International Research Collaboration Co-Fund (IRCC)
As part of its latest 2018-2022 transformation strategy, Qatar University (QU) strives to become a world recognized research institution that drives multi- and interdisciplinary programs and maximizes research impact. This can be achieved by having access to state of the art facilities and through engagement with the brightest minds in different national and international research institutions. As institutions play a key role in encouraging and facilitating new collaborations, funding multi-institutional initiatives enables us to bring together the necessary expertise to address challenging research problems and encourage interdisciplinary research.
QU is currently ranked as a leading institution internationally in terms of global research partnerships, and is comprised with a diverse faculty who have the potential to infuse the academic and research activities with a global perspective, which complements the context of Qatar, that itself is an increasingly internationalized country. According to the past five years statistics, QU collaborated with 1787 worldwide institutions and around 4550 co-authored publications of which 2842 journal articles constituted the scholarly output from those collaborative research projects in different research themes . The vast majority of those collaborations were funded through the National Priorities Research Program (NPRP), the main funding program of Qatar National Research Funds. This constituted an evidence that QU and the international collaborating institutions have clearly recognized that research is crucial to solving today’s major grand challenges faced in collaborating countries’ institutions and that the solutions increasingly require working across boundaries, disciplines and borders between nations.
Qatar has experienced over the past two decades considerable rates of economic, environmental and social changes. This has led to the emergence of issues such as air pollution, water and land resources; food and water security, identity and other socio-economic challenges. With the decrease in funding from various funding agencies in the different countries including Qatar and realizing that these issues are considered as international challenges, creating a new funding scheme like the QU International Research Collaboration Co-Funds (QU-IRCC) is forged by the need to provide opportunities for Qatar and the participating countries seeking solutions to these global challenges and to build on the existing strong collaborations.
Fostering further collaboration between Qatar university and other universities is essential not only for consolidation of research efforts in areas that are high-priority to Qatar and those countries, but is also critical for facilitating researcher and student exchange, and providing an easily accessible platform for research training to graduate students and postdocs. Such collaborations can be expanded thoughtfully, resulting in a collaborative research platform that will lead to wider consortium for innovation, discovery & scholarly advancement with highly specialized research units in various disciplines in Qatar & the other countries from which the entire globe will benefit.
Since people are at the center of international collaborations, QU-IRCC will support the best researchers from QU and the other participating universities from around the globe to develop high-quality, high-impact research partnerships, and open up opportunities for international researchers to access a greater pool of QU partners for joint R&D collaboration. QU shall work with other regional & international universities and research partners to overcome this issue through developing joint funding program like the QU-IRCC which aims to make it simpler for QU researchers to collaborate with excellent research partners around the world, by supporting enabling activities and reducing barriers.
| Submission Open |
January 9th, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Submission Deadline |
May 10th, 2020, 12pm (Noon) |
| Pre Screening (ineligible) Proposal Announcement |
May 19th, 2020 |
| Announcement of results |
Fall 2020 |
| Anticipated project start date |
January, 2021 |
| Awards budget |
The IRCC Track 1 will have one submission cycle per year, with a maximum allocated funding by QU of US $80,000 per year – US $160,000 over 2 years. Matched by co-funding from the collaborative institution(s) (in cash /in-kind) |
| How to apply |
Please arrange to upload your complete application via https://www.conftool.org/igrants/ All the application parts are mandatory, for further clarification please review the IRCC website and guidelines. |
| IRCC Program Contact | |
| Research Pillars |
Researchers from Qatar and worldwide institutions are encouraged to submit applications that align with the identified grand challenges and research priorities, including basic and applied research. The four categories of research thematic pillars & grand challenges are:
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The objective of IRCC is to bring together QU and international researchers and innovators to collaborate on topics of mutual interest. There is a strong demand from the research and innovation community for a multilateral scheme addressing societal challenges. IRCC is an instrument to pool resources at a multilateral level to support collaborative research and innovation projects. The IRCC intends to develop a systematic approach to do joint research and innovation activities between Qatar, represented by QU, and the participating international universities.
The IRCC will pave the way for sustainable cooperation between research and innovation institutions in Qatar and the globe on the basis of the following activities:
- Implementing joint research and innovation activities
- Building national human capital in Qatar University and the participating universities;
- Establishing and enhancing research collaboration between Qatar University and international universities and institutions;
- Fostering collaboration between researchers and developing research networks between Qatar University and different universities;
- Optimally utilizing resources, infrastructure and expertise to the joint advantage of the region and the globe;
- Building trust, developing relationships across the countries’ institutions, learning from each other’s experiences, and helping the advancing scientifically in a concerted manner to fulfill the Knowledge Based Economy aspiration of Qatar;
- Providing a vibrant cross-pollination research platform to students and researchers by creating exchange opportunities
The research team will have a Lead Principle Investigator (LPI) from Qatar University and a LPI from the partner institution(s). Qatar University research team should have at least three faculty members and at least one junior researcher (Research Assistant, PhD Student or Graduate Assistant). Research teams in the partner institution(s) should follow their requirements. The involvement of graduate and undergraduate students is an advantage during the evaluation process. Research centers, colleges, and central lab units should provide all support needed to research teams.
The following eligibility criteria apply:
- The proposed project is aligned with QU Research Pillars.
- The LPI is a full-time QU staff member (Assistant Professor, Research Associate, Associate Professor, Professor)
- The project team includes at least three faculty members
- Project team includes at least one junior researchers from QU (Research Associate, PhD Student or Graduate Associate)
- Project budget does not include equipment costs for Qatar University as this is provided by the Research Centers, Colleges and Central labs.
- A College/ Centre commitment letter supporting the proposal Inc. any associated costs for equipment
- A letter of commitment has been submitted by the partner(s) institution(s) signed by an appropriate institutional signatory
- The proposed project does not exceed the maximum allowed funds per year from IRCC funds
- The proposed project was not fully or partially funded by any other source
The IRCC (Track 1) will have one submission cycle per year, with a maximum allocated funding per university of US $80,000 per year – US $160,000 over 2 years. The funding for the second year will be subjected to satisfactory performance of the first year, assessed through submission of an annual report and a review process.
Each Co-funder shall be directly responsible for dispersing and managing their share of funds allocated for the granted proposal as per the signed agreement. All supplies, equipment and consumables purchase related to research tasks and aims conducted at one of the collaborating institutes must be dispersed and covered from the contributing institution’s share of co-funding.
IRCC funding for the awarded projects second year will be subjected to satisfactory performance of the first year, assessed through submission of an annual report and a review process.
Information on potential Call for Projects or Specific Partnerships is sent through the Colleges and Centers
