IUSSP Fellowships on Family Planning, Fertility and Urban Development 2019 for Early-career Researchers in Africa and Asia

Application Deadline: 15th April 2019

Eligible Countries: Countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia


About the Award: The International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) is pleased to announce the second call for policy-relevant research proposals from early career researchers to:

• contribute to the evidence base needed to better meet the family planning (FP) and related reproductive health (RH) needs of the most vulnerable in urban areas of countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and

• increase the attention paid to FP, fertility and population growth in urban development policy initiatives at local, national and international levels.

Type: Research

Eligibility:

• The proposal must focus either on a single city, or represent comparative work on multiple urban areas, of any country of sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.
• Applications to study settings with high fertility, high unmet need for FP and high rates of urbanization are particularly encouraged.
• Eligibility will be limited to citizens of countries in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia, currently working in established institutions in those countries (not necessarily a citizen of the country where proposing to do research).
• Contracts will ideally be made with individual fellows but can be negotiated on a case-by-case basis if their home institution has special requirements. Institutional overhead charges can be no more than 15% of the total budget.
• Applications may be submitted in either English or French.

Selection Criteria:  Applications will be assessed on several criteria including quality of candidate, research quality, innovation, policy relevance, relevance of setting and subpopulation, and feasibility. Priority will be given to innovative research questions of direct policy or programmatic value in urban settings, and potential for influencing urban policy beyond the demographic and public health communities. The interdisciplinary IUSSP panel overseeing the project, comprised of demographers, experts on urban poverty and health, economists, and policy and programme specialists, will assess the relevance of the issue to be addressed and the evidence gap it will fill, as well as the significance of research for decision-making and for informing policy and programmes.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value and Duration of Award:

• The research project duration will be 12-24 months. All research activities and reporting must be completed before the agreed upon project completion date.
• A typical budget we expect to receive is US$30,000 to $40,000 for a two-year project though higher awards will be considered for proposals of exceptional quality. This is for direct costs including computer hardware and software, primary data collection, research assistants, and the fellow’s time.
• The fellow’s salary support will be provided when required to give her or him partial or total release from other duties for the project duration. (Costs for dissemination and communications, such as participation in conferences to present the work and workshops with policy makers of the city studied to present the results, will be provided from a separate fund.)

How to Apply:  Applicants should submit a 600-word concept note summarizing the research topic by 15 April using the online application. Those with promising proposals will be invited to submit a full proposal by 1 July 2019. Annexed below are the content required for the concept note, and the list of main sections all applicants will be required to address in their full application (if invited to submit one)

• It is important to go through all application requirements on the Programme Webpage see link below) before applying

Visit Programme Webpage for Details