CFPs: Research on Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth in LMICs

They are interested in projects that can achieve both academic and policy impact through one of the themes: Firms, trade and productivity; State effectiveness; Cities; Energy and environment.

Themes

• They are particularly interested in projects that address these issues through one of the four themes:
  • Firms, trade, and productivity: Increasing productivity through structural changes in firms’ capabilities, the functioning of markets and how firms interact with world markets, while promoting green innovation and enhancing resilience against climate shocks.
  • State effectiveness: Escaping fragility and improving the capabilities and effectiveness of states to deliver higher rates of inclusive growth, while addressing the challenges of environmental externalities.
  • Cities: Making cities more productive and inclusive while addressing the downsides of density and ensuring resilience where climate change accelerates urbanisation.
  • Energy and environment: Improving access to reliable, cost-efficient energy and supporting the transition to clean energy to reduce damaging externalities and more effective management of natural capital.
• In this call, they also encourage proposals at the intersection of agriculture, finance, and SMEs, which help explain how these sectors interact and which policies can affect change, particularly those that focus on Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and/or Tanzania. They would like to better understand the mechanisms and impact of the flow of investment funds to agricultural SMEs to improve livelihoods and environmental performance.

Award Information

• They offer two types of awards:
  • Small research grants 
    • These grants are for exploratory research and pilot studies. Small research grants are designed to enable researchers to further refine and test innovative research ideas with high potential policy impact by conducting preliminary research and engaging with partners, which will enable strong applications to the full research grants in future rounds.
    • The maximum amount they will award for a pilot study is GBP 30,000, and the maximum amount they will award for purely exploratory research that does not involve a pilot component is GBP 20,000.
      • Exploratory research: this relates to preliminary research ideas, such as conducting background research, developing partnerships, visiting field sites, and collecting preliminary data. Funding for exploratory research should be used to support costs related to the researcher’s travel and engagement with the relevant IGC country team and policymakers, to develop a proposal for a pilot or full research grant proposals to submit to subsequent calls for proposals.
      • Pilot studies: will be awarded to projects with a reasonably well-developed research question, but for which the design and implementation requires further testing and pilot data before it can be scaled-up into a larger research study. New evidence from the pilot can lead to an adjustment or reformulation of the research question.
  • Full research grants: 
    • These grants are for fully-developed research projects. Not only must the research question be clear, but applicants must also demonstrate a commitment from implementing partners (if applicable), and a clear and compelling research design. Proposals can be for any type of research, and they encourage the use of a variety of approaches, including using secondary data.
    • Projects are capped at GBP 125,000, and the average award per project is GBP 60,000.

What they work on?

• Low- and middle-income countries are striving to balance increasing living standards and reducing poverty through job creation and income enhancement, while minimising the negative environmental consequences of growth and boosting their resilience to climate shocks.
• The IGC’s research focuses on sustainable and inclusive economic growth in low- and middle-income countries. This includes understanding the drivers of economic growth and development, and identifying effective policies and interventions, to enable countries to develop in a way that improves social, environmental, and economic wellbeing for all. They particularly seek projects that directly address environmental externalities across the four themes. Research on mitigation and adaptation strategies is highly encouraged.
• The research strategy emphasises productivity and innovation, and the microeconomic transformations that drive sustainable growth. They embrace all quantitative research methods and approaches that are grounded in data, and encourage the use of administrative data where possible.

Where they work?

• They have resident teams in 10 low- and middle-income countries across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. The country offices enable them to sustain long-term policy engagement, and ensure the work is demand-led. The partner countries are Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia. They also have ongoing work in Tanzania, India, and Yemen, and encourage select research in these countries as well.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any researcher specialising in economics or related social sciences may apply for the small research grant and/or the full research grant (please note, the lead PI should be pursuing or have obtained a PhD). The IGC gives equal opportunity to researchers from all over the world, and particularly welcomes proposals from local researchers. International teams that include local researchers will be given preference.
• A researcher from any country is allowed to apply for the full research grant and the small research grant.
• A single researcher can be included in more than one proposal during the same call for proposals with different proposals. A single institution is allowed to submit multiple proposals. If multiple proposals are submitted, the researcher and/or institutions involved should have the capacity to conduct the research according to the proposed timescales.
• The Lead PI of a proposal must hold or be currently pursuing a PhD. Co-PIs generally should have the same qualifications, but candidates with a master’s degree can be considered.
• For the small grants, researchers must conduct their research in one of the 10 IGC countries, or Tanzania, India, or Yemen. They must also get in touch with the IGC Country Team as they work on their proposals.
• For full research grants, the IGC will not fund projects over GBP 125,000, and the average project value is GBP 60,000.
• The IGC will not fund projects that are a) purely qualitative, b) not grounded in sound economic research principles, or c) relevant only to middle- or high-income countries.
• Applications that are in line with IGC research priorities, empirically rigorous, advance the knowledge about inclusive growth policy, and have strong value for money are favoured.

For more information, visit IGC.