• Please note: The Faculty Research Exchange competition in Ontario for the 2012-13 granting period closed in November 2011. A new competition will take place in the fall of 2012.

The Ontario/Baden-Württemberg Faculty Research Exchange offers grants to support research visits to universities in the German state of Baden-Württemberg by faculty members at participating Ontario universities. While the objective is both to promote new collaborative research partnerships and to strengthen existing partnerships between researchers in Ontario and Baden-Württemberg, applications proposing new partnerships are particularly welcome.

These grants are funded by Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to assist with travel and living costs associated with such visits. Similar opportunities for faculty members at Baden-Württemberg’s 9 research universities to visit Ontario are supported in this program by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts.

The OBW program was established in 1990 and has since then provided a range of international study and research opportunities for nearly 2,000 students from the two jurisdictions. In 2010, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of this highly successful academic partnership, the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts agreed to build on success of the OBW student exchange program with the creation of an exchange program for faculty researchers.

Funding Period

The present competition is for grants to support research stays between May 1, 2012 and April 30, 2013.

OBW Faculty Research Exchange grants will support researchers for a minimum of one month and a maximum of six months at the host university. Researchers who wish to stay longer than six months are still eligible to participate, but the maximum fundable period will be restricted to six months.

Eligibility

Only citizens and permanent residents of Canada may hold an OBW Faculty Research Exchange grant.

Only full-time faculty members holding a tenured or tenure-track appointment that includes a research component at a participating Ontario university may apply. Applicants must hold a Ph.D. and must at the time of application have been engaged full-time in research and/or teaching for at least two years following receipt of the doctorate.

Grant holders must hold an appropriate appointment both at the time of application and for the full period covered by the grant.

Regarding concurrent grants, the OBW Faculty Research Exchange will not fund research travel for which other funding is secured.

Researchers who have previously received funding under this program will not be eligible.

Program Requirements

While the grant holder’s primary concentration must be on the proposed research project, the Program requires that each participant undertake a limited commitment in the area of teaching and/or research-dissemination. This may involve, for example, a public lecture, guest lectures during scheduled classes, a “block seminar,” etc.

At a minimum, grant holders whose funded stay is of between one and three months in duration are expected to hold at least one public lecture; grant holders whose funded stay is for a period of more than three months are required to deliver a minimum of two public lectures.

Grant holders are furthermore encouraged to deliver further lectures and participate in teaching activities insofar as opportunities exist at the host institution and insofar as these activities do not significantly distract from the grant holder’s primary concentration on research.

A detailed report describing the research work undertaken, the results achieved, and any other information that grant holders consider helpful to the OBW Program and/or to future participants in the Faculty Research Exchange is required following completion of the funded research stay. A part of the research grant will be withheld until a satisfactory report is received.

Amount of Awards

Each participant will receive a monthly stipend of $1,750 to support her/his living costs in the host country. Grants are exclusively for living costs; they are not intended to support research expenses.

Each participant will be eligible for reimbursement for her/his own reasonable relocation expenses incurred at the beginning and end of the granting period up to a maximum of $1,750. Expenses for dependents cannot be claimed.

The OBW Program requires the submission of receipts (including airline boarding passes) for relocation expenses. Receipts are not required for subsistence expenses in Germany.

Participants are responsible for their own accommodation, for their own insurance coverage (health, third-party liability, etc.), immigration and residency requirements, implications for income tax reporting in Canada, and so on.

Application

Applicants must use the 2012-13 OBW Faculty Research Exchange application form (see below) and must include all the supporting documentation listed thereon.

Complete applications should be submitted by email and must be received by the ddarby [at] ouinternational [dot] ca (Program Director) on or before November 1, 2011. Applications should consist of:

• the completed application form saved as a .pdf file or printed and scanned to .pdf, and
• all the required information listed on page 2 of the application form, collated into a single MS-Word or .pdf file.

A hardcopy of the full application, bearing the applicant's original signature, should be sent as soon as possible after the email submission to:

Professor David Darby, Academic Director
Ontario/Baden-Württemberg Program
270B York Lanes
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3

Questions may be addressed to the Program Director by ddarby [at] ouinternational [dot] ca (email) or by telephone at 519-661-2111, x85857.

Adjudication Process and Criteria

Applications will be adjudicated by a committee of researchers representing participating Ontario universites. The adjudicators will consider in particular the following criteria:

• the scientific/academic strengths of the proposal,
• the track record of the researcher relative to stage of career,
• the degree of collaborative research proposed with colleagues at the host university,
• the degree of involvement of graduate students in Ontario and Baden-Württemberg in the proposed research project, including the future potential for student mobility, and
• the potential to develop a new, lasting research partnership.

While the competition is open to researchers in all fields, the adjudication committee will aim to ensure that research in a variety of disciplines is represented both each year and over time.

The OBW program, in consultation with the adjudicating committee, retains the right to determine each grant holder’s actual funding period.

Forms

2012-2013 Faculty Research Exchange application form

2012-2013 Faculty Research Exchange award-holder agreement
Successful applicants are required to complete and submit this form. Without it, the OBW Program is unable to process award payments through York University's payroll system.