Irish Research Council Announces ‘Collaborative Fellowships for a Responsive and Innovative Europe’ (CAROLINE) Scheme

The Irish Research Council has launched a new call under the ‘Collaborative Fellowships for a Responsive and Innovative Europe’ (CAROLINE) fellowship scheme [1], a Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) COFUND programme.

This scheme will provide an opportunity to non-governmental organisations and international organisations to work with experienced researchers and their academic mentors in Irish higher education institutions (HEIs)/research performing organisations (RPOs) on research projects addressing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

What is CAROLINE?

Underpinning the programme are the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which apply to both developed and developing countries. CAROLINE will enable NGOs to work together and engage in mutual learning with academic researchers. NGOs will gain access to expertise and cutting-edge facilities in Irish HEIs/RPOs. The scheme offers the potential to serve as a stepping-stone towards building new/enhancing existing collaborations with Irish HEIs/RPOs.

Benefits for NGOs

Many civil society organisations lack the capacity to undertake the research they need and do not have access to resources required to build and sustain such a capacity. CAROLINE will overcome this obstacle: CAROLINE fellows will be seconded to NGOs/IOs from their home institution with a full salary (covered under the scheme) and with a generous budget of €9,600 per year for eligible research expenses for the project.

By engaging with the applicants and their mentors from the proposal preparation phase till the project completion, NGOs will be in the position to tailor the research project to their exact research interests and priorities. Research projects can be in any discipline, with research topics addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals as outlined in UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

A list of projects funded in previous years together with short descriptions is available to view on the scheme’s website.

Types of Fellowship

Irish Fellowships (Two-Year duration), 10 awards expected under this call

Researchers awarded with an Irish Fellowship will be hosted by an HEI/RPO in Ireland for two years, with a mandatory secondment during this time to an NGO or IO partner organisation in Ireland. Where it is clearly beneficial to their training or research project, the researcher can propose an additional placement to another organisation. Placements of up to 3 months to partner organisations other than the main NGO/IO can be proposed. This flexibility is to ensure ongoing training and development in a non-academic environment and to facilitate inter-sectoral transfer of knowledge.

International Fellowships (Two-Year duration), 3 awards expected under this call

Researchers awarded with an International Fellowship will spend the first year on a secondment based with a partner NGO or IO outside Ireland, with a mandatory return year at the host RPO in Ireland. Irish NGOs with offices abroad, where international offices have the necessary infrastructure in place, can support International fellows. Additional placements of up to 3 months will be considered under these Fellowships.

The Irish Research Council can publish information about NGOs interested in participating in the programme on the scheme’s website where it will be available to prospective applicants. An online ‘expression of interest’ for these purposes is available on the scheme’s website here.

Further information about the fellowship, the application process and all relevant call documentation can be found here: http://research.ie/funding/caroline3/

Enquiries about the scheme should be addressed to caroline@research.ie

Date

Deadline

Applicant deadline

16:00 (Irish time) 6 September 2018

Referee, academic mentor, referee, secondment mentor and placement mentor deadline

16:00 (Irish time) 13 September 2018

Scheme outcome

January 2019

Deadline for submission of agreements between home host organisations and main partner organisations to the Council

15 April 2019

Fellowship start date

1 June 2019

[1] This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 713279