1. Intent
As an academic institution established to advance the socio-economic development of Ghana through cutting-edge research and linkage with industry, the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has been focusing its research agenda (Education and Environment for Sustainable Development) on the development agenda of Ghana. In order to foster global transformation and align our research endeavours to international policy agenda, faculty and staff of the University have been undertaking research driven by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
As part of measures to realise the agenda of global visibility, international competitiveness, and social impact, the Directorate of Research, Innovation, and Consultancy (DRIC) and the University Management announce the fifth call for proposals for Research Support Grants (RSGs) for the 2020-2021 academic year. The RSGs aim to encourage researchers to conduct high-quality research of national and international relevance.
This Call will put premium on proposals that demonstrate strong promise regarding relevance to:
• society;
• industrial linkage;
• national development orientation;
• impact on the University’s visibility; and
• contribution to knowledge and innovation.
The 2020-2021 Call is structured in five (5) parts:
1. Individual RSG;
2. Group-Led RSG;
3. Inter-Departmental RSG;
4. Policy and Practice-Oriented (University-wide) RSG; and
5. RSGs for Non-Teaching Senior Members.
The offering of RSGs will provide a groundswell of research evidence that will attract bigger funds for the engagement in large-scale research that will yield a wider impact at the national and international levels.
2. Funding and Duration
For this call, DRIC in consultation with the University Management has committed Six
Hundred and Seventy-Two Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢672,000.00) as total funds for the
RSGs.
The following are details on the funding and duration for each of the five (5) categories:
a. Individual RSG
i. This RSG will be competed for at the Faculty and College levels;
ii. Maximum amount of money available for individual will be Eight Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢8,000.00) for the College of Humanities and Legal Studies (CHLS), College of Education Studies (CES) and College of Distance Education (CoDE); and Twelve Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢12,000.00) for the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences (CANS) and College of Health and Allied Sciences (CoHAS);
iii. In each College, three (3) of the individual RSGs will be on offer;
iv. Evidence of submission (under review) of the paper for publication in Scopus- or Web of Science-indexed journal should be submitted to DRIC in eight (8) months (October 2020 - May 2021); and
v. Submission of end of research project report (soft copy) to DRIC.
b. Group-Led RSG
i. This RSG will be competed for at the Faculty and College levels;
ii. Maximum amount of money available for group-led will be Thirteen Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢13,000.00) for the CHLS, CES and CoDE, and Fourteen Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢14,000.00) for CANS and CoHAS;
iii. In each College, three (3) group-led RSGs will be on offer;
iv. Evidence of submission (under review) of the paper for publication in Scopus- or Web of Science-indexed journal should be submitted to DRIC in eight (8) months (October 2020 - May 2021); and
v. Submission of end of research project report (soft copy) to DRIC.
c. Inter-Departmental RSG
i. This RSG will be competed for at the College level;
ii. Maximum amount of money available for this RSG will be Thirty-Five Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢35,000.00);
iii. In each College, one (1) RSG in this category will be on offer;
iv. Evidence of submission (under review) of the paper for publication in Scopus- or Web of Science-indexed journal should be submitted to DRIC in twelve (12) months (October 2020 - September 2021); and
v. Submission of end of research project report (soft copies) to DRIC.
d. Policy and Practice-Oriented (University-Wide) RSG
i. This RSG will be competed for at the University level;
ii. Maximum amount of money available for this RSG will be Fifty-Five
Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢55,000.00);
iii. Two (2) RSGs in this category will be on offer;
iv. Evidence of submission of the paper (under review) for publication in Scopus- or Web of Science-indexed journal should be submitted to DRIC in twelve (12) months (October 2020 - September 2021); and
v. Submission of end of research project report (soft copy) to DRIC.
e. RSGs for Non-Teaching Staff (Senior Members)
i. This category of RSG will be competed for at the University level by non- teaching senior members;
ii. Two (2) individual RSGs (maximum of Eight Thousand Ghana Cedis [GH¢8,000.00] each) and two (2) group-led RSGs (maximum of Thirteen Thousand Ghana Cedis [GH¢13,000.00] each) will be on offer;
iii. Evidence of submission (under review) of the paper for publication in Scopus- or Web of Science-indexed journal should be submitted to DRIC in eight (8) months (October 2020 - May 2021); and
iv. Submission of end of research project report (soft copy) to DRIC.
3. Eligibility
The eligibility criteria are as follows:
• The Call is open to all Senior Members (teaching and non-teaching) at post;
• Principal/Lead investigators should be less than 60 years of age at the time of submitting the application for the grant. Applicants on sabbatical, post-doctoral, and study leave are not eligible to apply as principal/lead investigators, but as co-investigators.
• Eligible applicants may participate in more than one project as a Co-Investigator but shall submit only one application as a Principal Investigator. If an applicant submits two or more applications as a Principal Investigator, all the applications will be disqualified.
• Grantees who have not completed (not shown evidence that their manuscripts are under review) the implementation of their University-sponsored research projects are not eligible to apply for this grant.
4. Assessment of Proposals
Proposals will be assessed at multiple levels.
4.1 Individual/Group-led RSG
4.1.1 The Director of DRIC in consultation with the Dean of Faculty/School concerned will constitute a team of three (3) assessors for the assessment of the applications. There will be two (2) assessors from the Faculty/School and the third one from a cognate Faculty/School. In a case where the Dean is an applicant, the Director of DRIC in consultation with the Chairperson for the DRIC Management Committee will constitute the assessment team at the Faculty/School level. Applicants will be required to make an oral presentation on their proposal to the team of assessors.
4.1.2 The Director of DRIC in consultation with the Provost of College concerned will constitute a team of three (3) assessors to assess and identify the top three applicants for each of the two categories of awards. In a case where the Provost is an applicant, the Director of DRIC in consultation with the Chairperson for the DRIC Management Committee will constitute the assessment team at the College level.
