Please note: Early Career Researchers' Travel Funding for financial year 2010-11 is in the process of being discussed. We expect it to continue but a revised opportunity announcement will be made on this website here, around the third week of March 2010. Please feel free to write to us with any queries should you wish to apply for funding for financial year 2010-11.
Contact: Sukanya Kumar-Sinha
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Summary:
The Research Councils UK (RCUK) Office in India wants to create opportunities for early career researchers to visit India as part of broader UK-India networking activity. Subject to a successful application, the office will provide limited funds to support a single trip to India for early career researchers to attend a workshop or other similar event in India. These funds are specifically to enable UK based, early career researchers, to accompany Research Council supported researchers centrally involved in organising or planning an event in India.
Eligibility & Requirements:
- The intention of the funding is to enable early career researchers to meet and network with academics and Indian early career researchers working within UK-India collaborations. The event that monies are requested for should therefore enable this type of activity.
- The applicant must be supervised by or working alongside academics who are working on research currently supported by one or more of the research councils and where funds for this activity are not included on the grant e.g. as T&S for the postdoctoral researcher or as overseas fieldwork for the student. At least one of these academics should be coming on the trip to India for which monies are applied for and should be named on the application as a reference.
- The early career researchers applying for the funding should be confident in talking about the research they are undertaking and should be demonstrably in the early stages of their career - for example in the final year of their PhD or in the first 3 years of their post doc.
- If awarded, the successful applicants will need to email a short report on their experiences within one month of their return to the UK. Emails should be sent to sukanya.sinha@rcuk.ac.uk. We may wish to publish this report on our website as well as interview you about your experiences.
Timing:
If you are interested, you must contact the office at the address below AT LEAST 8 weeks before your planned trip. Please note that Indian visa applications will take time to process and it is your responsibility to ensure that you leave sufficient time to obtain one. If you are unable to travel because of failure to apply for a visa with sufficient time, the office will not pay any costs already incurred for the trip that you wish to go on.
The funding is a pilot programme for the 09-10 financial year. The latest we can receive applications is therefore the end of January 2010.
Costs - what the funding will cover:
We will provide cover for:
- Indian visa - if required
- reasonably priced return flight
- stay in hotel or other suitably priced accommodation & meals - for the duration of the event only
- meals - for the duration of the event and event related travelling time only
- transport to/ from airport in UK and India
Please note:
Travel costs should be based on the most suitable and economical form of travel.
Subsistence costs should reflect the normal rates applying in the host research organisation.
We expect to fund a maximum of two awards a month
Claims:
Claims must be submitted within 4 weeks of the trip to Bruce Carter at the ESRC (Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, SN1 2UJ) via an ESRC claims form – available here. Receipts must be kept and supplied with claims wherever possible. All amounts claimed must comply with ESRC travel and subsistence guidance (available to download here). Note that as the RCUK Office in India’s finances are managed by ESRC, the ESRC forms and guidance must be used irrespective of what Research Council you are most closely affiliated to.
Please note that we are not able to:
- Provide funds for any additional visits you might want to undertake during your trip
- Provide ‘up front’ funding – costs must be claimed following the trip and receipts supplied
- We will not pay conference fees as this funding is targeted at researchers joining in on an activity already planned by UK-Indian academics rather than conference attendance
- Provide funds for ‘standalone’ visits of individual early career researchers
- Provide administrative or logistical support for making arrangements for your trip
- We are not normally able to cover costs for insurance as many organisations (including HEIs) make their own arrangements for staff/ student travel cover. If this is not the case for you, please refer to this in your application.
Application process:
Applicants should come from the early career researcher themselves rather than colleagues/supervisors. Please submit up to two sides of A4 (any applications longer than this will not be considered) detailing:
- Your name, contact details, institutional affiliation, current job/ study status
- The Research Council funded research project with which you are affiliated (title, grant reference number, duration, which research council). It is expected that this would be the project your trip to India would be linked with
- The name and contact details of the person working on that project who will act as your referee (note that they will not be expected to supply a formal character reference, but may be asked to verify the information provided about the trip in the application)
- Summary information on the event to be attended and why it will be beneficial to you and your research, particularly how it would meet the aims of networking with UK-Indian academics and Indian early career researchers
- A short breakdown of the costs you will be expecting the RCUK office to cover (note that we will use this information in planning how many awards we can issue and therefore will not be able to pay for claims which exceed this initial breakdown)
Applications titled ‘Application –Early Career Researchers Travel Funding’ should be sent via email to Sukanya Kumar Sinha at sukanya.sinha@rcuk.ac.uk and copied to the academic named as your reference. We will acknowledge receipt and will aim to confirm whether or not you have been successful within 10 working days of acknowledgement. Do not commit any funds until you have been formally told you have been successful.