Call for Proposals: PhD Research Grants

The Structural Transformation and Economic Growth (STEG) programme pursues a research agenda that aims to provide a better understanding of structural change, productivity, and growth in low- and middle-income countries.

The objective of STEG is to fund cutting-edge that could be published in leading academic journals while simultaneously being relevant to the policy dialogue in low- and middle-income countries.

Research Themes

• Themes:
  • Data, measurement, and conceptual framing;
  • Firms, frictions and spillovers, and industrial policy;
  • Labour, home production, and structural transformation at the level of households;
  • Agricultural productivity and sectoral gaps;
  • Trade and spatial frictions;
  • Political economy and public investment.
• Other areas of interest may not fit cleanly into any of the themes but are centrally relevant to STEG and are also encouraged.
• STEG is also focused around three cross-cutting issues that are simultaneously relevant to many areas of structural transformation, including the six research themes:
  • Gender;
  • Climate change and the environment;
  • Inequality and inclusion.
• Research proposals speaking to these issues will receive particular consideration.

Funding Information

• PhD Research Grants of up to £15,000 can fund research assistance, data collection and/or purchase, and stipends.
• Stipends are capped at £12,000 for PhD students in programmes located in high-income countries and the PPP equivalent for PhD students in programmes located in low- and middle-income countries. Grants will also support travel to field sites, even when secondary data is utilised.
• PhD RG is intended to be completed within 12 months.

Country and Policy Relevance

• Please note that an important criterion for funding of proposals is the relevance to policy in low income countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Proposals focused on middle- and/or high income countries need to make a clear case for the relevance of the research to policy in specific low income countries. Proposals are also evaluated on the extent to which the research findings (including those from comparative work or from studies in other geographies) might be relevant to policy in specific sub-Saharan countries.

Eligibility Criteria

• They welcome applications to the SRG and PhD calls from researchers all over the world, and encourage applications that propose collaboration between researchers from lower- and higher-income countries.
• In view of the current political situation and the imposition of economic sanctions on various Russian entities by Western governments, they are not currently able to accept proposals for projects that include researchers or members of the research team who are based at Russian institutions.
• Principal investigators applying to SRG calls should currently have a PhD or be enrolled in a PhD programme. In exceptional circumstances, they will consider applications submitted by principal investigators who do not fit these criteria, however, they must be able to demonstrate a history of high-quality academic and/or policy-relevant research. Although there are no formal qualification requirements for co-investigators, co-investigators on STEG-funded projects usually have a PhD or are enrolled in a PhD programme. The knowledge, expertise, and qualifications of the entire research team will be taken into account when evaluating the proposal.

For more information, visit STEG.