000 CHF up to 150,000 CHF

Description

The Regional Research Promotion Programme (RRPP) Western Balkans, launched in 2007, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), is aimed at establishing and strengthening research capacities in the field of social sciences in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The RRPP provides funding to researchers from the region conducting relevant research projects.
The RRPP Management, hosted at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, is launching a call for regional research project proposals; open to both researchers and institutions from and residing in the Western Balkans.
The research topics to be submitted should be relevant to transitional themes while addressing and analysing specific issues under investigation from a social science perspective. Furthermore, the proposals must fit into the regional umbrella topic, “Political, Social and Economic Change in the Western Balkans.” This includes the following priority areas:

Beyond ethnicity:

• Social and economic change and the challenges of (new) social disparities
• States, networks and informality

Funding Scheme

1. Funding of up to 75’000 CHF for the initial 12-month period for regional projects including research teams from at least two countries.
2. Funding of up to 100’000 CHF for the initial 12-month period for regional projects including research teams from at least three countries.
3. Funding of up to 125’000 CHF for the initial 12-month period for regional projects including research teams from at least four countries.
4. Funding of up to 150’000 CHF for the initial 12-month period for regional projects including research teams from at least five and up to 6 countries.

The funding will contribute to cover costs for honoraria, equipment and field work, access to knowledge and international conferences, international and regional cooperation and networking, improvement of methods and training, mentoring by internationally recognised researchers, publishing and promotion.
Funding is provided for projects with a timeframe of  12 consecutive months.
Submitting several applications is permissible; each application will be judged according to its individual merits.

Eligibility

Both researchers and institutions from Western Balkans are welcome to apply for the funding.

Evaluation criteria:
– Scientific quality (elaboration of research question, methods and research plan are the most important components);
– Relevance and link to the RRPP research topics;
– Feasibility;
– Innovation;
– Regional dimension (cooperation and networking), alignment with relevant initiatives for changes (regional, European, other);
– Coherence of proposed topic with research already conducted at home institution;
– Scientific competence of the applicants (scientific record);
– Involvement of both young and female researchers;
– Sound financial management capacities and adherence to good governance principles (accountability, efficiency, non-discrimination, participation, transparency).

Application

The official application form must be used to submit research proposals by the deadline of 31 March 2012. All documents (application form, CVs, annexes, etc.) need to be submitted as one PDF file to the RRPP Management to: office@rrpp-westernbalkans.net and rrpp@unifr.ch (for security reasons, please use both addresses). For any queries or additional information, please use the office e-mail: office@rrpp-westernbalkans.net.

Selection timeframe
– 31 March 2012: Deadline to submit research proposals
– June 2012: Final decision of the Scientific and Steering Boards
– June 2012: Contracting and final negotiations
– July2012: Start of approved research projects

Contacts

The Official Website