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Grants open for research linking to policy action under Mekong Thought Leadership and Think Tanks Network Program
1 October, 2023
Mekong Think Tanks (MTT) Program is opening calls for research-to-policy proposals that seek practical solutions to urgent or emerging challenges in the water-energy-climate nexus.
The Mekong Thought Leadership and Think Tanks Network Program (MTT), supported by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), aims to work with national and regional knowledge-based policy influence organizations (KBPIOs) in the Mekong Region to enhance their capacities to effectively engage stakeholders involved in policy processes.
Calls open for two types of grants:
- Flagship Research Studies
Funding: Total grants of AUD 1,000,000 (~USD 652,000) are available to award up to 4 research projects. Support will not exceed 250,000 AUD (~USD 163,000) per research project.
Timeline: Work to be completed within 1.5 years (18 months) from contract signing or agreed upon start date.
Application deadline: 1 October 2023, 23:59 (Bangkok/Indochina time)
Flagship studies are one of the key activities of the MTT Program that aim to enhance evidence-based understanding of the Water-Energy-Climate (WEC) nexus, including through the lens of gender and social equity. The work motivates the application of this knowledge to practical, robust, and equitable policy solutions to persistent and emerging issues and challenges.
Special attention is given to the potential to enhance the practices and strategies of KBPIOs in generating and sharing knowledge and supporting collaboration with other stakeholders
As flagship research in the program, these studies are intended to demonstrate the value of a holistic perspective on water, energy, and climate issues, their interconnections, and the likely benefits from new or enhanced knowledge-to-policy processes in the Mekong countries. As such, the studies are expected to take at least an interdisciplinary approach (drawing on and linking relevant social and technical sciences) and ideally a transdisciplinary approach (interdisciplinary, plus engaging both scientific and nonscience forms of knowledge and actors). Please use the link below to find more information to submit your online application.
For more details of the call, please click to download this pdf.
- Rapid Response Grants
Funding: Total grants of AUD 350,000 (~USD 230,000) are available to award up to seven research projects. Support will not exceed 50,000 AUD (~USD 33,000) per rapid response project project.
Timeline: Work to be completed be completed within one year (12 months) from contract signing or agreed upon start date.
Application deadline: 1 October 2023, 23:59 (Bangkok/Indochina time)
Rapid response grants are one of the key knowledge-generating activities of the MTT Program. These are more flexible grants than the flagship grants and aim to support focused interdisciplinary research projects that seek practical solutions to urgent or emerging challenges in the water-energy-climate nexus.
The rapid response projects target an improved understanding of how climate resilience of specific water and energy systems, equity, and their interlinkages may be enhanced.
The Rapid Response Grants operationalize this through reinterpreting, integrating, sharing, and using existing policy-relevant research to engage governments, the public, and stakeholders, in practical solutions. Please use the link below to find more information to submit your online application.
For more details of the call, please click to download this pdf.
Mekong Thought Leadership and Think Tanks Network Program (MTT)
The Mekong Thought Leadership and Think Tanks Network Program (MTT), supported by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), aims to work with national and regional knowledge-based policy influence organizations (KBPIOs) in the Mekong Region to enhance their capacities to effectively engage stakeholders involved in policy processes.
Knowledge-based policy influence organizations (KBPIOs) are “organizations that produce and disseminate policy-relevant knowledge, such as think tanks, research institutes, advocacy groups, and academic centers.” They differ from other types of policy actors in their degree of independence, specialization, and legitimacy.
MTT Program intends to contribute to improved and more equitable water and energy security, adaptation, and mitigation of climate change in the Mekong Region for the benefit of all, especially marginalized, climate-vulnerable, and at-risk communities and social and gender groups.
At the end of this three-year program (2022-2025), MTT aims to achieve more robust and inclusive water, energy, and climate research and policy interfaces, resulting in more effective and equitable policies, which are cross-sectoral, informed by evidence, and are responding to the needs of climate vulnerable communities and socially marginalized or at-risk groups, including women and people from gender minorities, people living in multidimensional poverty, and people living with disabilities.
