Islamabad, October 09, 2023 (PPI-OT): The International Growth Centre (IGC) research focuses on sustainable growth policies in developing countries. Sustainable growth refers to countries developing their potential in an inclusive way that improves social, environmental, and economic well-being for all, including for future generations. As developing countries have an urgent need for economic growth to increase living standards and reduce poverty, balancing this growth trajectory with environmental sustainability is crucial.
Sustainable growth encompasses not just job creation, income enhancement, and poverty elimination but also increasing resilience to climate shocks and reducing the negative externalities of growth.
research direction is anchored in productivity and innovation, and the microeconomic transformations that drive sustainable growth. These include enhancing firm capabilities, improving state effectiveness, developing sound urbanization strategies, and transitioning towards sustainable energy practices, all while safeguarding the natural environment.
Projects that address these issues through one of four themes:
Firms, trade, and productivity – Increasing productivity through structural changes in firms’ capabilities, the functioning of markets and how firms interact with world markets, while promoting green innovation and enhancing resilience against climate shocks.
State effectiveness – Escaping fragility and improving the capabilities and effectiveness of states to deliver higher rates of inclusive growth, while addressing the challenges of environmental externalities.
Cities – Making cities more productive and inclusive while addressing the downsides of density and ensuring resilience to climate change.
Energy and environment – Improving access to reliable, cost-efficient energy, supporting the transition to clean energy, reducing global and local environmental externalities, and more effectively managing natural capital.
10 partner countries throughout Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Country offices allow the IGC to sustain long-term policy engagement and help ensure the work is demand-led. Partner countries are Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia.
Types of awards
Offer two types of awards: full research grants and small research grants. Full research grants: These grants are for fully developed research projects. Not only must the research question be clear, but applicants must also demonstrate a commitment from implementing partners (if applicable), well-defined instruments, and a clear and compelling research design. Proposals can be for any type of research, and we encourage the use of a variety of approaches, including using secondary data.
Proposals can also be submitted for funding the continuation of research projects that have already started where new research opportunities arise. The expectation is that these projects will result in a paper publishable in a top Economics journal, as well as generate significant policy impact. There is no limit on the amount that can be awarded. However, our average project budgets are GBP 60,000, and we rarely fund projects over GBP 125,000.
Small research grants: These grants are for pilot studies and exploratory research. We also strongly encourage applicants who want to work purely on administrative data to apply through this window. All small grants will be capped at GBP 30,000, while research that is purely exploratory in nature will be capped at GBP 20,000. Researchers will be expected to conduct their research in an IGC resident country, and connect to the IGC country team during proposal development, which comes with several advantages including potential access to policymakers, access to feedback, and data.
Small grants are designed to enable researchers to further refine and test innovative research ideas with high potential policy impact by conducting preliminary research and engaging with partners, which will enable stronger full applications in future funding rounds. IGC encourages any researcher to apply for these, but in particular PhD students, early career researchers, and researchers based in developing countries.
Pilot grants will be awarded to projects with a reasonably well-developed research question, but for which the design and implementation requires further testing and pilot data before scale-up into a larger research study. New evidence from the pilot can also sometimes lead to an adjustment or reformulation of the research question.
There is also an expectation that grant awardees engage with relevant policy stakeholders, implementation partners, and IGC country team for feedback during the pilot, to further shape their interventions and research design for scale-up.
Exploratory work relates to preliminary research ideas, such as conducting background research, developing partnerships, visiting field sites, and collecting preliminary data. The expectation is that these funds will be used to support costs related to the researcher’s travel and IGC country team and policymaker engagement to develop a proposal for a pilot or full-scale study during subsequent call for proposals.
We do not expect to award more than GBP 20,000 for purely exploratory work that does not involve a pilot component.
Evaluation of proposals
Proposals are evaluated on the following criteria:
Alignment with research strategy
Quality of research design
Policy impact
Academic impact
Engagement with local institutions, including IGC country teams
Value for money
Please note that the due date to submit the completed online proposal form by 17:00 GMT on 14 November 2023.
For more information, contact:
COMSATS University Islamabad
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9247000-3
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.comsats.edu.pk/