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ACE Sur de Africa - FRA Visiting Lecturers Grants
ACE Sur de Africa is committed in boosting the relations between Spanish and Southern-African tertiary institutions so they can exchange both students and staff members, initiate high-quality research projects and consolidate existing relations which have been productive in the recent past. To achieve this goal, the ACE Sur de Africa - FRA Visiting Lecturers Grants Program is intended for three Faculty members of Universities or Research institutions located in Spain to visit Universities or Research institutions in Angola, Botswana, Comores, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
These grants are awarded by ACE Sur de Africa and they are sponsored by the Ramón Areces Foundation (FRA) and the Embassies of Spain in South Africa and Zimbabwe. One of the three grants - funded by the Embassy of Spain in Zimbabwe - will be specifically allocated to be spent at institutions of Zimbabwe/Zambia/Malawi for research, teaching, capacity building in the field of One Health with wildlife conservation approach and to promote science diplomacy in the host country. Each of these grants is endowed with a EUR 1 700,00 (taxfree) for each recipient. This amount is expected to cover one return flight and local expenses during the visit.
The FRA was created in 1976 with the broad objective of fostering scientific and technical research in Spain and culture in general. Ever since its creation the Ramón Areces Foundation has constantly and firmly supported scientific research as the driving force behind progress and modernity.
ELIGIBILITY - Interested applicants must:
• Be a faculty member (Personal Docente e Investigador PDI) either permanent or with a fixed-term contract at any university or research institute (CSIC, OPIs, etc.) in Spain.
• Find a host group or department - and a host researcher responsible for the visit - in one university or research institute located in Angola, Botswana, Comores, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• Present a teaching and/or research program for the time of the visit, for a minimum of either five working days or ten teaching/working hours. Teaching programs at the level of Masters or PhD are encouraged since they are easier to be implemented beyond administrative constraints.
• The beneficiary will also offer a public talk at the host institution for wide audiences. Promotion of such an event will be facilitated by the ACE Sur de Africa and the Embassies of Spain in the region.
• Any research output or published teaching material issued as a consequence of the visit should acknowledge the financial support of both the Ramón Areces Foundation and ACE Sur de Africa.
• The visit should take place before December 31 2023 unless some major reason discourages its realisation.
PROCEDURE - The selection of the awardees will be done according to the procedure outlined below.
• Friday 21st of July 2023: ACE Sur de Africa will announce a call-for-applications of the 2nd edition of the ACE Sur de Africa - FRA Visiting Lecturers Grants Program via direct e-mails sent to its associates and institutional stakeholders, posts in social media, etc.
• The call-for-applications will be open for 5 weeks, submission deadline on Friday 25th August 2023. During this time, interested applicants can submit their application via e-mail to the Secretary of the Award.
• Only merits in which the applicant is the lead author will be considered. This will ensure a fair competition of merits and achievements in which applicants have made a significant contribution.
• Applications are comprised of 3 parts, all of them in free format:
• Part 1 Program of the visit. Provide a description of (1) the applicant’s research/teaching trajectory in plain language, and (2) the research/teaching suggested program of the visit, including host university/department/institute in Southern African countries and name of the responsible person at the receiving institution (<800 words).
• Part 2 CV. Include all your merits as a lead author, including peer-review publications, conferences, books, chapters, patents, awarded grants as principal investigator, artwork, received awards, and other merits.
• Part 3 Letter from the responsible person at the receiving institution ensuring that the visit is viable to be done.
• All candidates will be notified of the Awards outcomes during the week following the submission date.
Please contact the Secretary of the Award Dr Alvaro de la Cruz-Dombriz (U. of Cape Town) for any question in his email <alvaro.delacruzdombriz@uct.ac.za>. The rest of the Award Committee consists of (in alphabetical order) Prof Oscar Lorenzo González (Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain) and Prof Matilde Sánchez-Fernández (Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain).