QES Advanced Scholars –West Africa FAQs
Frequently asked questions
I have access to the QES portal through an existing project, but I am unable to access the application in the portal. New
If you are or have been involved with a QES project you must use a different email address to access the application form. If your university’s proposal is successful, you will be asked which email address you would QES to use.
Can the requirement for 60% of researchers to be women include student participants? New
This program will not fund ‘students’ although one category of researchers that can be funded are doctoral level researchers who are at the ABD status. The call for proposals does NOT have any requirement that 60% of the researchers must be women, that is their overall target, which means that individual projects may have more women and some may have fewer.
Can collaborations/mobilities involving partners based in West Africa occur in a country not on the list of eligible countries? New
All activities are limited to the countries on the list of eligible countries and Canada.
Are medical research doctoral students/post-doctoral researchers/early career researchers eligible? New
There is no area that is excluded. The selection committee will evaluate the proposal against stated requirements of the RFP.
How many Principle Investigators are expected from both the Canadian institution and the West African partners? New
It is up to each university to structure their program in a way that will ensure that the objectives will be met.
Given the focus on Francophone African institutions, will partnerships with Anglophone African universities also be considered? New
While the second priority is Francophone universities, the first priority are women researchers and the list of eligible countries includes many English speaking countries.
We have a strong partner, a regional health policy research institution based in Kenya. The institution has projects, staff and students/trainees in many eligible countries. Although Kenya isn’t on the list of eligible countries, can the Kenyan based institution participate as one of our partners if the scholars all come from eligible countries? New
The partner African institution must be in one of the eligible countries.
The minimum duration of the scholarship is 35 days. What is the maximum duration for which a researcher can receive the QES award? Is there an upper limit to duration and funding per scholar?
There is no upper limit to the duration of an award other than keeping in mind that the university’s final reports, both narrative and financial, are due no later than December 31, 2024. The maximum funding available per researcher based on the award duration is listed on page 10 of the program guidelines.
Section 3.1 of the guidelines states that the non-academic research placement partner will host the QESscholar for at least 30% of the total research award time. Does the researcher have to be there on consecutive days? Can the placement be at any given time during the award?
It would be up to the university and the non-academic research placement partner to agree on what this would look like – it could be full days, half days, consecutive days or spread out during the award, etc. The placement can be at any point during the award.
Can QES funding be used to cover other costs, expenses not directly related to individual researchers?
The QES contribution is limited to direct expenses related to individual scholars. Please refer to Eligible QES expenses listed in item 3.1 of the program guidelines.
What can we use the $2,000/scholar activity fund for?
The $2,000 per scholar paid out by the QES (which will populate automatically under Project Summary towards the bottom of the budget form) is a flat fee, no receipts required and in addition to it being available to support community engagement, leadership and networking activities, it can also go towards administration. It is not subject to audit.
Does the application have to be completed in one session? In other words, is there a mechanism to enter some of the information, Save and then go back to it when you have more time and/or information?
The application form does not have to be completed in one session.
Does the "indication of university support form" only need to be signed by a senior administrator of the Canadian university? Will the partner university in West Africa need to sign this form?
Since the request for funding is being submitted by the Canadian university and the contribution agreement will be between Rideau Hall Foundation and the Canadian university, the form is only to be signed by the Canadian institution.
