IDRC support opportunities for students

IDRC support opportunities for students

There are opportunities for funding/ internships available for doctoral and master's students provided by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada:

  1. The IDRC Evaluation Research Awards
  2. The Bentley Cropping Systems Fellowship
  3. The IDRC Internship awards
  4. Ecohealth Program- IDRC

IDRC Evaluation Research Awards (2 awards per year) applications will be accepted for research on evaluation at the doctoral and master's level that focus on the themes of development or use of innovative evaluation methodologies; evaluation capacity building; or development or use of evaluation processes for organizational learning.

Applicants must meet the following conditions for eligibility:

  • Hold Canadian citizenship or permanent residency status in Canada, or hold a citizenship of a developing country;
  • Be registered at a Canadian university or a recognized university in a developing country;
  • Research proposal is for a doctoral or master's thesis and has been approved by the thesis supervisor;
  • Provide evidence of affiliation with an institution or organization in the region in which the research will take place;
  • For doctoral candidates, completed course work and passed comprehensive examinations by the time of award tenure. For master's students, must have completed course work.

Award tenure corresponds to the period of field research in a developing country. In general, this will be no less than three months and no more than 12 months.

The award will cover justifiable field research expenses to a maximum of $20,000 per year. Candidates may apply for a renewal of funding for a second year of fieldwork if the nature of the research requires a second season of data collection. Renewals will be the exception.

Deadline: Applications must be received by January 15, 2007.

Awards will be announced in March 15, 2007.

Applications will be evaluated according to criteria, such as relevance to sustainable and equitable development and to IDRC priorities, quality of the research proposal and suitability of the candidate.

Re-applicants must explain, in a covering letter, what changes have been made since the last application and specify where to find the changes in the proposal. Please note that Centre policy stipulates that an individual cannot apply more than twice, if unsuccessful, for the same IDRC award.

More information at: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-86762-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

The Bentley Cropping Systems Fellowship seeks research on cropping system changes that will lead to: sustainable and increased crop yields; production of more and improved animal feed; improved soil and water conservation; improved weed control, and/or biological fixation of nitrogen. Projects should be planned and executed in cooperation with an international agricultural research centre, or with a developing-country institution involved in agricultural research that has an applied on-farm orientation.

The proposal must present plans for on-farm experiments on small-holder farms that have potential to improve the lives of farming households, and to preserve or improve crops yields.

Applicants must be Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada, or citizens of a developing country who are currently enrolled full-time in a graduate program (Master's, doctoral, post-doctoral) at a recognized university in Canada or in a developing country for the duration of the award period.

Proposals must focus on very simple cropping systems research that can benefit smallholder farmers in developing countries, especially rural women farmers.

Applicants must use simple experiments executed by cooperating farmers under guidance by the researchers (see details about the location of individual on-farm experiments), and conduct their research with the active participation of the farmers, including women farmers. This requires that farmers be involved in all stages of the experiment on their land, including all the stages of land preparation, seeding, and harvesting.

Research proposals must include details of the comparisons envisioned between the traditional cropping practice of cooperating farmers and the side-by-side alternative cropping practice, which must include some type of leguminous crop or plant. Please consult the attached diagram that shows how a simple on-farm experiment might be compared to either one or two alternative cropping systems. Thus, experiments must compare crop yields from traditional unicrop practice with yields of the same crop combined with some kind of leguminous plant grown either simultaneously with the traditional crop, or perhaps in some cases, grown before the traditional crop is planted.

Similar experiments executed in rural school gardens, conducted with the help and advice of the Fellowship holder, and with the participation of both students and teachers, are also encouraged.

The research procedures must include extensive dissemination of the research results. Smallholder farmers, including rural women farmers, should be the major focus of such publicity:

  • The results should be presented in formats that can reach the various stakeholders, such as field days, farmer visits, briefs for policy-makers;
  • Dissemination will actively involve farmers, extension workers, local development initiatives, and agricultural organizations by addressing other smallholder farmers, especially rural women farmers;
  • The publicity should include farmers' visits and farmer-to-farmer teaching and learning.

The applicant must:

  • Provide evidence that a large part, or all of the research, will be carried out on the farms of resource poor or smallholder farmers. The award will not support research carried out on the farms of large land holders or on research stations;
  • Provide evidence that farmers will actively participate in the experiments. Thus, the development of simple on-farm experimental designs with appropriate controls to determine the practicality and profitability of introducing a leguminous crop in their cropping system is essential;
  • Scholarship applicants must provide explanations of how they will make the frequent trips from the 'home base' to the villages of the cooperating farmers. This is essential for successful execution of on-farm tests;
  • Explain how the research data was collected and how the introduction of leguminous plants in their cropping systems is expected to improve the economic benefits to farmers;

Applicants should suggest anticipated benefits/improvements and sustainability of their proposal.

