Canada-Brazil Awards - Joint Research Projects

 

Canada-Brazil Awards - Joint Research Projects

 

Brief Description: 
The Canada-Brazil Awards – Joint Research Projects support exchanges of research teams collaborating on bilateral research projects. The projects must engage in collaborative research in key academic areas of bilateral cooperation leading to an eventual publication. Applicants must clearly explain the advantages of the partnership for both countries.

Eligibility

This competition is open to research teams from Canadian and Brazilian universities. The coordination of the project will be the responsibility of both the Canadian and Brazilian Project Leads and the teams will consist of graduate project members from Canadian institutions and PhD project members from Brazilian institutions.
Canadian and Brazilian Project Leads:

• must be citizens or permanent residents of the country of their institution;
• must be active faculty members, which include Professors Emeritus and academic staff on sabbatical leave, of a recognized higher education or equivalent degree granting institution;
• must hold a degree equivalent to a postgraduate qualification (PhD) and must have held the title of doctor for at least four years;
• must be proficient in the language of instruction at the Canadian institution (English or French); and
• who are retired faculty members are not eligible.

Deadline:
The deadline to submit an online application to DFATD is 11:59 p.m. EDT, June 30. Applications must be submitted by the Canadian Project Leads in collaboration with their Brazilian counterparts. Late applications will not be considered.
It is the responsibility of the Canadian institution to ensure that supporting documents are received by the deadline. Supporting documents, other than those requested, will not be accepted.

Notification

All efforts will be made to notify the institutions at the earliest possible date. Canadian Project Leads should be contacted by the end of June 2015 by the scholarship administrator regarding the status of their proposal.
Canadian teams with a successful proposal will receive a contribution agreement with Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) for the administration and disbursement of scholarship funding to the Canadian research team.

Award Value and Duration

Project activities should be scheduled over 24 months and must begin between July 2, 2017, and February 1, 2018. Projects may also be considered for an additional two years of funding based on merit, show of need and availability of funding.
Terms and conditions for each subsequent year of funding will remain the same as in the first year with the understanding that the composition of the project members may change.

Canadian teams

On behalf of the Government of Canada, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) provides funding for a maximum of five Canadian project members (graduate students) per project, per year for a maximum period of six months in Brazil. Funding will also be provided to the Canadian Project Lead for a short-term faculty visit to Brazil per year.
The scholarship value is:

• $2,700 CAN for the Canadian Project lead for a minimum period of seven days;
• $7,200 CAN for Canadian project members for research exchanges of four months; or
• $9,700 CAN for Canadian project members for research exchanges of five to six months.

Canadian project members (graduate students) can divide their exchanges into more than one trip to Brazil with the permission of their Brazilian partner. To receive the full scholarship amount, their combined exchange period must be a minimum of four months or five to six months.
Canadian institutions will disburse funds to the Canadian project members and Project lead to cover costs including:

• visa and/or study/work permit expenses;
• funding for the most economical round trip economy class ticket;
• funding for health insurance;
• living allowance; and
• required books, supplies, and equipment, not including computers.

Canadian institutions can claim an additional $300 CAN per project member to assist with overhead administrative costs associated with the joint research project.
Canadian institutions may include a second Canadian institution providing one institution acts as the lead institution and be identified as such in the proposal.
Note – New features: Pending confirmation of additional funding and the demonstrated need of the applicant, DFATD will consider the following features to better align with the reciprocal offer by Brazil to Brazilian teams:

• a second short-term faculty visit to Brazil for the Canadian Project Lead; and
• expenses for consumable materials (e.g., research materials)

The show of funding needs by the applicant for these additional features must be presented in the online application form under Section 7. Project Activities.
Confirmation of additional funds for these features will be announced to successful Project Leads.

Brazilian teams

On behalf of the Government of Brazil, the Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) will provide funding for the Brazilian team. Information regarding scholarship values related to the Brazil project team can be accessed on the CAPES website (Portuguese only).

Payment Procedure

The Canadian institution will receive funding in each fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) for all approved Canadian participants (project members and Project Lead) of the joint research project in the form of a contribution agreement and will be responsible for providing the funds to project members and the Project Lead.
Subject to the terms and conditions of the Contribution Agreement, funding will be disbursed by cheque to the Canadian institution following receipt of the following supporting documents:

• Contribution Agreement signed by both the designated signing authority at the Canadian institution and the designated authority at DFATD; and
• Cash Flow Statements submitted by the Canadian institution based on the travel of Canadian project members and project leads to Brazil.

