|
Dear colleagues
The purpose of this announcement is to keep members of the UCT research community informed about news and funding opportunities in the research space. All new funding opportunities can also be found on the current funding opportunities page of the Research Support Hub.
In this newsletter:
Noticeboard
Funding opportunities and funder announcements
Noticeboard
On the Research Announcement noticeboard, we share news and items of interest from the UCT Research Office.
Call for applications: NRF evaluation and rating 2024
NRF system closing date: 29 February 2024
Applications are invited for the next cycle of NRF evaluation and rating. This call applies both to researchers who are applying for
re-evaluation and first-time applicants. The NRF does not accept applications submitted directly by applicants; therefore, UCT can only endorse applications which are submitted via the internal review process.
UCT Internal closing dates:
- Applications received between 21 November 2023 and 8 January 2024 will receive feedback by the end of January 2024.
- Applications received between 9 and 19 January 2024 will receive feedback before mid February 2023.
More information and resources can be found here.
Call for nominations: Future Professors Programme Phase 2 2024-2025
UCT internal deadline: 15 February 2024
The Future Professors Programme (FPP) is a competitive and selective programme of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), which prepares promising mid-career academics to be a new cohort of South African professors across
disciplines. The University of Johannesburg (UJ) was appointed by the DHET to lead the implementation of the FPP Phase 2 Programme that commenced in 2021.
his is the third call for applications to be submitted for participation in the FPP Phase 2 programme. The programme targets the country’s most talented academics in order to accelerate their readiness to become university professors and is an
innovative approach to growing a representative professoriate through the implementation of a coherent, structured, and effectively supported programme.
The programme aims to contribute to the need for a critical mass of academic excellence and leadership in South African Higher Education institutions and complements initiatives funded by the DHET, DSI (NRF) and individual universities aimed at
developing a pipeline of mid-career academics. South Africans, particularly black females, who are full-time, permanent academic staff members in universities, will be prioritised for participation in the programme. See more information here.
For application details, please email Nocky Bobo.
Call for nominations: 2023/24 NSTF-South32 Awards
First deadline: 8 December 2023
The National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) calls for nominations for the 26th NSTF-South32 Awards. These prestigious awards focus on Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) and Innovation in South Africa (SA). South32 is the co-branding
sponsor for the past seven years.
The special annual theme award for 2024 is the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in SA. This theme was chosen in response to new developments in technology and its uses throughout the world and in SA, affecting people’s lives
and opportunities. The NSTF is making a special award this year for an outstanding contribution to SET and innovation through research, development and innovation (RDI) in 4IR technologies in SA. 4IR technologies include artificial intelligence
(AI), machine learning and Big Data analytics amongst others. This Special Award is intended to showcase the excellent work being done at South African institutions that should take the country forward in its socio-economic development.
For more information and details, click here.
The 2023 Ibali wrap up: December Ibali Indaba
6 December 2023 at 14:00 (SAST)
Ibali Indaba focuses on all things related to the UCT Digital Collections platform, Ibali.
For the final Ibali of 2023, we take a look back over the year at the many different Ibali journeys that were taken. We browse some of the new collections on the platform, and discuss their work with some of the collection curators. We will also
review some of the technical challenges we overcame, and take a peak ahead at what we aim to work on in 2024.
Register here.
Reminder: Call for nominations for UCT Distinguised Social Responsiveness Award 2023
Deadline: 14 December 2023
Social responsiveness is core to the work of UCT as an engaged institution. In the context of UCT’s Vision 2030, social responsiveness shines a bright light on our transformative agenda which supports staff and students to “unleash human potential
for a just and fair society”. As it is embedded in research, teaching, and service to society, social responsiveness invites staff and students to engage deeply with the challenges of our time. Considering the above, it is therefore appropriate that
social responsiveness receives institutional support and recognition to encourage staff and students to play an active role in grappling with the challenges that afflict our country, continent, and the world.
UCT’s Distinguished Social Responsiveness Award provides a clear institutional signal to members of the University that social responsiveness is an important core institutional activity.
More information on eligibility and other details may be found here.
Nominations and applications for the Distinguished Social Responsiveness Award should be submitted to Sonwabo Ngcelwane by no later than Thursday, 14 December 2023.
Reminder: planning your deadlines for the holiday season
The eRA internal approvals process involves various UCT staff across faculties and departments (budget reviewers, finance approvers, final faculty approvers and RC&I). During December and January, many staff members will be on leave and
faculties will be operating at limited capacity.
For international funding applications due between mid-December 2023 and mid-January 2024, researchers will need to plan their budget reviews and internal approvals in advance.
Please note: We cannot guarantee processing of eRA pre-award approval forms that are not submitted in accordance with these timelines.
As a rule, please always stay in touch with your finance staff when you know you will be submitting a funding application. See details on staff availability and internal deadlines over the holiday period here.
Reminder: eRA production system weekly downtime
Please note that the eRA production system will be unavailable every week between 16:00 on Wednesday evening and 08:30 on Thursday
morning. Please ensure that you are completely logged out of the system before this time.
This is to ensure that the system resources are freed up for maintenance activities.
Funding opportunities and funder announcements
Visit the current funding opportunities page on the Research Support Hub to view all open funding opportunities.
Call for applications: Spencer Foundation Large Research Grants on education programme
Intention to apply deadline: 24 January 2024
The Large-research-grant on Education Program supports education research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived, with budgets ranging from $125,000 to $500,000 for projects ranging from one to five years.
The Spencer Foundation anticipate awarding grants with budgets across each of the following funding tiers - $125,000 to 250,000; $250,001 to $375,000; and $375,001 to $500,000. Within each of our funding tiers, they evaluate projects within tier and
strongly encourage applicants to submit for funding that best fits their project rather than applying for the highest amount.
This program is “field-initiated” in that proposal submissions are not in response to a specific request for a particular research topic, discipline, design, method, or location. The goal for this program is to support rigorous, intellectually
ambitious, and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in education.
More information may be found here.
The Research Announcement is produced by the Research Office, University of Cape Town.
|
