rrsg-rrsg_3rd_cycle

Responsive Research Seed Grants Scheme
3rd Cycle

RRSG 3rd Cycle

Call for Proposals

School of Postgraduate Studies and Research Sri Lanka Technological Campus, Sri Lanka

The School of Postgraduate Studies and Research (SPSR) at Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC), Sri Lanka is pleased to announce the third cycle of Responsive Research Seed Grants (RRSG) for 2022. The purpose of this initiative is to strategically develop SLTC’s core discipline research capacity and collaboration toward more impactful research. The initiative also aims to enhance collaboration with the industry and expand opportunities for external funding.

We are now soliciting research proposals under all areas of SLTC and the evaluation of proposals will focus on the impact of the proposed research to SLTC and the potential of engaging local and foreign stakeholders and industry in the future.

One-year projects will be funded under this program and the cycle of these projects will be from 1st June 2022 for 1 year. Quarterly reports will be submitted by the winning projects and these include: publications, conferences, disclosures, evidence of collaboration with international universities or industry, and potential for future national or international funding applications. A clear vision and evidence need to demonstrate how your research can lead to a future national/international grant proposal.

Eligibility as Principal Investigator (PI)

SLTC faculty members (except consultant lecturers, instructors, ad-hoc, and visiting titles) members are eligible, either with PhD or with 04 years of full-time research experience (experienced researcher), to apply if they do not have startup funds or national/international grant as of the date of granting the responsive research seed grants (1st June 2022). Faculty members who currently have an ongoing external project as PI are not eligible to apply as PI, but they can be co-PI in one application only.
An eligible faculty member can have no more than two roles in the submission cycle (PI, co-PI, or two co-PI).
Other faculty members with a Master level degree may apply for 50% support as PI. Another 50% should be provided by an external funding source (industry or government). In exceptional cases, SPSR may grant support for PI with only Master’s degree without external funding support for outstanding proposals.

Guidelines

Proposals for these grants should meet the following requirements:

  1. To foster research collaborations, projects must comprise at least two SLTC faculty members. One faculty should be designated as PI.
  2. A collaboration, including senior and junior faculty is preferred (50% of junior faculty (age below 35) should be included).
  3. International collaborations are also encouraged, but funding will not share with the outside SLTC community.

4. The research outcomes should be oriented toward addressing one of the priority themes of the SLTC.

  • Applied Mathematics
  • Bio-Systems
  • Business Management
  • Cognitive Computing
  • Digital Technologies
  • Economics
  • Education and Learning
  • Music
  • Power System Engineering
  • Robotics & Control
  • Sustainable Building
  • Sustainable Environment

5. There should be at least 02 SLTC undergraduates need to include in order to improve the impact to a wider audience.

6. Projects that include consideration of their societal impact and/or relevance are especially welcome.

7. The research proposal should be no more than 10 pages (font 12, single spacing) and it should include:

  • Project title & team members (with email IDs)
  • Proposal summary (1 page)
  • Objectives
  • Project impact
  • Project progression and expected results
  • Requested budget and justification
  • How do you plan to drive this project towards a national or international funding (clear evidence and a plan is essential) application (300 words)
  • Dissemination plan (no of Scopus indexed journals) – at least one journal paper and an international conference paper are required in your plan. A science communication (non- technical newspaper or magazine paper or a public talk etc.) is encouraged to make during the project to inform the general public.
  • Grant Chart for 12 months
  • References

In addition, please submit CV of the PI and key members (with publication list and R & D background).

8. Faculty members can submit only ONE RRSG application as PI, with a maximum of two roles: one PI and one co-PI, OR two co-PI roles.
9. Faculty members cannot be listed on more than two applications (PI and co-PI, or two co-PI roles).
10. At least a project will be allocated for each main academic school.

Application Submission

11. Deadline for applications is 1st May 2022 at 5:00 PM. SPSR will conduct an administrative check of the proposal before the proposal forward for formal review.
12. Application submissions should be made through the Easychair platform. The submission link and instructions will be provided soon.
13. Projects will start on 1st June 2022.

Funding

SLTC will be promoting research performed with junior faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. Faculty are strongly encouraged to establish collaborations with our junior faculty, research assistants, undergrad students and to co-supervise and bring graduate students to work on their projects. For the current cycle, the following items can be requested.

A group of researchers up to 1-10 per group. Local or international collaborators can be included. However, they will not be financed through our grant.

Maximum funding support is Rs. 1, 000,000 (1M).

Funding distribution:

  • Conference registration fees (only international level) 0.1M Max can be budgeted.
  • Travel support for one conference (hotel, transport and airfare) – 0.2M Max can be budgeted.
  • Local field and research visits (NSF norms will be adopted) – 0.1M Max can be budgeted.
  • Essential equipment/materials for your R & D project.
  • Technical personnel full or part time (min. with undergraduate degree) can be hired.
  • A Research Assistant can be requested in your proposal. This does not need to include in the proposal budget. However, the role of RA and time period need to be detailed, in full.

Selection

Projects will be selected through a review process that will be established in coordination with SPSR. The evaluation will consider the ability of the PI’s group to grow the research area and attract sustainable external research funding after these projects are over. Special emphasis will be on the ability of the project to attract local stakeholders and industry in order to provide future support.