Scholarship funding will be disbursed to the project members and the Project Lead according to the Canadian institution’s internal processes and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Contribution Agreement. All non-allocated funds must be returned to DFATD via the scholarship program administrator, the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), if any members of the research team do not take up the award.

Application Process

Instructions

Though Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) and the Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) have issued similar application procedures and program guidelines, some important differences exist to reflect country-specific needs.
Canadian and Brazilian Project Leads:

• must only use the application forms and program guidelines issued by their respective government. Canadian Project Leads must submit an application to DFATD. Brazilian Project Leads must submit an application to CAPES (Portuguese only); and
• should work together and submit similar proposals to DFATD and CAPES respectively in order to facilitate a comparable evaluation. Project Leads from both sides must agree on the two parallel applications.

Canadian Project Leads must:

• submit the online documentation listed below after making arrangements with Brazilian Project Leads;
• enter the information directly into the field or copy and paste it from another source. Applicants should refrain from using the tab keys when entering the information directly. Certain web-based special characters such as HTML tags may cause unpredictable results in the text, or prevent successful submission of an application. The information will appear as plain text;
• enter data in the fields provided, following instructions for each item (the official name of the Brazilian institution must be provided in Portuguese);
• verify the data prior to submission as well as agree to the Privacy Notice and Declaration and Permission Statements by checking their respective boxes; and
• click SUBMIT to finalize the online application. A confirmation page and reference number will appear after submission.

Supporting documents

The following eight documents must be uploaded and attached to the online application form in one of the following formats: .pdf, .jpg, .doc, .docx, .txt or .gif. Each document must be smaller than 5 Mb in order for the application to upload successfully.

• Reference letters (two) for the Canadian and Brazilian Project Leads: a short letter in English or in French, provided by a colleague or a peer, for each of the two Project Leads validating their academic achievements and supporting their ability to lead the project (maximum one page).
• Resumes (two) of the Canadian and Brazilian Project Leads: one resume for each of the two Project Leads, listing scholarly publications, scholarships and awards. Each document should not exceed three pages.
• Privacy Notice Statement: a copy of the Privacy Notice Statement for non-Canadian participants signed by the Brazilian Project Lead.
• Proof of citizenship or permanent residency (two) for the Canadian and Brazilian Project Leads: copies of passports or national identity documents with valid dates. NOTE: Both the Canadian and Brazilian Project Leads’ proof of citizenship or permanent residency must be sent to CBIE via e-mail at scholarships-bourses@cbie.ca.
• Memorandum of Understanding or written agreement: a copy of this document is required and must be signed by authorized representatives of the collaborating Canadian and Brazilian institutions.

The Canadian Project Lead must submit a completed online application form and attach all supporting documents.
Note - for selected projects only: additional information will be requested from the Canadian and Brazilian team members who will participate in the projects. Additional information regarding STEP 2 is available on the Canada-Brazil Awards - Joint Research Projects: STEP 2 page of the scholarships website. Team members will need to provide this information by filling out the Canada-Brazil Awards: Joint Research Projects - STEP 2 registration form.

Selection Process

All applications received by the deadline and that meet the eligibility criteria will be reviewed in Canada and Brazil through peer review boards in their respective countries.
Pre-selected proposals will then be evaluated by a joint Canadian and Brazilian Selection Committee. In making the final selection, attention will be given to projects supporting key areas of bilateral cooperation and mutual interest which encourage research collaboration as well as a high degree graduate student mobility.
Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Proposed research: the quality and methodology of the proposed research, relevance of undertaking the project in Canada and in Brazil, the contribution of the research project to strengthen the academic linkages between Canada and Brazil and the alignment of the proposal with the institution’s strategic priorities.
• Aptitudes of the Canadian and Brazilian Project Leads: the strength of letters of reference, resumes, as well as the interpersonal and leadership abilities. Each Project Lead must have relevant research experience and/or proven technical-scientific skills to successfully undertake the project.
• Proposal: quality and completeness of the proposal and all submitted documents.

Conditions

The scholarship administrator is not able to provide feedback for unsuccessful candidates.
These scholarships are subject to the availability of funding from the Governments of Canada and Brazil.

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