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Dear colleagues
We hope you are doing well under these extraordinary circumstances. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown is being felt by everyone, and many questions are being raised about research at UCT during this time. We hope this
newsletter helps bring some clarity, and we will continue to work to provide answers and respond as the situation changes.
In this newsletter:
Frequently asked questions around COVID-19 and national lockdown
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Sue Harrison, in her DVC desk sent out on 1 April, stressed that UCT remains as active as possible from a
research and postgraduate work point of view. There are of course many questions around what this means and what is and is not possible. The Research Office has been compiling a list of frequently asked questions around research, which can be found here. We are working on a similar list of FAQs for postgraduates, which we hope to have ready shortly.
We will update this list regularly, so please check the page often. If you have questions you would like resolved, please email [email protected].
Funding opportunities
Visit the current funding opportunities page on the research support hub to view all open funding opportunities.
NRF extension of deadlines
Due to the closure of universities and research institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Research Foundation (NRF) has extended its closing dates for all calls for proposals that were scheduled for March 2020. The new closing date
is 30 April 2020. The NRF will continue to review the call closing dates in accordance with the prevailing conditions and will communicate further on other changes to future calls as and when they happen. Read the full NRF statement here.
*** Visit the current funding opportunities page for information on the internal deadlines for all open NRF grants.
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WUN grants: addressing research needs triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic
Deadline: 15 May 2020
UCT is a member of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), which comprises 23 universities across the globe. The network is making available a limited number of grants for collaborative projects that focus on
research challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and are urgent and of the moment (in other words, they deal with questions that need to be tackled immediately). The maximum amount available per successful project is £10 000.
Applications will be accepted at any time until 15 May 2020 and proposals will be reviewed as they are received. The funding pool may thus be fully expended before this deadline.
For more information, including the application form, see here.
Should you need help, contact the WUN coordinator at UCT, Wilna Venter.
Reminder: Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme: call for proposals
Deadline: 19 May 2020
The Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme, an initiative of the European Commission, supports higher education cooperation between countries in Africa. It provides financial support to to
help with the organisation and implementation of student and staff mobility between higher education institutions in Africa. The overall objective of the scheme is to enhance human capital development in Africa.
Visit the website for more information.
Green Talents Awards 2020
Deadline: 19 May 2020
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is inviting young sustainability researchers of all disciplines to apply for the Green Talents Awards. This is an opportunity for master’s students, doctoral candidates, postdoctoral
researchers and young professionals (with no more than three years of professional work experience) to share how their research is connected to the United Nations sustainable development goals. Selected by a jury of German experts, the 25 award
winners will be granted unique access to the country’s research elite.
Visit the website for more information.
The 4th Industrial Revolution and Human Development: call for proposals
Deadline: 30 May 2020
The 4th Industrial Revolution presents various challenges regarding human development in the southern African context. Issues of social development, economic development and security in low- and medium-income countries need clear interrogation in
an era where development is no longer driven by high labour-absorbing industries but by technologies like artificial intelligence and biotechnology, which require less human manipulation. The DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development is
calling for proposals for research projects that will be funded in 2020 up to a maximum of R300 000 per project.
For more information, click here or email [email protected].
2021 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program
Deadline: 30 June 2020
The Institute of International Education (IIE), in collaboration with the United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) and Carnegie Corporation of New
York (CCNY) invites applications for grants under the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP).
Eligible applicants:
- Researchers from accredited universities in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda and member institutions of the African
Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) can submit a project request to host an African-born scholar, who
lives in the United States or Canada.
- Scholars born in Africa, who live in the United States or Canada, can apply to be placed on a roster of
candidates.
For more information, download this brief summary of the call.
2020 Innovation Grant: Safe and Cohesive Communities
Deadline: 15 May 2020
The Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) and Western Cape Government (WCG) are inviting proposal for the 2020 Innovation Grant of R100 000. The purpose of this grant is to encourage university researchers, in partnership with WCG policymakers,
to consider new approaches, methodologies and interventions for addressing the seemingly intractable problems facing the Western Cape province. This year the focus will be on the province’s number one priority: tackling the challenges of realising
safe and cohesive communities.
For more information, download this document or contact Sonwabo Ngcelwane.
Thuthuka 2021: revision of eligibility criteria
Deadline: 24 April 2020
The Thuthuka call for applications that is currently open (research grants: Thuthuka) has changed the following eligibility criteria: South African permanent residents (with a valid South African ID number) are eligible to apply for the Thuthuka
PhD and post-PhD tracks.
In previous calls, only South African citizens were eligible to apply to the above-mentioned tracks. This has now been expanded to include South African permanent residents with a valid South African ID number.
For further information, download this document. Contact Zam Ndzotyana or Roshan Sonday for enquiries.
Visiting scholars and lecturers fund grant
Deadline extended to 17 April 2020
The visiting scholars fund intends to draw eminent academics from outside South Africa to UCT.
The visiting lecturers fund intends to draw to UCT eminent academics based abroad, who are already in South Africa on other business, as well as eminent academics who are employed at other educational institutions in South Africa.
Download the call for more information.
Excellence in Africa – Junior Faculty Development Programme
Deadline: 15 April 2020
The Excellence in Africa initiative is designed to support the training of promising early-stage researchers in Africa, enabling them to have a significant economic and societal impact on
the African continent. The Junior Faculty Development programme will pair up
early-stage professors in Africa with professors from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne - EPDL). It will provide funding for a jointly designed research project over a period of four or five years.
In the course of every project, the Africa-based academic will complete a secondment of up to one year in the laboratory of their colleague at EPFL in Switzerland.
For more information, visit the EPFL website or email [email protected].
Faculty-prioritised large equipment grants
Deadline extended to 23 April 2020
The University Equipment Committee has extended the deadline for applications for faculty-prioritised large equipment grants. Applications must be approved by heads of department and submitted to faculty equipment chairs/representatives by 23
April 2020.
See the detailed call for applications available here for more information.
ERP seminars and workshops postponed
Please note that all emerging researcher programme (ERP) seminars and workshops for the semester have been postponed until further notice. The ERP team is currently exploring options to take some of the offerings online, which will be
communicated as soon as they become available.
If you have any queries in the meantime, please feel free to contact your research coordinator:
Digital Library Services remain fully operational
Digital Library Services (DLS) is committed to providing the UCT community with continued support for the full suite of research data services online, including:
- ZivaHub, an institutional data repository service to share UCTs latest research on an international scale.
- UCT DMP, a data management planning tool that is fully functional and can be accessed outside of the university. All admin-related issues are being done remotely.
- Open Science Framework (OSF), a facility for collaboration on research projects. It currently houses all training material for 2020 as well as quick guides.
You will also find virtual presentations on a range of digital scholarship topics which are freely available for download as audio and video.
- UCT’s My ESRI organisation, for online geographic information systems (GIS) training. Please contact [email protected] if you require membership to the
organisation.
You can continue to upload, edit, share and publish your research outputs while off-campus: secure access to the above platforms is available remotely via UCT’s single sign-on service (UCT DMP post-upgrade on 15 April 2020). Should
you require any help with working on these platforms, please contact [email protected]. Should you need GIS support, please contact [email protected] directly.
Log a call for eRA support
UCT's electronic Research Administration (eRA) System is fully functional during the COVID-19 lockdown. The following resources are available for
researchers:
- Pre-awards application process: The pre-awards section of the eRA system was created to streamline and standardise the current UCT’s grant application and approval processes.
This includes internal approvals, conference travel, URC article processing charges (APCs) and page costs.
- eRA post-awards project award process: The eRA post-awards module follows on from the pre-awards module, assuming the grant application is successful and the contract has been
processed and signed by Research Contracts & Innovation (RC&I) within the university.
- : UCT’s research outputs are submitted to the Department for Higher Education and Training (DHET) for the allocation of government subsidy to universities each year. This vital process has direct influence on the amount of funding the university
receives from the government. Each department is responsible for collecting and loading research output electronically on the eRA system.
- Researcher profiles: The eRA system offers the functionality to build researcher profiles based on generated research outputs and academic engagements. This
functionality allows you to capture researcher information as well as CV activities from the eRA dashboard.
For more information, you can request help from the eRA support team.
The Research Announcement is produced by the Research Office, University of Cape Town.
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