Call and Guidelines For Applications:

ICSSR- NWO India-Netherlands Social Science Scholar Exchanges 2010-11

The Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) invite applications from established scholars for funded academic visits of 1-3 months (and in exceptional cases a minimum of 2 weeks) to recognized research organisations (ROs), including universities and research institutes[1][1], in either country to undertake clearly specified research collaborations between themselves and their own research centre and research centres in the alternate country (either India or the Netherlands).

Aim

The purpose of this scheme is to strengthen the quality and potential of research in both countries by building greater research interaction. This scheme is for staff with an academic or research appointment, up to senior professors.

The Councils are particularly interested in applicants about to make major contributions in their research area. In this second round of exchange awards, the Councils are concerned to encourage applicants who have established, begun to establish, or are on the verge of establishing, international recognition in their research field. Early career and female researchers are especially invited to submit a proposal.

Guidelines for applicants

1. Applicants should be the scholars who wish to make the visit. They must however attach a letter of invitation from the proposed host institution in the other country indicating clearly that they have read and agree with the application, welcome the visitor, and provide research facilities to him / her.

2. Applicants must be employed in a research or academic position in a recognised research or academic institution in that country (see also note 1).

3. They must also hold a PhD or equivalent qualification, and have held this for at least three years by June 2010 (i.e. since at least June 2007).

4. Applications must nominate as Lead Collaborator an established scholar of postdoctoral status who is a secure member of staff at the host institution, with a recognised international standing in their field. The Lead Collaborator in association with the host institution must undertake to make all the necessary practical and administrative arrangements for the visit, and to provide the lead intellectual partner or mentor role for the exchange scholar during their visit. In addition, by supporting the application the host research centre or group makes a commitment to work towards research collaboration with the visiting scholar and the partner institution. Successful applications will normally be based in departments with clear international recognition in their fields.

5. ICSSR and NWO will provide:

§ § Reasonable/economy international travel costs between the two institutions.

§ § Related costs such as visa arrangements, travel and medical insurance (for Indian scholars) or vaccinations.

§ § The costs of residential accommodation to be provided by or on behalf of the host institution for the period of the stay.

§ § Some internal travel costs for the period of the stay where a case is made for links with related groups in other parts of the country.

§ § Additional subsistence and support costs up to a maximum for the full 3 months of Euro 8,000 in the Netherlands and 400,000 rupees in India.

§ § The total value of the grant may not exceed Euro 10,000 for visitors to the Netherlands or 500,000 rupees for visitors to India.

6. Applications may be made on the attached application form for periods of visits between 1 and 3 months:

a) for Indian scholars to visit a Netherlands research group or centre

b) for Netherlands scholars to visit an Indian research group or centre

7. Applicants should be able to demonstrate:

§ § The strength of their own personal research and that of their research group / centre in the proposed area of collaboration.

§ § The potential added value of developing and strengthening the link between their own work, and that of their group/centre, with that of the related research group(s) or centre(s) in India or the Netherlands.

§ § The particular research work they would undertake during their scholarship exchange, and the potential added value of this, including a plan for the visit.

§ § The potential longer-term value of collaboration that might be expected from building collaboration between the two research groups.

8. Applicants are not expected or required to be working on research topics specifically concerned with India or the Netherlands (though this is not excluded), but on any topic across the whole social sciences or related areas.

9. There is no fixed focus to the subjects in which the exchanges might be based, and the Councils are interested in these across the social sciences - covering economics, economic and social history, education, demography, development and area studies, environmental studies, human geography, law, management and business studies, pedagogy, political science, psychology, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, social policy, social statistics, and computing for social sciences.

10. The Councils will however be particularly but not exclusively (as indicated above) interested in applications in such areas as:

i. Changing life courses:

- Childhood and Adolescence

- - family, gender and ageing

- - ethnicity, religion and identity formation

- - employment and social security

- - education

ii. ii. Science, technology and society (STS)

- - environment

- - ICT

- - biotechnology

- - health

iii. iii. Global relationships

- - conflict and security

- - international migration

- - international economic relations

iv. iv. Poverty and inequality

11. Applications should be submitted on the attached form to ICSSR for Indian scholars wishing to visit the Netherlands and to NWO for Netherlands scholars wishing to visit India. They should be submitted by e-mail to ICSSR or through the IRIS system to NWO not later than: 18 May 2010 4 pm local time.

Applications will be acknowledged. If they are not acknowledged within 10 working days of submission applicants should not assume that they have been received. Applications to the NWO will be shared with the ICSSR who will eventually fund any awards to India, and similarly those to the ICSSR will be shared with the NWO.

Assessment procedure

12. The Councils expect to be able to make up to 10 awards during 2010-2011. The visit to be taken up during 2011, with a deadline of March 2012. The Councils expect but do not require that five of the visits will be to the Netherlands and the other five to India.

