FAO Climate-smart Agriculture Project

Competitive grant to fund academic training and research

(Funding available for 1 doctoral student position)

Call for Application2013

DEADLINE:February11, 2013

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under the joint project with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development project entitiled “Climate-smart Agriculture: Capturing the synergies among Mitigation, Adaptation and Food Security” is providing a competitive grant to fund academic training and research in the area of agriculture economics and development with a focus on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) starting in March 2013. Applications are therefore invited from Vietnamese nationals currently holding a MSc from any reputable institution of higher learning within or outside Viet Nam. The grant will support formal academic training in economics and quantitative methods and student research in areas relating to the ‘socio-economic analysis of tradeoffs and synergies between food security, adaptation to climate change, and mitigation of GHG emissions’.

The successful applicant will be enrolled in the three-years PhD program in ‘Economics and local development’ at Tuscia University (Viterbo, Italy – The PhD program is essentially oriented to provide theoretical and methodological tools for advanced analysis in local development economics with particular emphasis on the allocation of economic resources in rural areas. The program provides for a formal training period in economics and quantitative methods in Italy (seminars and summer schools) and in North America (through exchange opportunities with partner Universities in USA and Canada). Students may target their training in the following areas: agricultural and natural resources economics and policy; general economics; applied economics in the field of environment, innovation and quality management; quantitative methods for applied economics.

The program also foresees a period of scientific research which is tentatively to be carried out in Vietnam in conjunction to the above said CSA project. The successful applicant will therefore be asked to develop and carry outappliedresearch within the FAO-CSA project ( the provinces of Yen Bai, Son La and Dien Bien in the Northern Mountainous Region of Viet Nam. Research areasfrom which to pick include:

1)sustainable land management practices for maize-based production systems in the uplands and barriers to their adoption;

2)agroforestry systems under climate change, and barriers to adoption of agroforestry practices; and

3)diversification of productive activities into other crops (such as coffee and tea) or livestock and the investments necessary for diversification to occur. Aspects of value chain improvement could also be considered in this context, especially production and marketing as they relate to Arabica coffee and higher value tea varieties.

Potential research questions may include:

  • What types of conservation and erosion control practices are practiced by farmers inthe Northern Mountainous Region of Viet Nam? What are the food security implications of these practices (e.g. impact on crop yields)? What are the mitigation co-benefits?
  • What are the drivers or determinants of adoption/ dis-adoption of these practices? How are the institutional arrangements promoting or hindering their uptake?What are the investment, maintenance, and opportunity costs associated with adoption of these practices? How do farmers address the lag between adoption costs and the benefit stream from adoption?Which policies are the most effective in building an enabling institutional environment for transition to CSA? Do farmers have access to credit or agriculture insurance programs? Do farmer have access to technical assistance and information for sustainable land management practices?
  • To what extent do traditional agro-forestry systems, in combination with the above practices, contribute to farmer resilience to climate uncertainty? Is there a role, in the institutional context of Viet Nam, for these traditional agro-forestry systems in providing financing through mitigation funds?
  • Crop-livestock interaction – jointness in agricultural production and livestock technology adoption and their impact on household welfare. What is the impact of diversification into livestock/fisheriesin terms of vulnerability to climatic events? What environmental tradeoffs exist when introducing livestock/fisheries, and how are these best addressed?

Research objectives, methodology applied and main results will be reported in the final thesis which will be discussed at the end of the three-years program in order to obtain the PhD degree.

Eligibility

Vietnamese nationals holding a MSc from any reputable institution of higher learning within or outside Viet Nam meeting the following requirements:

- Aged under 45

- Proficient in English

The grant will be for three years starting from March 2013. Upon acceptance of the grant, the successful candidate will have to agree to the guidelines of the Vietnamese government regulating the commitments of students studying abroad under a grant, as outlined indecisionNr.911/QĐ-TTg of17 June, 2010 by thePremier.

How to apply and timeline for the process

Applications should be sentby e-mail to Tuscia University (Viterbo, Italy)before February 11th, 2013.

Applicants must also submit a preliminary concept note for proposed research work and relevant documents confirming meeting the above mentioned requirement by February by email to Dr. Andrea Cattaneo () by February 17th, 2013.

A selection committee will assess applicants’ CVs, academic records and research concepts. The successful candidate will be informed by early March 2013 and requested to enroll in the PhD program in ‘Economics and local development’ at Tuscia University (Viterbo, Italy) in March 2013.

The successful candidate will be assigned to a tutor (and eventually to a co-tutor) and will prepare a training and research plan to be approved and monitored by the PhD Professor Board. The successful candidate will also submit the full research proposal by June 2013.

Application form and instructions

Application forms and related instructions can be found here:

Guidelinesfor preparing the concept note for proposed research work (5-page limit):

The Concept Note should be no more than five single-spaced typed pagesexcluding references and any relevant annexes. The concept note should include (a)a clear title, (b) statement of the problem (research gap), (c) objectives, (d) hypotheses and (d) proposed procedures (data needs/sources, analytical procedures) (see below Table for guidance).

Table: Guidance for writing the proposal

Research Objective and Methods
Specific research questions / Indicate the specific research questions addressed by the analysis
Relevance to Climate Smart Agriculture / Balance between different elements of CSA (food security & risk, adaptation, mitigation )
Scope of Analysis
Sectoral/ Thematic focus / Thematic foci of the analysis (e.g. agricultural productivity, food security, resilience, climate change mitigation, etc.).
Spatial scale (scalability) / Spatial scale of the analysis (farm, local, national) for which the analysis is carried out and results are valid
Socio-economic and biophysical dimensions / Indicate the socio-economic and biophysical aspects to be considered in the analysis
Timeline / Present a detailed research plan with specific timelines and milestones
Methods, Data, and Participation
Methods and tools / Specific analytical methods and tools applied in the assessment as well as details of their application
Data and scenarios / Data and methods to be applied to address the research question being posed
Data constraints / Indicate data constraints (e.g. availability, quality, applicability)
Treatment of uncertainty / Sources of uncertainty (due to e.g. problems with data, models, underlying assumptions) and their treatment
Involvement of stakeholders / Yes/No (in the case of yes, indicate key stakeholder groups who will contribute to the assessment and the format of their involvement
Outputs of Analysis
Metric(s) / Specific measures/measurements and units in terms of which results are presented (e.g. change in mean crop yields, variance in farm income, rate of adoption of technology, or other indicators)
Guidance for action / Insights provided on cost and benefits of Climate Smart Agriculture options
Deliverables / Required deliverables include, but are not limited to, an annual report, a final thesis and a publishable working paper.

Evaluation Criteria for research proposals

Proposals will be evaluated with emphasis on intellectual merit, innovation, and likelihood of success.

More specifically, the following criteria will be considered:

  • The relevance of the proposed activity to farmers inViet Nam, the Norhern mountainous region in particular, and the potential to upscale outside of the study area
  • Alignment with the mandate of the project to examine the synergies and tradeoffs between food security, adaptation to climate change, and mitigation
  • Clarity in the objectives
  • Qualifications of the candidates to conduct the project
  • How well-conceived and organized is the proposed activity? Is there sufficient access to

resources? Are the proposed activities feasible given the foreseen timeframe?

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For More Information Contact:

  • FAO (Rome, Italy): Dr. Andrea Cattaneo ()
  • Tuscia University (Viterbo, Italy): Dr. Giacomo Branca ().
  • VAAS (Hanoi, Vietnam): Dr. Pham Van Toan ()
  • NOMAFSI (Phu Tho, Vietnam): Dr. Pham Thi Sen (