ResearchAnnouncement

URC travel calls, multimillion-pound Earthshot Prize, important NRF funding notice, RDP news, and more

22 October 2020

Dear colleagues

Please note, all new funding opportunities will be announced in this newsletter and can be found on the current funding opportunities page of the Research Support Hub.

In this newsletter:


Funding opportunities

Visit the current funding opportunities page on the Research Support Hub to view all open funding opportunities.

Three ad hoc URC travel calls
Deadline: 1 December 2020

  • URC Travel Conference
    This ad hoc call is open to conferences taking place between October 2020 and 30 June 2021. Preference will be given to applications that also allow for virtual participation in case of travel restrictions. More information available here. Contact Jacqueline Sylvester with your queries. 

  • URC Visiting Scholars Fund/Visiting Lecturer’s Fund
    The purpose of the Visiting Scholars Fund (VSF) grant is to bring eminent academics from outside South Africa to UCT, whereas the purpose of the Visiting Lecturers Fund (VLF) is to bring to UCT eminent academics, who are based abroad or who are already in South Africa on other business to UCT. This could include eminent academics, who are employed at other educational institutions within South Africa. More information available here. Contact Zam Ndzotyana with your queries. 

  • URC Short Research Visit/Short Research Course
    This ad hoc call is for applications for international travel/virtual participation between November 2020 and June 2021. More information available here. Contact Amanda Raman with your queries. 

Launch of the multimillion-pound Earthshot Prize

On 6 October 2020, Prince William launched The Earthshot Prize, a prestigious global environment prize that is centred around five ‘Earthshots’ – simple but ambitious goals, underpinned by scientifically agreed targets, which if achieved by 2030 will improve life for generations to come. Between 2021 and 2030, five one-million-pound prizes will be awarded each year, providing at least 50 solutions to the world's greatest environmental problems. 

The five Earthshots are:

  • Protect and restore nature
  • Clean our air
  • Revive our oceans
  • Build a waste-free world
  • Fix our climate

Nominations will open on 1 November 2020. 

Visit the website to learn more and sign up to their newsletter for updates. 


Important funding notice to NRF grant holders

With the current funding cuts that the National Research Foundation (NRF) is experiencing, we strongly urge all grant holders to spend their 2020 funding timeously and validly. The NRF has always stated in its guideline document that the carry forward of unspent funds is never guaranteed, and in light of the current funding challenges, it is quite possible that access to unspent funds in 2021 could become an issue.

Therefore, please do try and spend all your funds if possible, so that we rely as little as possible on funds being carried forward into 2021.

If you have queries, please liaise with your senior finance officer in Central Research Finance.


Webinar about Green Deal call: Accelerating the green transition and energy access partnership with Africa

Monday 26 October 2020, 09:00–10:30

On 18 September, the European Commission launched the €1 billion Horizon 2020 European Green Deal call for research and innovation projects that respond to the climate crisis and help protect Europe’s unique ecosystems and biodiversity.

The EU Delegation to the African Union is inviting researchers to a webinar on 26 October to answer questions about the specific call: ‘Accelerating the green transition and energy access partnership with Africa’.

Find out more here. 

Click here to register for the webinar. 


Launch of the Worldwide Universities Network Early Career Researcher programme

UCT is a member of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), which comprises 23 universities across the globe. As a research network it aims to foster research collaboration through various means. One of these is the new Early Career Researcher (ECR) programme aimed at researchers who are either in the final year of their PhD (or equivalent) programme or within five years of having been awarded the degree. The objectives of the ECR programme are the following:

  • to fill a critical gap by providing ECRs with practical opportunities to build their international research networks;

  •  to introduce sustainable development as an opportunity area for ECRs to pursue collaboratively; and

  • to create thematic opportunities to network, establish joint projects, and create impact on a global scale.

Find out more about the ERC programme here. 

Programme launch: You are invited to the launch of the ERC programme on Wednesday 28 October at 13:00. Professor Jeffrey Sachs (President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Chair of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission) will be the guest speaker at the event. Register here.


Register now for the annual research symposium and research function

In case you missed the latest DVC Desk, the UCT research community is invited to the annual research symposium and research function in November, which will be presented virtually this year.

Research symposium – 5 November 2020

The annual research symposium, “Rethink the PhD in Africa and the Global South”, will start with a series of pre-event workshops, run in partnership with the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking (d-school at UCT). The outcomes of these workshops will feed into the Research Symposium on 5 November and serve as important inputs for further discussion on the day. 

Your contribution will be crucial. As we prepare for Vision 2030, and rethink many fundamental aspects of how we do things at UCT, we want you to help us position the future of postgraduate studies.

Register here for the workshops and/or the symposium.

Research function – 12 November 2020

At this year’s virtual Research Function, we will introduce you to the new Executive Director of the Research Office, Dr Linda Mtwisha, and answer these questions: How has UCT research fared over the last year? What were some of the highlights? And what does the next year hold for us all? We will also launch the annual publications Research Highlights 2019/20 (including a special section on COVID-19 research at UCT) and eResearch Report 2019/20.

Register here for the research function


UCT joins the Digital Preservation Coalition

On 1 October 2020, UCT joined the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC), a global community that seeks to secure the preservation of digital resources internationally in order to safeguard the global digital memory and knowledge base for the future.

Joining the global community of the DPC enables UCT to make significant, lasting contributions to relevant Sustainable Development Goals in Africa, which rely on perpetual access to trusted scientific and cultural data. It also opens the doors to a global community of experts who are eager to assist with developing skills for which there are currently virtually no training opportunities in Southern Africa.

The DPC's community engagements will also assist UCT in developing tailored digital preservation strategies and procedures to work in line with the latest practices and standards. This makes digital preservation achievable, sector-specific and supportive of efforts to ensure services that address challenges faced in Southern Africa. 

For more information, read the eResearch news story, visit the Digital Preservation web page or contact UCT data curation officers Thandokazi Maceba and Ya’qub Ebrahim.


RDIP news: wrapping up your research project seamlessly

UCT supports several systems to facilitate the practice of open science according to the FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. The institution is currently undertaking a Research Data Integration Project (RDIP), led by UCT eResearch, to integrate those systems and make open and FAIR practices easier for researchers.

Last month, we discussed the systems that streamline the processes in the execution phase of a typical project lifecycle at UCT. This month, we highlight the three UCT systems that facilitate the finalisation or closure of a research project – all of which can be done via UCT’s single sign-on functionality, using your UCT credentials. 

The first, UCT’s electronic Research Administration (eRA), remains a key component in the smooth management of administrative processes. As highlighted in this infographic, eRA allows researchers to track post-awards (project award financial activities), manage their final contract obligations and share research data with funders. The second system, UCT’s open access data repository ZivaHub, provides the minting of a persistent UCT identifier for each published research output shared with the global community online, including live metrics on views, downloads and citations. The third system, UCT’s open access publications repository OpenUCT, provides a platform where you can deposit your research output, as well as open educational resources. 

For more RDIP news, visit the RDIP web page or contact eResearch.


The Research Announcement is produced by the Research Office, University of Cape Town.

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