–  Deadline extended to September 10th! –

FEMISE is pleased to announce the launch of its fourth and final Internal Competition 2018/2019 within the current Scientific programme (2015-2019)

1. INTRODUCTION AND THEME OF THE CALL

 Members of the FEMISE network who participated as affiliates of FEMISE in the European Commission Call (Access the list of these members) are invited to submit research proposals under the theme of:

Priorities of the EU-MED region

The deadline for the submission is on the 10th of September 2018 (included-French date and time)

Winning proposals will meet the criteria of having a real value added (generating fresh knowledge), using rigorous and sound methodology, and having the potential of offering policy recommendations.

This fourth call for internal competition completes the research agenda for FEMISE for the four years Scientific Programme (2015-2019) by setting the Priorities of the EU-Med region.

Reminder: The first, was launched in 2015 and the selected proposals focused on modernisation in the countries in the south in the long run. The second, was launched in 2016 and the selected proposals focused on the navigating through the transition in the short run. The third round, was launched in 2017, and selected proposals focused on the Role of the EU in facilitating the transition of the South Med countries. A list of accepted proposals under the three rounds is given in the scientific program below to avoid repetition.

Details about the theme of the current Call for proposals, can be found in the link below:

in English, pdf

in French, pdf

II. TIME TABLE

Deadline for submissions of proposals: 10th of September 2018

Tentative time plan:

Evaluation of proposals: 17 September 2018

Selection and Notification of acceptance: 21 September 2018

Signing Agreements for selected proposals: 24-26 September 2018

Submissions of first drafts: May 2019

Submission of final drafts at FEMISE conference: June 2019

III. SUBMISSION PROCESS

 The dossier of the research proposals should include the following documents:

(1) The research proposal should not exceed 5 pages and should include the following:

1. Summary (1/2 page)
2. Statement of research stating the problem addressed, brief review of the literature and the knowledge gap the paper will fulfil.
3. Conceptual Framework of the research analysis and how challenges are addressed
4. Research Methodology stating the research question, the hypothesis to be tested, and the methodology that will be employed (e.g case studies, empirical evidence, etc.) and explain the rationale for using the selected methodology.
5. Policy implications, how will the expected results of the paper contribute to the policy making.
6. Time Frame, expected output (number of research reports produced), dissemination plan and division of labour in the consortium. Please note the duration for the projects in this call cannot exceed 10 months.

(2) The filled Application form 2018 (download here);

(3) The CVs of the members of the research consortium (standard forms can be downloaded here)

The dossier of the research proposal of the consortium can be sent to FEMISE bureau by email, fax or courier before: 10 th of September (included -French date and time)- More details in VIII. below

Any applications received after this date will not be considered.

IV. ELIGIBILITY

(1) Only Affiliates members’ to the FEMISE-EU Contract on “Support to dialogues, political and economic research and studies of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership” can be funded in this call (Please click here to download the list of those Affiliates to find out if your institute is eligible).

(2) All proposals have to be submitted in Consortiums as follows: at least one Affiliate member from the North AND one Affiliate member from the South.

Each consortium should have one Team Leader who will send the proposal on behalf of the consortium and will be responsible for the project (in terms of its executing, deliverables and admin process); he/she will be the contact person for all correspondence with FEMISE. Details of the legal representative who will be signing the agreement if the proposal is successful should also be provided in the application form. Proposals submitted with ONE member only will not be considered.

(3) Each researcher can only be involved in one funded project. In the case where a researcher is involved in several proposals, only the highest ranked proposal will be selected. The others (less well ranked) will be automatically eliminated.

V. Funding Scheme

The total budget envelope for all selected proposals in this fourth round of the internal competition will be approximate €64,000. Each consortium needs to specify in the application form provided the total amount requested for the honorarium of the team that will work on the project.

FEMISE will contribute a maximum of 80% of the final amount and the 20% amount will be considered as an “own contribution” from the consortium.

For example, if the approved budget for a selected proposal is Euros 8,000, FEMISE will contribute up to a maximum of Euros 6,400 towards this proposal and the remaining amount of Euros 1,600 will be considered as an “Own contribution” from the members of the consortium towards the project.

Teams are encouraged to produce more than one paper. The requested amount in the proposal needs to match the number of research papers produced and their quality, and will be part of the evaluation. The Selection committee reserves the right to modify the requested amount.

The funding through this call will ONLY cover the honorarium of the researchers (verified by Time sheets) that will be working on the selected proposals.

 VI. EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCESS

Following the initial screening for eligibility, proposals will go through the following evaluation process:

I. Evaluation: The FEMISE Evaluation Committee will perform the technical evaluation of the proposals, addressing the following criteria:

1. Scientific quality of the proposal, in terms of:

• Relevance of the topic to the economic policy issues of the Euro-Med Partnership
• Value added of the proposed topic to the existing knowledge
• The quality of the methodology and its ability to address the issue efficiently
• Integration of the ‘policy oriented’ dimension and its relevance to South Med policy framework.

2. Other evaluation criteria

• Degree of cooperation between teams (North and South)
• Geographic coverage (number of countries covered, coverage of countries poorly studied (e.g. Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon). Though comparative approach is encouraged, proposals that are addressing one country specific topics could be accepted;
• Overall Experience of the team of researchers while encouraging the participation of young researchers.
• The Dissemination plan included in the proposal

 II. Selection: Based on this technical evaluation, a selection process will take place for the proposals that will receive funding.

The decision of the selection committee will be one of the following:

• The proposal is accepted
• The proposal is accepted with a modification in the requested budget
• The proposal is accepted with suggested modifications (coverage, scope, etc.)
• The proposal is rejected

Team leader of all proposals will be informed of the decision of the selection committee. The reports of evaluation received by the referees will be sent to all teams. For the accepted proposals, the bureau will send the necessary agreements, general conditions and forms.

 VII. Research Quality and Dissemination

The output of the research should be made in terms of one ore more research report of an average of 40-50 pages, ensuring a good focused analysis and increasing publications’ potentials in scientific journals, articles and policy briefs.

Expected outputs and peer reviewing:

(1) Drafts of the submitted research reports will go through an ex-post evaluation process (‘Peer Review’).

(2) Dissemination plans (other than the channels provided by FEMISE) are very much encouraged but needs to be discussed with FEMISE to ensure proper acknowledgements are made to the support of FEMISE and the European commission.

(3) the Submission of a Policy Brief based on your research work is highly encouraged.

VIII. CONTACT DETAILS

Please send your proposals (before the deadline of 10th September 2018) by:

Email: internal.competition@femise.org (Subject; Submission of a research proposal)

or by fax:  Fax ++ 33 4 91 31 50 38

or by Post to:

FEMISE Association,

CMCI, 2 rue Henri Barbusse,

13 241 Marseille Cedex 01, France

Tel: ++ 33 4 91 31 51 95

[1] The title of the contract is « Support to dialogues, political and economic research and studies of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership » launched in March 2014.