Applications call for BIEA Thematic Research Grants 2020-2021

Every year the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) invites applications for our small Thematic Research Grants. These funds are usually dispersed through two calls for applications per year. This is the first call for applications in the 2020-2021 year.

Summary

BIEA research funding is available to support original research within these thematic areas in any discipline in the humanities and social sciences across the region. The BIEA’s thematic grant scheme particularly seeks to help researchers who have limited access to other sources of funds. In doing so, the BIEA seeks to nurture early career researchers and scholars in eastern Africa, and is keen to fund small projects that lay the ground for larger projects.

Such researchers may include postgraduate students in eastern African or the UK, or people who have not followed conventional research careers but whose local knowledge or contacts make them well-fitted to conduct high-quality research. BIEA particularly encourages applications from the wider eastern African region, which we define as stretching from Sudan to Mozambique, and including Madagascar.

Thematic Areas

The BIEA Thematic Research Grants Program invites applications for funding for research projects that engage with one or more of the following thematic areas:

• Epidemics, pandemics, and epizootics
• Citizens and science
• Knowing environments
• Technologies of politics
• Urban lives
• Retelling the past

Benefits and Funding

BIEA Thematic Research Grants are normally between £500 and £1,000; in exceptional circumstances, up to £1,500 may be awarded. The grant should contribute towards actual research costs and not include institutional overheads, equipment, and applicant’s stipend or publication costs. Priority is given to researchers based in the UK or eastern Africa.

Additional Information

BIEA’s research funding is competitive as they receive much more applications than beyond their funding capacity. So here are some basic things BIEA considers while making the decision to fund

• The application must, therefore, make a clear and compelling case for why we should support your proposed research.
• Making such a case means briefly summarizing the current state of knowledge and your research question, and explaining briefly how your chosen research methodology will help to advance knowledge and contributes to the BIEA current research themes.
• The project also needs to be viable – that is, it has to be possible within the budget and time-frame you have set out.
• The budget needs to be realistic and justify the amounts requested.
• Applicants must have a clear plan for dissemination so that people will hear about the results.

 Application Form