The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure recently launched their Fellowship Programme, to promote research and innovation on disaster resilient infrastructure. The programme is designed to develop a global pool of practitioners and provide an opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with peers from across the world. The fellows will receive financial aid to support a search for solutions to real-world problems related to disaster resilient infrastructure.
Context.
The CDRI Fellowship Programme supports research focused on urban, rural
or regional contexts, whether it is focused on resilience of existing infrastructure or new infrastructure. The research may focus on risks at the level of asset (e.g. construction technology for components of a power transmission network) or risks at the level of an infrastructure system (e.g. innovative ways to identify vulnerable nodes in a power grid).
Types of risks
The CDRI Fellowship Programme supports research on building resilience of infrastructure to disaster risks emanating from both natural (hydro-meteorological and geophysical hazards) and man-made hazards. The proposed research may look at risks from extreme events as well as slow-onset events including those emanating from the emerging effects of climate change.
Types of infrastructure
The CDRI Fellowship Programme supports research related to resilience of physical infrastructure (e.g. power, telecommunication, roads, railways, and airports), social infrastructure (e.g. schools, hospitals amd community infrastructure), as well as ecological infrastructure (e.g. natural waterways, wetlands, mangroves).
Thematic Areas
Across the sectors mentioned above, the research may focus on any of the following eight thematic areas:
The development of governance and policy arrangements required to enable the integration of disaster and climate resilience concepts in all infrastructure creation.
The identification and estimation of risk to and from infrastructure from large and small hazards, from the macro to micro scales.
Adoption of mechanisms required for developing, enforcing, and updating scientific standards and regulations for infrastructure resilience in light of changing technology and risk profile.
Enabling the exchange and spread of scientifically accurate knowledge enabling the contribution of all stakeholders to building resilience of infrastructure systems.
Harnessing and leveraging the power of technology to address constraints on accuracy, scale, reach and capacity in constructing, operating, and recovering infrastructure systems.
Ex-ante development and adoption of mechanisms for assessing losses, estimating needs, and channelling adequate funds to disaster affected areas in a timely manner.
Risk financing strategies for each nation will depend on its capacity, risk appetite, resources, and willingness to manage risk. Appropriate financing can incentivise resilience of infrastructure systems.
Indicative research topics
The main emphasis of the research should be to address specific real-world problems and search for implementable solutions in infrastructure sectors. Above-mentioned themes provide few indicative research topics to give an idea of the type of research the Programme may support.
Highlights.
Total number of Fellowships
In a year, CDRI will offer up to 30 Fellowships.
Fellowship amount
CDRI offers a lump-sum Fellowship amount up to US$ 10,000 or equivalent. This amount is inclusive of all costs of research, travelling for research and review presentations, institute overheads, taxes, duties, etc., and any applicable tax. However, if the research teams are invited by CDRI to make presentations at conferences, seminars, etc., the cost of travel will be borne by CDRI. The honorarium/overhead of the endorsing institute will be up to fifteen percent (15%), and is included in the above amount.
Duration of the Fellowship
The research projects under the CDRI fellowship should be completed within 12 months from the disbursement of the first instalment of the Fellowship grant. Generally, no extension is granted in the duration of the project, in extraordinary situations, CDRI may consider an extension of project duration for not more than six months. However, there shall be no increase in the Fellowship amount due to extension of the duration of the Fellowship.
Payment of Fellowship
The CDRI Fellowship grant will be a lump-sum amount to be paid in two instalments of 50% each. First instalment will be paid after the applicant(s) is selected for the Fellowship. Second instalment will be paid after a satisfactory level of research work in the second progress review.
Exclusions
The CDRI Fellowship does not intend to sponsor course fee of applicants for their Master or PhD degrees. Instead, CDRI Fellowship will provide a one-time grant for research projects being taken up by any individual or group of researchers, including Master and PhD students, on the topics relevant for disaster resilience infrastructure. The CDRI Fellowship will be in addition to any existing scholarship/fellowship/salary/income of the candidate(s). If applicants/research projects are receiving any funding from other organizations which restricts receipt of any additional fellowship, then the applicants must clarify this issue with the concerned organizations.
The decision of CDRI in the matters of Fellowship Programme shall be final.
Eligibility
CDRI Fellowship is open to candidates from the CDRI Member countries. The candidates can be students, faculty, or researchers from academic institutes; practitioners from government agencies, service agencies, non-governmental organizations, private organizations; as well as community workers. A candidate can be part of up to two Research Projects at a time.
Application Instructions:
Download Instructions in PDF file here
Important dates
- Release of CDRI Fellowship advertisement 01 September 2020
- Opening of Fellowship online application portal 15 September 2020
- Closing of Fellowship online application portal 15 November 2020 (23:59 hrs, IST)
For any clarification on the CDRI Fellowship Programme, please write an email to: Fellowship@cdri.world
Selection process
All research proposals should be submitted online on the website CDRI.WORLD in the prescribed format. The online application portal for the CDRI Fellowship Programme will remain open during 15 September 2020 to 15 November 2020 (23:59 hrs, IST)
Each application, after initial scrutiny, will be evaluated by a Panel of experts. Key parameters for the assessment of the research proposals include, but are not limited to:
- Criticality and relevance of the research problem for DRI.
- Novelty of the proposed methodology, experiments, etc., and proposed solutions.
- Feasibility of implementation of the solution in the real world.
- Replicability/scalability of the proposed solutions or product development.
- Overall impact of the proposed solution.
Progress review process
Along with every research proposal, applicants will submit a work plan. At the end of each quarter, research teams will submit a self-assessed plan-vs-achievement report. CDRI Secretariat will monitor the plan with respect to the progress achieved. CDRI may also invite research teams, in person or through video conferencing, for a research review meeting which may include a Panel of experts. Following are tentative timelines for review meetings of research projects:- First review at the end of first quarter: The research team is expected to present a clear and detailed research methodology and expected outcomes.
Project closure report
After satisfactory performance in the final meeting, and by the end of 12th month, the project team will submit a project closure report. The project team is expected to acknowledge CDRI in the report and all research publications arising from the research. Research teams will also share an electronic copy of such publications with CDRI, which may be published on its Knowledge Portal. Note: Some journals require special permission and payments for publishing in public domains; such cases will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Opportunities for best performing projects and researches.
CDRI may consider further collaboration with the best performing researchers (Fellows).
Also, CDRI may consider to upscale the best research projects. Such decisions will be taken based on the inputs from the Panel of experts reviewing the projects, project closure reports, and other factors considered relevant by CDRI.
Ethics:
Research ethics and plagiarism
Applicants must ensure the highest level of research ethics and avoid plagiarism at all stages of the Fellowship. Any such violations detected at any stage of the Fellowship may lead to termination of the Fellowship.
The decision of CDRI in the matters of Fellowship Programme shall be final.
Letter of endorsement.
Endorsement by Government Organization/Academic or Research Institute
While application(s) with research proposals can be submitted by an individual or a team, it is mandatory that each research proposal is endorsed by a recognized academic institute/government organization. The applicant(s) (an individual or a team) need not be from the endorsing academic institute or government organization.
Application fee.
There is no fee to apply for the CDRI Fellowship Programme.
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