[Dikan-teny Malagasy | Version Française]
Ikala STEM - USA Chapter awards grants to young Malagasy graduate students in early-career stages in STEM to support their academic and professional development, under two categories for this year. An applicant can submit only one application per year. The proposed project in the application must be conducted between June 2022 to May 2023. Grantees will be expected to acknowledge Ikala STEM when participating in the project for which the funding was awarded (e.g.: Ikala STEM logo should be added in talks and posters that the grantee presents, ...)
1. Research
This can be used to pay for local transportations to field sites, purchase of materials and supplies, salary for field guides, park entrance fees, research permit fee and lab fees. It cannot be used to pay for university fees, tuition or personal stipend.
2. Dissertation
This category is intended to pay for the expenses related to dissertation writing-up and editing phases, for master’s and doctoral degrees (and their equivalents); this includes photocopying documents, editing and printing. It cannot be used to pay for university fees, tuition or personal stipend.
Grant amount
This year, we aim to fund 3-4 applications for a total support of $1,800 for all categories. We will award up to $1600 for research, up to $200 for dissertation. Note that the funding is not intended to pay for the entire cost of the project, but as a contribution to help the applicant in their endeavor; therefore, the applicant needs to show evidence of additional support sought and/or received.
Eligibility
● Must be Malagasy and based in Madagascar. A copy of Malagasy Identification Card may be required at the time of the selection.
● Must be enrolled in a graduate program (MS, PhD, DVM, CAPEN, DESS) at a university in Madagascar or a postgraduate (less than 5 years after graduate degree) working in a research institution in Madagascar.
● Any STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
● Must be associated with Ikala STEM in any capacity, registered as a member, permanent member or “friend” of Ikala STEM for at least 6 months.
● For the Dissertation grant, only students in the last year of their degree (including M2), at the writing phase, are eligible to apply as this will support only the printing costs associated with the dissertation.
Application procedure
● Download and fill out the Application form in the following links: Research Grant application, and Dissertation Grant application. You may fill the forms in either English, French or Malagasy but not a combination of languages.
● Save the document as one pdf file, named “LASTNAME_First name.pdf” (Example: RAKOTONDRATSIMA_Asher.pdf).
● Send the application document to ikalabekintana@gmail.com with “Grant application 2022” on the subject line.
● Have someone familiar with your work (for example: a supervisor, a PhD advisor) send a letter of recommendation to ikalabekintana@gmail.com with “Letter of support - your name” on the subject line. The letter must be with an institutional letterhead and signed. The letter can be in English, French or Malagasy.
● If you do not receive a confirmation of receipt within two weeks of submission, please contact us at the email above.
Application deadline
March 31st, 2022. Both the application document and the letter of recommendation must be received by this deadline, without exception.
Application procedure
Each proposal will undergo rigorous evaluations by an external reviewer committee, composed of experts within your specific discipline and from across the STEM fields. Our evaluation criteria vary by category, but overall will include:
● Quality of the proposal
● Clarity of the objectives (as well as the hypotheses and predictions for the research grant)
● Feasibility and suitability of the proposed plan
● Suitability of the budget, availability of other funding sources
● Applicant career stage
● Whether the proposal will contribute to the applicant’s academic and/or professional development
● Whether the applicant had, or can get, the experience required to conduct the project
Award procedure
We will inform all applicants about the outcomes of their applications no later than May 31st, 2022. Payments will be made directly to the awardees in Malagasy Ariary after signature of a grant agreement.
Each awardee will be required to submit, no later than 3 months after completion of their project, a technical and financial report with all the receipts associated with the use of the fund.
In the event that the report does not meet the requirements of the agreement, we reserve the right to request reimbursement and the applicant will not be allowed to apply for an Ikala STEM Small Grants in the future.
If you have questions regarding this funding scheme, do not hesitate to email us at ikalabekintana@gmail.com. A list of frequently asked questions can be consulted here.