4.1.3 The DRIC Management Committee will vet the outcome of the assessment from both the Faculties/Schools and Colleges.
4.2 Inter-Departmental RSG
4.2.1 The Director of DRIC in consultation with the Provost of the College concerned will constitute a team of three (3) assessors to review the applications.
4.2.2 Applicants will be required to make an oral presentation on their proposal to the team of assessors.
4.2.3 The DRIC Management Committee will vet the outcome of the assessment.
4.3 Policy and Practice-Oriented (University-Wide) RSG
4.3.1 The Director of DRIC in consultation with the Chairperson of the DRIC Management Committee will constitute a team of three (3) assessors from the University to review the applications.
4.3.2 Applicants will be required to make an oral presentation on their proposal to the team of assessors.
4.3.3 The DRIC Management Committee will vet the outcome of the assessment.
4.4 RSGs for Non-Teaching Senior Members
4.4.1 The Director of DRIC in consultation with the Chairperson of the DRIC Management Committee will constitute a team of three (3) assessors from the University to review the applications.
4.4.2 Applicants will be required to make an oral presentation on their proposal to the team of assessors at a Ghana Association of University Administrators facilitated forum.
4.4.3 The DRIC Management Committee will vet the outcome of the assessment.
4.5 Assessment will be guided by the following:
• Eligibility and track record of the lead investigator;
• Team composition and capability - expertise, gender, academic rank, track record, involvement of graduate students, multi-disciplinary and experience;
• Strength of proposal in addressing the needs of industry, solving societal challenges, contributing to national development, and advancing the frontiers of knowledge;
• Originality/Innovativeness – Necessary sanctions will be applied, if evidence is found that the research has already been conducted;
• Inter-disciplinary nature of the proposal;
• Feasibility of the proposal within the timeframe and budget ceiling;
• Evidence of collaboration with industry;
• Knowledge sharing/dissemination strategies;
• Overall impact to reposition the University;
• Data and code management and archiving strategies;
• Completion of previous DRIC-UCC sponsored RSG; and
• Oral presentation and defence of proposal by applicants.
5. Outline of Proposals
• Title - (20 words maximum);
• Background/Context - Knowledge of literature (300 words maximum) - [5 marks];
• Research Objectives/Hypotheses/Questions - (300 words maximum) - [5 marks];
• Significance/Relevance - Industry-linked, society-relevant, national development oriented, contribution to knowledge and innovation (800 words maximum) - [15 marks];
• Methodology - (where applicable) provide the study design, population, interventions, sample size, and sampling strategy, follow up procedures and laboratory investigations; data collection, data management, and analytical approach; quality assurance, ethical considerations (all sponsored research shall seek ethical approval from an appropriate institutional review board), etc. (1,500 words maximum) - [25 marks];
• Impact and Knowledge Sharing - Strategies and pathways for ensuring wider impact at the national, regional and local levels (1,200 words maximum) - [20 marks];
• Evidence of Collaboration with Industry (300 words maximum) - [10 marks];
• References - Send bibliographic references as an appendix;
• Work Plan - Spell out activity and timeline of each investigation in weeks/months within the given period of time spelt out in this Call. The work plan will not be changed, if the proposal is awarded the grant. It may only be changed after advice from the College monitors in question, consideration by the DRIC Management Committee, and upon receipt of written approval from DRIC - [5 marks];
• Project Team - Expertise, relevant qualifications and roles and responsibilities of all team members (600 words maximum) - [5 marks]; and
• Budget - not exceeding the stipulated amount for each category. A budgeted amount will not be changed on any grounds if the proposal is awarded a grant - [10 marks].
6. Submission, Notification, Timelines, and Monitoring
6.1 Date of Announcement: Friday, 28th August, 2020.
6.2 Proposals (one block soft copy) should be submitted to DRIC (dric@ucc.edu.gh) by
Friday, 25th September, 2020 for all applications.
6.3 Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications on or before Friday, 9th October, 2020. Comments and suggestions on unsuccessful applications will be discussed and shared with the applicants concerned.
6.4 Monitoring teams will be constituted at the College level and University level (for non- teaching senior member grantees) to oversee the activities of the researchers during the implementation of the research. All correspondence from grantees to DRIC will be through the Monitoring Teams.
7. Expected Outcomes
Upon receipt of the award, grant awardees are expected to deliver the following outputs to
DRIC through their Monitoring Teams:
• Inception report - By the end of the second week
• Presentation at the Faculty/College (for teaching staff) or the Registrars’ Department Meeting (for non-teaching staff) on objectives and methods - By the end of the fourth week
• Preliminary results - By the end of the first quarter of the duration of the grant received
• Submission of progress report - By the end of the second quarter
• Presentation and vetting of the draft final manuscript - By the end of the third quarter
• Submission of a paper to journal indexed in Web of Science or Scopus - Within the fourth quarter
• Stakeholder engagement (for the inter-departmental and university-wide RSGs) - By the end of the fourth quarter
• Publication of research results in Web of Science or Scopus database
• Appropriate acknowledgment of DRIC and UCC of their contribution to any publications resulting from the research
8. Awards Ceremony
• In October 2020, an award ceremony will be organised for the RSG awardees.
9. Application Form
Download the RSGs application form here or it can be accessed from DRIC’s Office electronically, either by email sent to all colleagues or downloaded from the University’s website here. Soft copies of the completed application forms should be submitted by email via dric@ucc.edu.gh.
Further Enquiries: https://dric.ucc.edu.gh dric@ucc.edu.gh
+233-249-483014; +233-203-915027; +233-244-207814