Deadline: 7 September 2019
The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) is accepting applications for its Travel Grant program to reinforce the Center’s efforts and resources in the promotion of inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development (ISARD) toward food security and poverty alleviation in the region.
Objectives
- To provide opportunities to qualified Southeast Asian nationals to participate and present papers in ISARD-relevant scientific conferences and fora, locally or internationally. (Poster presentations are not covered.)
- To promote the dissemination of scientific knowledge/information vital to agriculture and rural development.
- To provide the Grantee a venue to discuss with other scientists, researchers, university faculty and scholars, developments in their respective disciplines.
- To facilitate linkaging, partnerships and active collaboration between SEARCA, or the applicant’s home institution, with other development organizations and donors.
- To produce articles or any publication out of the Grantee’s presented paper, whenever appropriate and feasible.
Funding Information
SEARCA will provide travel grants of up to a maximum of US$1,200 to each qualified agriculture and agriculture-related professional, social scientist, or graduate student in Southeast Asia.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants who will present scientific papers in international or local scientific fora are qualified for the Travel Grants. On a case to case basis, paper presentations may not be required if attendance to a conference is expected to result in establishing formal linkages, partnerships, collaborations and strong development impacts to the Center.
- Priority 1: Priority shall be given to the following:
- SEARCA fellows (senior, adjunct and visiting fellows);
- SEARCA Graduate scholarship alumni;
- Researchers of SEARCA-implemented/coordinated projects;
- SFRT grantees;
- Proponents from the University Consortium (faculty, staff and graduate students);
- SEARCA ongoing scholars; and
- Faculty and staff of universities under the SEARCA Institutional Development Assistance Program.
- Priority 2: Applicants who are citizens of Southeast Asian countries who are regular staff members of non-profit development-oriented institutions or graduate students of other agricultural universities in the Region may be considered if not enough qualified applications under Priority 1 have been received.
Selection Criteria
- Subject Matter: The focus of the paper should be aligned with SEARCA’s priority thrusts under the Tenth Five-Year plan (FY 2014/2015 – 2018/2019), as follows:
- Social Inclusion in Agriculture and Rural Development
- Participation of poor and vulnerable sectors of rural societies in food and agricultural value chains and agribusiness commodity systems;
- Food and nutrition security for poor and vulnerable sectors of rural societies ; and
- Productivity-enhancing innovations and modern technologies.
- Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development
- Natural resource management;
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation in agricultural and rural development; and
- Resilience of agricultural systems to climate impacts.
- Regional and Sub-regional Cooperation
- Sub-regional cooperation in trade and investments; and
- Regional market, trade and economic integration.
- Institutions and Governance
- Government policies, institutions and governance mechanisms and reforms for ISARD.
- Social Inclusion in Agriculture and Rural Development
- Conference Venue: Priority will be given to travel within the region. Grants for travel outside the region may be considered on a case to case basis depending on how well the paper satisfies the selection criteria and the objectives of the Travel Grants.
- Concrete Returns to SEARCA: Other than simply acknowledging SEARCA in the paper/presentation, the grantee should be able to provide a version of the presentation/research that can be published as a journal article, monograph, or other format deemed appropriate by SEARCA. When possible, the grantee should be able to present in a seminar or a related forum sponsored/organized by SEARCA such as the SEARCA’s Agriculture and Development Seminar Series (ADSS).
- Re-applying Grantees: Previous applicants can re-apply, but must not have been awarded with a SEARCA Travel Grant in the last three (3) years.
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted at the address given on the website.
Eligible Countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam
For more information, please visit https://www.searca.org/index.php/scholarship/searca-travel-grants