Since 1982, IDRC has assisted Canadian graduate students to undertake their thesis research in the field of international development. IDRC Doctoral Research Awards are intended to promote the growth of Canadian and developing-country capacity in research on sustainable and equitable development from an international perspective.

In principle, IDRC supports research on all parts of the developing regions of the world. At this time, Fellowships and Awards is not supporting awards which involve research in Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Eastern Europe or Central Asia.

Eligible Fields of Study

Applications will be accepted for research at the doctoral level in areas corresponding to IDRC's research priorities. IDRC's research activities focus on four program areas:

• Social and Economic Policy
• Environment and Natural Resource Management
• Information and Communication Technologies for Development
• Innovation, Policy and Science

Applicants must meet the following conditions for eligibility:

• Hold Canadian citizenship or permanent residency status in Canada, or hold a citizenship of a developing country;
• Be enrolled in a doctoral program at a Canadian university;
• Research proposal is for a doctoral thesis and has been approved by the thesis supervisor;
• Proposed field research will take place in a developing country;
• Provide evidence of affiliation with an institution or organization in the region in which the research will take place;
• Have completed course work and passed comprehensive examinations by the time of award tenure.

Duration

Award tenure corresponds to a period of field research, which will be no less than 3 months and, in general, no more than 12 months.

Value

The award will cover justifiable field research expenses to a maximum of CA$20,000 per year.

Number of Awards

Variable

Deadline

April 1, 2010 (awards will be announced in September 2010).

November 1, 2010 (awards will be announced in May 2011).

Applications

Applications will be evaluated according to criteria, such as relevance to sustainable and equitable development and to IDRC priorities, quality of the research proposal, and suitability of the candidate.

Re-applicants, whose research proposal was reviewed and was unsuccessful, must explain, in a covering letter, what changes have been made since the last application and specify where to find the changes in the proposal. Please note that Centre policy stipulates that an individual cannot apply more than twice, if unsuccessful, for the same IDRC award.  However, this policy does not apply to Internship Awards.

Candidates may apply for a renewal of funding for a second year of field work if the nature of the research requires a second season of data collection. Renewals are an exception and are provided for those disciplines that may need to deal with the uncertainties of growing seasons and climatic characteristics that affect data collection.

If there are ethical questions connected with the research, the applicant may, at IDRC's discretion, be required to submit the appropriate approval from the Ethic's Committee of the University.

Please submit all documents listed in the Checklist of documents to be submitted by candidates. Complete applications must be received at the Centre by the deadline. Incomplete applications will NOT be considered for the competition.  Applications must be sent to the following address:

By regular mail, Canada Post Priority Post, or XPRESSPOST: 

IDRC Doctoral Research Awards
Fellowships and Awards
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) 
PO Box 8500
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1G 3H9

By courier services:      

IDRC Doctoral Research Awards
Fellowships and Awards
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
150 Kent Street, Mailroom Suite 990
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1P 0B2

Fax: (1 613) 236-4026
Telephone: (1 613) 696-2098
E-mail: cta@idrc.ca

We thank all applicants for their interest and will contact those candidates whose academic background, quality of the research proposal, and skills best match the criteria of the Award.

Global Governance and Global Education: Many Questions
Researcher Profile, Karen Mundy 2006-04
The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) has designated 24–30 April 2006 as its “Global Action Week” to focus international attention on education as a universal right.  It's a matter close to the heart of IDRC awardee Karen Mundy, a world-renowned scholar of comparative education now based at  OISE/University of Toronto.