WOTRO Newsflash
This is the newsletter of WOTRO Science for Global Development. It is published every six weeks and provides information about deadlines, awarded subsidies, research results and research policy.
WOTRO News
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1,5 million euros for research on new ICT and social media in African conflicts
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Research for Global Development: Who owns the seed?WOTRO’s website Research for Global Development features articles and videos on research that has been carried out in the areas of development and global challenges. The latest entry is an interview with Bram de Jonge, who studied the effects of intellectual property rights on development projects. The study showed that in some cases, patents can block access to improved seed for smallholder farmers in developing countries. This negatively affects the fight against hunger in the world. In the interview, De Jonge explains how this problem can be solved. |
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Business to Science conference on global food securityNWO-WOTRO invites everyone who is interested to the FoodFirst Business to Science conference “VoedselZaken over grenzen heen”, held on 15 March in Utrecht. The conference’s key question is: How can scientists and entrepreneurs work together effectively on improving global food security? Apart from presentations on the new top sector policy of the Dutch government and practical examples, there will be a presentation on the new WOTRO research programme Global Food Systems. The conference will be held in Dutch. For registering, please click here. |
Awarded Subsidies
Six Joint MFS II programmes awardedSix research proposals have been awarded in the Joint MFS II evaluations of development interventions programme. These include the evaluations at country level of interventions in Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Congo and Liberia. A proposal for the synthesis of the joint MFS II evaluations at country level was awarded as well. More details on the awarded programmes can be found here. A second call was launched for the country studies on Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Uganda and for the study on international lobbying & advocacy, as for these no proposals were awarded following the first call. The deadline for this second call is 21 February. More information is given under NWO and WOTRO Deadlines in this newsletter. |
Funding for new Open Access journal 'Asia Matters'The NWO Incentive Fund Open Access has awarded funding for a new Open Access journal, Asia Matters. Business, Culture and Theory. The funding covers the financial support for the first 3 years. Asia Matters will be edited by researchers from VU University Amsterdam, Oxford Brookes University and Copenhagen Business School. With the Incentive Fund NWO wants to stimulate free access to publicly financed research. Apart from support for founding Open Access journals, grants are available for publishing in such journals, books or monographs and for organising Open Access conference sessions. For more information, please visit NWO’s Open Access website. More on Asia Matters here... |
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NWO and WOTRO Deadlines
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Second call for proposals: Evaluations of development interventionsWOTRO has launched two second calls for proposals for the evaluation of development interventions financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the so-called Joint MFS II Evaluations). The overall purpose of these evaluations is to account for results of development interventions implemented by Dutch Co-Financing Agencies (CFAs) and/or their (Southern) partners. The calls relate to the evaluation of international lobbying and advocacy and to evaluations at country level, specifically Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Uganda. Deadline for submission is 21 February 2012. Read more… |
Call for proposals: Migration, Development and ConflictWOTRO and the Division of Social Sciences have launched a call for proposals for the research programme Migration, Development and Conflict. The programme aims to investigate transnational flows and their implications by looking at the multifaceted interactions of the positive and negative dimensions of transnational migration. A maximum of 5 projects (with a budget of up to €110,000 per project) can be awarded in this call. The deadline for submission is 20 March 2012. Read more… |
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Second call for proposals: PopDevWOTRO, together with the Economic & Social Research Council, the Population Reference Bureau and the Research Council of Norway have launched a second call for the programme Population, Reproductive Health and Economic Development (“PopDev”). PopDev aims to contribute to knowledge about the effects of population dynamics and reproductive health on different aspects of economic and social development. In this call, a budget of approximately €2,2 million is available for up to eight research programmes in total. The deadline for submission is 15 March 2012. Read more... |
Call for Proposals: China-Netherlands Joint Scientific Thematic Research Programme (JSTP)The JSTP aims at fostering research collaborations of Sino-Dutch research teams. Thematic calls for joint research projects are published annually. The 2011-2012 call addresses the research topic 'Agriculture & Food: How to Feed the World?'. On the Dutch side, a total budget of up to €1,5 million is available. This contribution will be matched by the Chinese counterparts. Research teams can also apply for the funding of joint Dialogue Seminars. These seminars serve as fore-sighting exercises aimed at identification of topics for future research. The deadline for both calls is 10 April 2012. Read more… |
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Calls for presentations: Bessensap 2012WOTRO invites researchers with and without a NWO-grant to submit proposals for presentations for Bessensap, the annual event where science meets the Dutch press. Researchers can either submit a proposal for a traditional presentation, or for a masterclass presentation. This year’s Bessensap takes place in The Hague on Monday 4 June. The deadline for submitting a proposal is 26 February. For more information, please visit the event’s website (in Dutch): www.nwo.nl/bessensap. |
Other Deadlines
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The Development Studies Organisation (DSA, UK) recently announced the launch of its New Ideas Initiative - a new funding opportunity for researchers to be awarded small-scale funding for exploring new ideas, collaborations and knowledge sharing within the international development sector. The DSA will be awarding between 5 to 8 grants of no more than £8000 (approx. €9600) each. The deadline for applications is 10 February 2012. For more information, please visit DSA’s website. |
Publications
5th Policy Brief on Intellectual Property RightsRecently, the Schokland funded research project about the role of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in realizing the Millennium Development Goals published its fifth and last policy brief. The publication focuses on IPRs and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). The brief lists specific recommendations so as to improve the management of Intellectual Property among partners within PPPs. The policy brief can be downloaded from the Knowledge Forum for Development website. |  |
Highlights of Research Results
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Health workers in Ghana not negative towards HIV patientsWOTRO researcher Jonathan Mensah Dapaah received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam on 24 January 2012 for his study on the way in which HIV/aids is treated in two different types of health care centres in Ghana. Dapaah investigated how health workers approach patients and what their attitudes towards people with HIV/aids are. He proves that, contrary to popular belief, health care workers do not have a negative attitude towards patients. Read more…
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