(Hitanao ety ambany ny fanazavana fanampiny)
Ikala STEM - USA Chapter awards grants to young Malagasy graduate students and in early-career stages in STEM to support their academic and professional development, under three categories. An applicant can submit only one application per year. The proposed project in the application must be conducted between June 2019 to May 2020. 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, ...)
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 fee, tuition and personal stipend.
Travel This can be used to support any expenses related to the applicant’s travel to attend and/or participate in a local, regional, national or international professional development activity (workshop, conference, short term training); for example: transportations, registration fee, room and board, membership fee.
Dissertation This category is intended to pay for the expenses related to dissertation writing-up and editing phases, for a master’s and doctoral degrees (and their equivalents); this includes photocopying documents, editing and printing.
Grant amount:
This year, we aim to fund 3-5 applications for a total support of $1,800 for all categories. We will award up to $800 for research, up to $500 for travel and up to $300 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 award.
Must be enrolled in a graduate program (MS, PhD, DVM, CAPEN, DESS) in a Malagasy university 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 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, Travel 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 “LAST NAME, First name.pdf” (Example: RAKOTONDRATSIMA, Asher.pdf);
Send the application document to Onja Razafindratsima at ikalabekintana@gmail.com with “Grant application 2019” on the subject line;
Have one letter of recommendation from someone familiar with your work (for example: a supervisor, a PhD advisor) submitted directly to Onja Razafindratsima at ikalabekintana@gmail.com with “Your name Letter of support” 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 on the email above.
Application deadline: March 8, 2019
Both the application document and the letter of recommendation must be received by this deadline, without exception.
Selection 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 1st, 2019. 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.
A list of frequently asked questions can be consulted here if you have any questions regarding this funding scheme. Do not hesitate to email us at ikalabekintana@gmail.com.
