Focus areas: Surfacing tacit knowledge through community engagement and assessing the impact on communities. Processes and dynamics of engagement from the perspective of the higher education sector.

Key features of the programme:
• Research which contributes to deeper theoretical, philosophical and conceptual orientations of community engagement from a higher education perspective;
• Research which interrogates the complex interplay and processes of engagement; that is, the various ways in which knowledge is produced, assimilated and utilized through interactions and relationships with communities;
• Case studies, typologies, appreciative inquiry about community engagement and community assessments.

Funding applications: Attached the NRF Guidelines with the score card and detailed information regarding budgeting - please study in detail.

Click here to update your NRF online CV and submit your online application: https:/nrfsubmission.nrf.ac.za

All applications must be endorsed by the research office before submission to the NRF.
Send a pdf copy of your completed online application to [email protected] for endorsement no later than 21 September 2012.

Funding:

• RESEARCH-RELATED OPERATING COSTS
These costs include materials and supplies, travel (including conferences) and subsistence, equipment and research/technical/ad hoc assistance and sabbaticals to other research organizations and institutions of higher learning may be included within the context of the project proposals, student top-ups. These costs should be justified and commensurate with the planned outputs, as they will be assessed on the criteria provided in the framework/guide.
The amount awarded within this framework can be used at the discretion of the applicant.

• GRANT HOLDER-LINKED STUDENT SUPPORT
Rules of Participation:
• The principal investigator (i.e. the applicant) must be an active researcher or community engagement practitioner who takes intellectual responsibility for the project, its conception, any strategic decisions called for in its pursuit, and the communication of results. The principal investigator must have the capacity to make a serious commitment to the project and cannot assume the role of a supplier of resources for work that will largely be placed in the hands of others. He/she will also take responsibility for the management and administration of resources allocated to the proposal.
• A principal investigator should not submit a funding proposal on behalf of a student where the student in the main will be carrying out the research.
• The research team may also include

Co-Investigators:
A co-investigator is an active researcher who provides significant commitment, intellectual input and the relevant expertise into the design of the research proposal and will be involved in all or at least some well-defined research activities within the scope of the proposal. Please note that: Co-investigators who are employed as permanent/contract research staff members at recognized research institutions in South Africa may receive NRF funds from the grant if the team's application is successful. Post-doctoral fellows, students and technical and support staff should NOT be listed as co-investigators.

Research Associates/Collaborators:
These are individuals or groups who are anticipated to make a relatively small but meaningful contribution to the research endeavours outlined in the proposal, but who have not actively participated in the design. Depending on their contribution, they may or may not require funding requested within the proposal. These can include, for example, researchers nationally and internationally in higher education institutions, museums, NGOs, industry, and science councils who may provide for example, samples or specific technical advice/input.