CERGE-EI Economics Grants

CERGE-EI, with financial support from the World Bank, announces a research competition in all fields of economics. Grants will fund scientific research based on sound economic analysis.

Funding:

Maximum funding will be $35,000 although it is expected that the vast majority of grants awarded will be for substantially smaller amounts.

Grants must begin no later than January 1, 2001 and end no later than December 31, 2001.

Applicants must be residents of any of the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, FYR Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, or Yugoslav Federation. Applicants must be resident for the substantial majority of each year in the country from which they are applying although they may be of any nationality or citizenship.

Applications may be submitted by individuals or teams of researchers. In the latter case, at least 50% of the researchers must be residents of eligible countries. No grant funds may be used to pay compensation to non-residents. Grant funds may, however, be used to pay travel and other direct costs required to enable participation by non-residents if such participation serves a clear scientific purpose. No applicant can submit or be a part of more than one proposal.

Formal application must be made by an institution with which the applicant is affiliated and that will administer funds if awarded. No funds may be paid directly to individuals. Examples of eligible institutions include Universities, Research Institutes or Non-Profit Organizations.

Administrating institutions may charge no more than 10% of the funds applied for as overhead.

Funds will be released one-third upon award of the grant, one-third upon receipt of a progress report at the mid-point of the grant and one-third upon receipt of final deliverables from the grant. Where this schedule would result in a serious hindrance to the proposed research, the applicant may petition for funds to be released on a different schedule after award of the grant. Final deliverables must include at least one formal research paper that has been submitted to an international peer-reviewed journal. Proof of submission may be required.

All successful applicants must agree to come to Prague to present a seminar on the completed work at CERGE-EI's expense if requested. Requests for seminars will be made at the time of submission of the final report from the grant.

Proposal Submission

Five (5) complete copies of all proposals must be submitted.

Proposals must be postmarked by July 1, 2000 and sent by the fastest practical method of delivery. The mailing address is:

Research Competition
CERGE-EI
Politickych veznu 7
111 21 Prague 1
Czech Republic

In order to ensure against postal problems, when a proposal is sent, an e-mail indicating that it should be expected should be sent to: [email protected]. Proposals must, however, be submitted in hard copy. No e-mail submissions will be accepted.

All proposals must be submitted in English

Proposals must include:

• An abstract of no more than 200 words outlining the significance of the research and the methodology to be used.
• A research proposal of no more than ten (10) doubled-spaced pages showing sufficient familiarity with the topic and methodology to provide confidence in the project's successful completion.
• A bibliography of relevant literature.
• CVs of all participating researchers.
• A budget showing expenses in all categories. While the categories will vary from grant to grant, they should, where applicable, include as a minimum:
  • Salaries and other compensation for the grantee(s) (including payroll taxes and fringe benefits).
  • Salaries and other compensation for research assistants and clerical personnel (including payroll taxes and fringe benefits).
  • English Editing Fees
  • Grant related travel
  • Equipment Purchases
  • Data and software purchases
  • Materials, supplies, telecommunications charges
  • Overhead
• A letter signed by a responsible officer of the sponsoring institution agreeing to administer the grant.

Proposal Review Process

Applications will be screened to ensure that they fall within the terms of reference for proposals. All qualified proposals will receive a minimum of three external reviews by experts in the field of the proposal selected by CERGE-EI and the World Bank. Anonymous reviewers' comments will be shared with applicants after the final selection of grants to be funded. Final selection will be made by an independent panel of senior economists taking into consideration the external reviews along with the evaluation criteria enumerated below.

Evaluation Criteria

The primary criterion will be the scientific merit of the proposed research. Scientific merit will be evaluated based on:

• Clarity of the proposed research question.
• Originality (preference will be given to projects that develop new methodologies or use the transition experience to obtain new insights into fundamental economic questions rather than those that call for mechanistic application of conventional techniques to new data).
• Use of the most modern and appropriate techniques.
• Competence of the principle investigator(s).

Other things equal, preference will be given to projects that:

• Are relevant to current policy concerns and interests of the World Bank, broadly defined. For an overview of the types of research of interest to the bank, please see http://www.worldbank.org/research. Please also be aware, however, that fundamental theoretical research that will inform subsequent applied studies will be considered �policy-relevant.�
• Are cost effective.
• Request funds for direct research expenses rather than income augmentation (i.e. could not be undertaken without the proposed grant). It is recognized, however, that low academic incomes often mean that scholars in the transition economies must supplement their base salaries from other sources including research grants and that grant support may facilitate research output by enabling scholars to substitute scholarly for non-academic activity (such as corporate consulting).
• Promote cooperation between residents of eligible countries and scholars from those countries who currently reside elsewhere (including advanced graduate students).
• Increase the geographic, ethnic, gender, or other diversity of funded proposals.
• Expand the pool of research-active scholars in the region.

Further Information

Questions and inquiries may be addressed to: [email protected].

Last updated:    May 2000

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