National Research Foundation - Kenya – South Africa Joint Science & Technology Research Programme - 2nd Call for Research Proposals - 2010

National Research Foundation - Kenya – South Africa Joint Science & Technology Research Programme - 2nd Call for Research Proposals - 2010
The Government of Kenya and the Republic of South Africa signed an Agreement for cooperation in science and technology in August 2004.
The two countries have decided to jointly support researchers from public universities and public research institutes on an equal and mutually beneficial basis in an effort to enhance scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries.
In 2009 the joint S&T Research supported 6 research projects which are still on-going. Only 5 projects will be funded in 2010.

In this year, Joint research project proposals shall be submitted to the relevant authorities in both countries for evaluation (the National Council for Science and Technology in Kenya- NCST and the National Research Foundation –NRF in South Africa).Evaluation will be done according to the following criteria:

    * Scientific and technical merit;
    * Impact on bilateral science and technology relations;
    * Significance for both countries;
    * Potential for creating research and development capacity;
    * Quality and clarity of project presentation;
    * Methodology; and
    * Suitability and feasibility

For the purposes of this call, research projects falling within the following areas/disciplines will be considered:

    * Biosciences (food, agriculture biotechnology, health and indigenous knowledge)
    * Space Science (Astronomy & earth observation)
    * Water management (Harvesting, purification and water resource mapping)

Successful projects will be funded up to a maximum amount of R300, 000 (KES3, 000,000) per project which will be mutually provided by the NCST and NRF. The Research Project should take a period of not more than 2 years.

The joint application for funding must include two Principal Investigators, one Kenyan citizen and researchers employed at a recognized higher education or research institution such as a university, university of technology or science council in South Africa.

The Principal Investigators must be PhD holders. The Principal Investigators will be responsible for the scientific and financial reporting, as well as other technical and administrative co-ordination of the project. They are expected to submit a final report to their respective funding agencies upon completion of the project.

Researchers employed at private companies will not be funded under this programme.

Application forms for proposal submission may be obtained from the National Council for Science and Technology (www.ncst.go.ke) for Kenyan applicants and from the National Research Foundation in South Africa (www.nrf.ac.za) for our South African applicants.

Kenyan applicant should submit soft copies to the NCST address below not later than 18th September, 2010.

Please ensure that the South African partners’ signed page is attached as a scanned copy.

Applications form together with any other attachments must be in one pdf file. The name of the file should start with the letters; SAK followed by the principal investigator’s name.

Kindly note that budget availability and proposals with a high evaluation rating are extremely important factors in determining the success of an application.

No hard copies will be accepted.

Researchers must ensure that applications have been submitted in both countries by the partners. Applications that do not adhere to this criterion will be disqualified.

For further information, please contact:

The Secretary,
National Council for Science and Technology
P.O. Box 30623-00100, Nairobi
Website: www.ncst.go.ke
E-mail: stifund@ncst.go.ke

For inquiries please contact:

Mr Said S. Hussein,
Telephone: +254 20 2241349
Fax: +254 20 2213215

and

National Research Foundation (NRF)
P.O Box 2600, 0001 Pretoria, South Africa
NRF website: www.nrf.ac.za

Programme related enquiries to Mr Michael Nxumalo,
E-mail: michael@nrf.ac.za
Tel: +27 12 481 4011, Fax: +27 12 481 4044

Grant and technical related enquiries;
Ms Lee-Anne Seymour,
E-mail: seymour@nrf.ac.za,
Tel: +27 481 4121, Fax: 0866 399 571