Call for CHESS Activities 2020

2020 Call for CHESS activity proposals for courses, workshops, and summer/winter schools.

Who can apply: Any PhDs or supervisors affiliated with CHESS

Criteria:

  • Must target the CHESS mission (see link to mission statement here)
  • Promote inter-institutional collaboration
  • Indicate how many CHESS and non-CHESS PhDs will participate
  • Clearly identified outcomes and benefits for participants
  • Indicate amount of ETCS study points. (1 ETCS equals 25-30 hours work-load, including preparation, lectures, group work, presentations, and assignments)
  • Activities must be completed within 2021
  • Proposals should not exceed one A4 page including a description of the activity, objectives, outcomes, and tentative dates (see template link at the bottom of this page)
  • Detailed budget provided on a separate page (see template for details)

Budget: 400 kNOK for second call, funding activities with 50-150 kNOK each.

Eligible activities and expenses:

  • Courses: Focused on one or more topics relevant for CHESS PhD students
  • Workshops: Interactive activity focusing on teaching and research topics with relevance to CHESS with national and international lecturers
  • Summer/winter schools: Lectures and discussions on research topics with relevance to CHESS with national and international lecturers
  • Costs related to running the above-mentioned activities (e.g., facility costs, travel, accommodation, course material, hand-outs)

Non-eligible activities or expenses

  • PhD related costs: science meeting fees, publication costs, laboratory costs, etc.
  • Salaries for organiser or CHESS members
  • Research visits

Deadline for submissions: 15 November 2020. Proposals shall be attached to an email with Subject: “2020 Call for CHESS activities” and sent to post@chess.uib.no

Evaluation: the CHESS steering group[1] evaluates the proposals and the results will be announced before Christmas.

[1] Members: Thomas Spengler (UiB), Ulysses Ninnemann (UiB), Joe LaCasce (UiO), Carmen Gaina (UiO), Rune Graversen  (UiT), Giuliana Panieri (UiT), Marius Jonassen (UNIS); student representatives – Kristine Flacké Haualand (UiB), Johannes Lutzmann (UiB), Eirik Ballo (UiO)

Implementation:

The responsible party of a successful proposal is fully responsible for the organisation and implementation of the activity, including preparing the activity description for advertisement, the booking of the facility, arranging invited lecturers/guests, and all other related tasks. CHESS secretariat can provide assistance for registration if needed.

After the activity is concluded, the responsible party needs to provide a short report, ideally with pictures, that will be uploaded to the CHESS website. The report should be sent to the CHESS secretariat latest 2 weeks after conclusion of the activity.

Details for budgeting activities:

Activities can be led by CHESS partner institutions or arranged with collaborating research schools. For collaborating activities, CHESS supports CHESS PhD students to participate via funding their travel and accommodation. It is also possible to co-organise activities by sharing costs for lecturers, facilities, etc.. Shared costs need to be outlined, also stating the contribution of the partner and the overall costs of the activity.

The budget should clearly outline separate costs for: facility, lecturer fees, travel and accommodation for participants, and any other costs necessary to run the course. Particular attention must be paid to estimate realistic travel and accommodation costs for participants. The party responsible for an activity should not overspend the approved budget. A party that significantly overspends their budget due to underestimation of costs may be penalised for future CHESS applications.

Terms and conditions for participation:

PhD students have to ensure that they keep their travel expenses at reasonable levels. It is therefore required that they make travel arrangements well ahead of time and try to share accommodation if possible. If cheaper university housing is available, it should be used and booked in advance to save costs.

There will be cancellation fees for late notice cancellations without sufficient reasons given for non-attendance. Cancellation fees of accommodation and travel will follow the costs associated with the respective reservation contracts with, e.g., travel agents, airlines, or other. Cancellation of participation in a course by PhD students is possible up to 2 weeks in advance of the commencement of the activity without any costs. Cancellation in the period 1-2 weeks prior to the activity will result in a fee equivalent to 50% of the participation costs. Cancellation within one week prior to the activity will be charged with a 75% fee equivalent to the participation costs and no show without cancellation or cancellation when the activity already commenced will be charged with 100% fee equivalent to the participation costs.

The participation costs are the costs per participant to run the course, i.e., covering lecturer fees, room facilities, hand-out material, etc..

Template for the one-page proposal and budget sheet

We have prepared a template to facilitate the proposal writing as well as the budgeting, including useful information with cost estimates.

See the template here.

For inquiries please contact mandy.kong@uib.no, phone: 5558 4775.