Global Development Awards Competition – The Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development 2019 (Win up to US$30,000 and trip to Germany)

Deadline: July 26, 2019

Global Development Network (GDN) invites applications for the Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development 2019. This is a competitive research grant program under the Global Development Awards Competition 2019. The Awards Competition is administered by GDN, funded under the Policy and Human Resources Development Fund (PHRD) trust fund managed by the World Bank and generously supported by the Government of Japan. This award program identifies and funds outstanding research proposals in developing and transition countries with high potential for excellence in research and clear policy implications for addressing development issues.

The program provides grants under two main categories: The Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development and the Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project. The Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development 2019 is now accepting applications.

Since its inception in 2000, GDN has awarded roughly US$ 4 million in research and project grants to finalists and winners. Nearly 8,800 researchers and development practitioners from developing countries and transition countries have participated in the competition and more than 200 awards have been conferred till date.

The Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development

The main theme of the Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development 2019 is ‘Doing research in developing countries: the role of non-academic actors, new communication platforms and leadership in social sciences.’ Research Proposals for the Award will be considered in the following three sub-themes:

• Understanding and measuring the role of non-academic researchers in development
• The role of social media in the production, diffusion, and uptake of development research in developing countries
• The role of research leadership in advancing evidence-informed debate in developing countries

Award and Benefits

• The three winning projects will receive grants worth US$ 45,000. The funds will be used to support the research work proposed by the winners towards the completion of their research.
  • The first prize winner will receive a grant of US$ 30,000.
  • The second prize will receive a grant of US$ 10,000
  • The third prize winners will receive a grant of US$ 5,000.
• Finalists will be invited to travel and present their proposals at the 19th Global Development Conference ‘Knowledge for Sustainable Development: the Research–Policy Nexus’ being held in Bonn (Germany), 23 to 25 October 2019. Travel and expenses for one representative from each three short-listed proposals will be covered by GDN.
• The awards will be given to the organization(s)/researcher(s) whose proposals to undertake research in any one of the three research sub-themes (described above) holds the greatest promise for improving our understanding of development issues and puts forth clear, articulate and well researched policy implications to address relevant development problems.

The disbursement of the grants is subject to the final clearing of the 2019-21 edition of the Awards competition by the World Bank, which is currently ongoing. This might affect the timeline of the grant period.

Eligibility

1. Eligible countries for the ORD competition are those classified by the World Bank as low-income or middle-income countries. The competition is open only to researchers who are citizens or permanent residents of these countries.
   • Citizens of eligible countries currently residing in a non-eligible country are only allowed to apply if they have been living in the non-eligible country for no more than five years as of 16 July 2019. This should be clearly shown in the CV and personal information should be provided.
   • The CVs for all team members must be included in the application. The CVs should clearly state the age of all team members, the citizenship for all team members and the country of residence for the past five years for all team members and the current institutional affiliation for all team members. These details are mandatory and an application will be deemed incomplete if these details are not submitted.
2. The upper age limit for all applicants is 45 years as of 16 July 2019. Individuals above 45 years of age as of 16 July 2019 are not eligible to apply.
3. The proposal should not be receiving or scheduled to receive funds from other sources to be eligible for consideration for the ORD unless it is clearly explained how the additional funds provided by the ORD would reinforce the existing funds for successful completion of the research.
4. Staff members of multilateral and bilateral organizations (The World Bank, IMF, IADB, UN agencies, DFID, AusAID, etc.) are not eligible to apply.
5. Previous and current employees of GDN or its Regional Network Partners are not eligible to apply up till 5 years from the completion of their tenure. Previous GDN Board Members, project mentors and members of evaluation teams are not eligible to apply.
6. Similar proposals or papers resulting as products from full or partial GDN funded activities (Global Research Projects and other competitions not limited to Regional Research Competitions, Global Research Competitions etc.), cannot be submitted for this competition.
7. Past ORD winners and finalists are not eligible to apply with the same or similar research proposal. Additionally, winners are not eligible to apply for a period of 3 years subsequent to the end of their agreement with GDN.
8. Past and current ORD reviewers are not eligible to take part in the competition.

Application

For queries, write to [email protected].

Click here to apply.

For more information, visit Global Development Awards.