Bhavna Ben Ramesh (at machine) and Urmila Rathore sew handmade purses out of their homes. Their work is essential to their family's income, though women's home-based work often goes unrecognized. The women joined the Self Employed Women's Organization (SEWA), a trade union that works to secure the rights of workers in the informal sector, and Mahila Housing Trust (MHT), a NGO that improves the housing conditions of poor, informally employed women, and received training on how to better market their products to increase their earnings.

K2A South Asia Mobility Grants

Explore K2A’s latest mobility grant for early career researchers and senior researchers belonging to universities in Switzerland and South Asia. Deadline extended, apply by 15th September.

Promoting knowledge exchange

The Cluster of Cooperation (CLOC) Knowledge to Action (K2A) in South Asia aims to promote cooperation in research and education to Swiss and South Asian institutions working in sustainable development. K2A’s latest initiative is a mobility grant for early career researchers and senior researchers belonging to universities in Switzerland and South Asia, for projects on environmental sustainability and social wellbeing for advancing SDGs.

The K2A mobility grants for early career researchers and senior researchers seek to contribute to this aim by facilitating South-South, South-North and North-South exchanges. By this, it aims to promote knowledge circulation through exchanges between CLOC partner organisations in South Asia and Switzerland. The purpose of travel could be for carrying out field visits, research collaborations, concrete implementation of research results and/or teaching initiatives.

The mobility grant is available for early career researchers and senior researchers from the CLOC network universities in South Asia to pursue field work, research and or teaching at a university / institution in another South Asian country or at a Swiss university / institution. This is also applicable to early career researchers and senior researchers of CLOC network universities from Switzerland to pursue research in South Asia. The fund awarded as part of the mobility grant will be dependent on the duration of the research stay.

Criteria

Umja Ambalal (right) and Praba Maya, both members of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a trade union for poor, self-employed women in the informal sector, work at a factory that makes modular roofs for slum houses. They enjoy the supportive work environment of the factory, which collaborates with SEWA to train the women, and have more secure and steady daily incomes than when they worked as construction labourers.

Early career researchers

Doctoral / post-doctoral students from South Asia and Switzerland seeking exposure and enhancing their career profiles are welcome to apply.
The researcher must choose a single institution to be a part of during the entire period of minimum 2 months of the grant.
The researcher must provide a support letter from the supervisor of the host university, enlisting the support provided by them during the research stay.
The grant is available for South-South (800 CHF), South-North (3000 CHF), North-South (1700 CHF) exchanges.

Senior researchers

South Asian and Swiss senior researchers seeking exposure and improve their research by immersing in a different socio-cultural environment are welcome to apply.
The senior researcher must choose a single institution to be a part of during the entire period of 3 weeks of the grant. It is important that the senior researcher conducts at least three lectures or other teaching elements like workshops, co-supervision of bachelor or master students planned in the host university during the stay.
Senior researchers must provide an invitation letter from the university which specifies the teaching elements they would be engaging in during the research stay.
The grant is available for South-South (900 CHF), South-North (4200 CHF), North-South (1500 CHF) exchanges.

Please note that for mobility within South Asia, one of the partners needs to be member of the CLOC network for both categories of applicants. Membership to CLOC is not a criterion for mobility between South Asia and Switzerland

Checklist

Applications must be submitted as a combined PDF file with the following mandatory documents:
– Letter of motivation
– Curriculum vitae
– Letter of support from the host university supervisor (Early career researchers), Letter of invitation from host university (Senior researchers)
– Action plan for the duration of stay
– Proposed budget for the research grant (including travel allowance and weekly expenditure)
The applications are open till 15 September 2022, and the research exercise must begin before 30 June 2023. Please note that applications are evaluated in the order of reception.

Apply here