NRF Call for Applications

DST – NRF COLLABORATIVE POSTGRADUATE TRAINING CALL

(Please direct all queries to Robyn Udemans at )

UCT’s internal and NRF’s closing date: Friday, 12 May at 23h59

The Collaborative Postgraduate Training funding grant is a complementary funding instrument to enable multi-institutional collaborate training of a cohort of postgraduate students in a specific scarce skill discipline or priority research area spanning the physical, natural, social and human sciences, engineering and technology fields. The training must involve a collaborative network of postgraduate students and supervisors led by the applicant.

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility Criteria for Applicants

UCT researchers are eligible to apply as the lead applicant, provided that they:

  • Hold an academic position at UCT for the full duration of the awarded grant;
  • Hold a doctoral degree and have proven postgraduate supervision experience to host and supervise postgraduate students;
  • Demonstrate existing collaborations with national and international research institutions and universities for research and postgraduate training;
  • Demonstrate access to research funding by the applicant and consortium members to cover the research costs for the projects to be undertaken by the postgraduate students; and
  • Include at least two (2) Historically Disadvantaged Higher Education Institutions, one of which may be the lead institution.

Grant holders of SARChI and CoEsare not eligible to apply.

Eligibility Criteria for Students Nominated for Scholarships

The nominated students:

  • Must be either SA citizens or in possession of SA permanent residency (87%) as well as a limited percentage of international students (13%);
  • Honours and final year BTech students must be registered for a postgraduate degree at any South African public university;
  • Students enrolling for Masters studies must hold a Honours, B.Tech or four-year degree;
  • Students enrolling for Doctoral studies must hold a Master’s level qualification;
  • Postgraduate student beneficiaries may not concurrently hold the study support with another NRF scholarship or any other funding support from an SA government source; and
  • Individuals that already hold a degree at the level for which they are nominated are not eligible for support.

Please note: applications must include at least two (2) Historically Disadvantaged Higher Education Institutions.

FUNDING

Funding for a three-year block grant should be broken down as follows:

Postgraduate Scholarships: No less than 60% of grant costs may be requested for Honours, Masters and Doctoral bursaries; and

Institutional Capacity: No more than 40% of the grant costs may be requested for institutional support comprising of small equipment costing less than R200,000; specialised software for research purposes; training workshops; international guest lecturers; technical staff in selected disciplines such as curators and artists in training and science communication and outreach activities that may include programmes for supporting research exposure to undergraduate students.

If part-time doctoral students are nominated, the grant will run for a period of five (5) years and the grant for operational expenses will run for three (3) years.

Each application shall indicate projected costs, for years one (1), two (2), and three (3). The total requested budget cannot exceed R 1,500,000 per annum.

Scholarship values and maximum periods of support

Study Level / Scholarship Value for 2017/18 (Rand per annum) / Maximum Funding
Period (Years)
Honours full-time / 60,000 / 1
Honours part-time / 20,000 / 2
Masters full-time / 90,000 / 2
Masters part-time / 30,000 / 3
Doctoral full-time / 120,000 / 3
Doctoral part-time / 40,000 / 5

Please note: Block grant awards to institutions will be made in September 2017. All funds for full-time and part-time postgraduate students must be taken up by end January 2018. All unused funds will be cancelled and/or redistributed under the programme. In addition, no carry forwards will be considered.

APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION PROCESS

Applications must be submitted through an online application process, via

  • Register / Login using your ID number and password;
  • Select ‘create new application’ from the list of existing calls;
  • Select ‘DST-NRF Collaborative Postgraduate Training Call for 2018’;
  • Complete application and attach all necessary supporting documentation; and
  • [if !supportLists]·[endif]Applicants must attach the CVs of all supervisors listed in the application.

Complete applications will go to the UCT Research Office for verification, and will be endorsed and forwarded to the NRF. Please submit your applications no later than Friday 12 May 2017 at 23h59.

The NRF system closes on Friday 12 May at 23h59, and no applications can be submitted after this point.

It is of utmost importance that you consult the call guide for more information: (Click the + sign next to ‘DST-NRF Collaborative Postgraduate Training Call for 2018’ under Open Calls.)