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Call for proposals with NRF selects proposals in Social Sciences and Humanities Versão em português

The opportunity will fund seminars in either the state of São Paulo or South Africa, with the goal of fostering lasting international collaborations that have the power to impact public policies.

FAPESP and the National Research Foundation (NRF) have issued a call for proposals for International Scientific Seminars (ISS) in Social Sciences and Humanities, aimed at bringing together groups of researchers from São Paulo and South Africa.

The main objective of the call for proposals is to encourage the formation of collaborative research networks between scientific communities in both countries and to facilitate the development of new and lasting partnerships.

This marks the sixth opportunity for international collaboration in research that FAPESP and NRF have promoted together since they signed a cooperation agreement in 2015.

Proposals must be prepared jointly by a principal investigator affiliated with a research or higher education institution in the state of São Paulo and another affiliated with a South African institution. FAPESP and NRF will jointly finance the organization of scientific meetings with a maximum of US$30,000 per proposal.

The seminars can last up to three days and must be held in person in either an African country or the Brazilian state, between November 2023 and October 2024. The number of participants invited to the seminars must not exceed 20 (up to five from the visiting country and up to 15 from the host country), and all participants must have completed their doctorate by the time of the proposal submission.

Call categories and areas

The Call will receive proposals in two categories: one for Established Researchers and the other for Early Career Researchers. The first should be based on an existing collaborative project with clearly defined objectives and innovative approaches, with relevance and potential for impact beyond the academic world, such as in the social, technical, economic or cultural domains.

Established Researchers can submit proposals in any discipline or multidisciplinary area within the Social Sciences and Humanities. The second type does not require that proponents already have a joint research project, but rather a conceptual framework outlining a possible joint project that is clear and that can be submitted to a Research Grant after the seminars. For this category the Call will accept proposals in any of the following areas: “Race, gender and social inequalities”; “Democracy and Citizenship in South Africa and Brazil”; “Social violence, crime, policing and public safety”; or “Space, place, built environment and identity in municipalities, illegal settlements and favelas”.

It is hoped that the selected proposals will help foster the establishment of communities of practice (CoP), in which São Paulo and South African researchers will be able to produce and share solution-oriented research results, translating them into tangible results capable of influencing the performance of policymakers and other stakeholders, in order to promote the co-design and co-production of such policies.

The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2023. Each responsible researcher must send the proposal to the funding agency of their territory. At FAPESP, submissions will be accepted exclusively via the SAGe System. Proposals must clearly indicate how much of the grant is requested from NRF and how much from FAPESP.

The call is available in fapesp.br/16057.