Applicants must provide evidence that he/she is or will be supported by local institutions that have a good working relationship with target communities, farmers and/or extension agencies; indicate that he/she will seek cooperation, help and support from the local 'extension officers' and/or NGOs in the identification of individual farmers who are likely to be suitable and cooperative.

Deadline: October 1, 2008 (awards will be announced by mid-December 2008).

Applications:

A letter of support must be included in the application package from a legally recognized institution in the country of research with whom the applicant will be affiliated. This letter must endorse the proposal, confirm the locale of work, and outline the types of institutional support they will provide to the student. The letter must specifically include details of transportation arrangements to experimental plots. The applicant's host research institution will be expected to certify that the research protocol has been reviewed by a qualified statistician and that it meets an internationally high standard, in terms of experimental and survey designs.

Applicants are encouraged to contact member institutions of The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) to explore the possibility of conducting their research in conjunction with one of the member institutions.

Applications will be evaluated according to IDRC priorities and criteria, such as relevance to sustainable and equitable development, as well as quality of the research proposal and suitability of the candidate.

More information at:
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-23379-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

IDRC Internship awards (approximately 14 awards) provide exposure to research for international development through a program of training in research management and grant administration under the guidance of IDRC program staff. The internship is designed to provide hands-on learning experiences in research program management - in the creation, dissemination and utilization of knowledge from an international perspective.

The intern will undertake a program of research on the topic submitted when competing for the internship award, and will be trained in the techniques of research management through hands-on experience with the center's policies and practices for grant administration under the mentorship of a program officer(s).

Internships will be considered for a program of training and research responding to IDRC's research priorities. IDRC's research activities focus on four areas: Social and Economic Policy; Environmental and Natural Resource Management; Information and Communication Technologies for Development; Innovation, Policy and Science.

The intern will undertake a program of research on the topic submitted when competing for the internship during a part (often around 50 percent) of their time and will be trained in the techniques of research management through hands-on work experience with their chosen program's programming and practices. They will work under the mentorship of a program officer(s).

Internships are tenable for a minimum of four months and a maximum of 12 months at IDRC headquarters in Ottawa or in a Regional Office. Developing-country nationals residing in their home country (or another country) must hold their internships in the appropriate regional office.

Interns doing their internship in Canada will receive a salary in a range from CA$34,814 to CA$40,302 per year, depending on qualifications and experience. They will be considered as full-time term employees of the center. Benefits include contributions to employment insurance, employer health tax and the Canada Pension Plan and 4 percent in lieu of vacation leave. Some travel and research expenses will also be supported, up to a maximum of CA$10,000. The salary range and benefits for interns located in the regional offices will vary according to regional conditions. No allowance for relocation is provided.

The program is aimed at candidates who, through demonstrated achievements in academic studies, work or research, have shown interest in the creation and utilization of knowledge from an international perspective. Candidates can be Canadians, permanent residents, or citizens of developing countries, who are either currently registered in a Master's Program or have completed a Master's Degree. Candidates need not be affiliated with an institution. They may participate in internships as part of an academic requirement.

IDRC staff will review the applications and select successful candidates.

Deadline: 12 September 2007 (awards to be announced by the end of November 2007).

Commencement of awards: January 2008.

More information at: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-84370-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

The Ecohealth Program- IDRC Program is to build the capacity of researchers so they become capable of designing and carrying out Ecohealth research that is transdisciplinary and participatory, engages multiple stakeholders and addresses gender and social equity analysis.

Examples of activities to fulfill this objective include supporting:

  • Targeted training on transdiciplinarity (including leadership and teamwork skills), multi-stakeholder participation and gender and social equity analysis for partners, including NGOs, CBOs and local government officials. Training courses aim to maximize the use of expertise from past IDRC investments in the South on these topics.
  • Cross-project learning: the aim of these regional workshops is to connect different projects to enable research teams to share and learn from one another and benefit from a peer review process in place from the start. These smaller workshops will feed into a larger conference, the second Ecohealth Forum in 2009.
  • Short course-workshops conducted by Southern institutes on Ecohealth approaches: training themes and venues are reviewed with collaborating Southern institutions (e.g. INSP in Mexico, Fiocruz in Brazil). Strategies seek to balance classroom work with field experience opportunities for participating research teams. These workshop courses in Ecohealth are part of the COPEH in LAC, SSA, and MENA. Similar activities are also planned for Asia.
  • Targeted support to young researchers from Canada and developing countries: the funding of Ecohealth Awards continues to support thesis-related field research that includes a one-week training course. The course allows recipients to become acquainted with the basic principles of Ecohealth research, and advance their thesis research design accordingly. In addition, funding within research projects is available for the training of young researchers, allowing them to develop the specific expertise and skills needed by the projects, and to apply these skills within a transdisciplinary context.

More information at: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-85672-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html