13. The award for all the costs during the exchange visit will be made directly to the host institution in the country to be visited. These will be made by the ICSSR to host institutions in India, and by NWO to host institutions in the Netherlands. International travel and related costs will be handled in the country of the applicant.

14. It is intended to make announcements about outcomes by not later than 31^st October 2010, and earlier if possible. Awards will need to be taken up during 2011, and at the latest by 31 March 2012, or the offers will lapse.

15. All applications will be referred to the ICSSR-NWO Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) for final decision. The JAC will consist of a number of senior academics across the social sciences. They (or specialist advisors appointed for them) will evaluate the proposals on the basis of academic merit, taking into account:

I. Quality of the proposal

§ § originality

§ § relationship to existing research in the field

§ § scholarly importance of the research proposed

§ § suitability of the methodology

II. Quality of track record

They will evaluate the ability of the investigator(s) to undertake the proposed research, taking into account their track record of scholarly publication and their academic standing. This applies to both applicant and host.

III. Quality/attributes of collaboration

§ § feasibility of the research programme and the visit plan

§ § adequacy of the scheme of research and its presentation

§ § intended outcomes.

They will particularly look at the potential for building strong collaborations of potentially leading-edge international work on the back of the proposed exchange.

Other information

16. If you need any further advice or information about the scheme you may contact:

At NWO Ms. Dr C.J.H. Govers e-mail: sscin@nwo.nl Telephone: +3170 344 0673 /0763

At ICSSR Dr K N Jehangir e-mail: knjehangir@gmail.com Telephone +9111 2674 2351

17. Awards to Indian host institutions will be made by the ICSSR, and similarly awards to the Netherlands host institutions will be made by NWO. The Councils will however make joint decisions on all applications. While the aim is a balanced set of exchanges in each direction to and from both the Netherlands and India, the final outcome will be determined by the quality of applications.

18. Successful applicants will be required to provide a short report on their visit and research (no more than 2,000 words) within 3 months of its completion. This will be expected to cover (a) the specifics of any research undertaken, (b) the development of new ideas, (c) any papers (draft or final) to which the visit has contributed and (d) any new opportunities for collaboration which have been opened up. Published articles or books related to the visit should include acknowledgement of the ICSSR-NWO exchange programme.

ICSSR-NWO (the Netherlands) Social Science Cooperation

Scholar Exchange Application

2010-2011

For visitors to the Netherlands: application and all supporting materials (1-2-page CVs of Exchange Scholar and Lead Collaborator, proposal, letter of host institution, etc) should be sent as email attachment to knjehangir@gmail.com

For visitors to India: applications and all supporting materials should be sent to NWO by e-mail through the IRIS system and a hard copy by the deadline of 4 pm (16.00 hrs.) local time on 18 May 2010.

EXCHANGE SCHOLAR Applicant Information (Scholar who will be visiting the host institution)
Last Name	First Name(s)			Date of birth
Name of Institution
Official Address
Phone			Email Address
Current Position / Title and name of department / school
From what institution did you receive your PhD?				Date
In what subject area?
If you have alternative equivalent qualifications to a PhD, please state what these are and when completed
Nationality		Passport Number
Between what dates would you propose to visit The Netherlands / India
What institutions (if any) do you propose to visit beyond your host institution?

HOST INSTITUTION AND LEAD COLLABORATOR INFORMATION
Name of host Institution
Official Address
Full Name of Lead Collaborator		Date of Birth
Position / Title	Phone		Email Address
Department or School
Name of administrative contact (if available)		Position / Title
Names and reference numbers of any Netherlands or ICSSR research awards linked to this proposal
Name of head of department / school
Please confirm by typing "YES" in the opposite column that the Host Institution and Lead Scholar have agreed with the application and will host this visit if awarded, and will provide all necessary accommodation, and administrative and logistical support. A letter of the host institute should be attached to the form (mandatory).

Project Title and Summary

In the space provided, please include a project summary (limited to 200 words

Curricula Vitarum

Please attach CVs of not more than two pages each for both the Exchange Scholar Applicant and the Lead Collaborator, covering major qualifications, major publications, appointments held, and any other relevant positions, prizes, etc.

Project Description

Please include a description of the project (between 1000-1500 words ).

Attach in a separate pages

Plan for the Visit

In the space provided, please include how the research will be planned during the visit (limited to 200 words).

Budget

Types of Expenses:	Items to be included	€ / Rupees In Euro by Indian scholars
International travel and related costs (visas, insurance, vaccinations, etc)
Internal travel costs
Accommodation
Additional subsistence or support costs
Other costs (please specify)
Totals

In the space below, please explain expenses.

For the Netherlands this refers to the Dutch universities, NWO and KNAW institutes and international centres for scientific education based in the Netherlands (IHS, ISS, ITC, MSM, UNESCO-IHE). Dutch scholars may see websites of icssr for icssr funded institutes and ugc for recognized universities

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