Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies - International Research Roundtable
The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies International Research Roundtable
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
DEADLINE: November 1, 2013 for the October 20 to 25, 2014 Roundtables
Big Ideas. Time and space to explore them. The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC) will host six International Research Roundtables each year for scholars from the international community and Canada to come together in the pursuit of knowledge in an interdisciplinary environment. The objective of the Institute’s International Research Roundtables is to engage in fundamental research and idea exchange that can prompt advances in science and society, and have a significant impact on the discovery of solutions to important problems.
The themes must be broad-ranging. For example, proposals accepted this past year included Life and Time in the Universe and Explorations of Arts and Social Transformation. The Institute will fully fund the accommodation, meals and meeting venue for up to ten international and national scholars in Vancouver, Canada at UBC for four to six days, and partially fund additional participants.
Objectives of the International Research Roundtables:
- To foster novel approaches to engagement in fundamental research and idea exchange that may prompt advances in the sciences and humanities and have a significant impact on knowledge.
- To foster problem solving among the world’s brightest scholars.
- To allow scholars, community leaders, artists and others to come together from different disciplines to explore a pressing social, health, economic or other problem or research question, creating the foundation for new innovative research.
- To encourage roundtable discussions focusing on various aspects of timely and important broad themes.
- To foster exceptional collaborative research between international scholars and UBC scholars.
Criteria:
- The International Research Roundtable program is open to scholars around the world, who can submit proposals for roundtable discussions that will explore creative and innovative ideas that will make significant contributions to knowledge.
- The international roundtable must offer a unique opportunity for collaboration among scholars. The Institute will not fund meetings that would have otherwise happened, such as annual meetings.
- The application must describe how the proposed roundtable will create a coherent forum for creative curiosity and the exchange of ideas that can lead to new discoveries.
Requirements:
- International scholars are eligible to apply, as are Canadian scholars. At least one principal investigator must be a university professor. Participants may include community activists, artists, policy makers and others involved in the research collaboration.
- Completion of the attached application, setting out in a succinct, non-technical manner: the context, research objectives and the anticipated outcomes, contributions and follow up collaboration (one page maximum); the structure of the research roundtable discussions; and a list of likely participants and where they are from (one page maximum).
- There are specified periods during which all International Research Roundtables will be held. For the 2014 academic year, the dates are May 5 to 10, 2014, and October 20 to 25, 2014.
- Proposals must include one event of public interest open to the UBC community and broader public.
- The Institute will provide all venues for the International Research Roundtables, accommodation for up to ten participants for up to seven days, and all meals in connection with the roundtables. It will also cover meals for an additional ten scholars from UBC or elsewhere, up to 20 participants in total, including faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral scholars. Participants from the different roundtables dine together in order to foster further interdisciplinary exchange.
- Participants must cover their own travel costs; however, if one of the principal investigators is a UBC tenure-stream or tenured professor, the proposal can include up to $10,000 in travel costs for the international participants.
The Institute’s Expectations:
- International roundtables will generate creative thinking and significant research outcomes.
- The public event at UBC organized by the roundtable principal investigators should advance knowledge in an area of public interest.
- The International Research Roundtable must afford opportunities for UBC graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to participate in some of the deliberations.
- Principal investigators are required to submit a report within 60 days after the end of the roundtable. The post-event report criteria include a summary of how the roundtable objectives and outcomes have been achieved, and an outline of any plans for future collaborative work, in a form that allows the Institute to communicate the actual contributions and impact of the roundtables to the public.
- The international roundtables will be assessed by external reviewers, who will assess the extent to which they meet the objectives of the program and the express objectives of the specific roundtable.
The Institute’s International Adjudication Committee selections for the international roundtables in 2014 will be announced one month after the deadline for proposals.
Dr. Janis Sarra
Director, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
Professor of Law
University of British Columbia Vancouver
Canada
Contact: internationalprograms@pwias.ubc.ca
