Office of Planning And Institutional Research, The University of West Indies at Mona

Mona Research Fellowship Programme

Funded by the Campus Grants Committee, the Research Fellowship is intended:

to address research that directly impacts national and regional development;
as a human resources development strategy, to facilitate career development of the recipient, capacity building in the department to which the fellowship holder belongs;
through its research output, to deliver value to the fellowship holder’s department; and
to provide seed money for the research project, as it is expected that the fellowship holder has conducted the necessary exploratory research that enables him/her to raise additional research funds, where required, for the project.

In the selection process, priority will be given in the following order to:

Applications submitted by staff members from departments and units that are funded from the budget of the Mona Campus;
Applications for research in areas that are in line with the strategic objectives of the University of the West Indies, and the development imperatives of Jamaica and the Caribbean. (Appendix 1 lists some of these current objectives and imperatives);
Applications for research where funding for the project’s non-salary inputs have already been secured (applicants are encouraged to access facilities such as Study and Travel Grant, or seek support from other research funding entities to cover the costs of the non-salary inputs. Applicants will need to provide documentary evidence of the financial commitment from these entities);
First-time applicants who have recently embarked on their research programme at the Mona Campus;
Applications for research that involves interdisciplinary collaboration;
Seasoned researchers who wish to accelerate work on their research agenda or to embark on work that diversifies their research interests.
Applications will be accepted from persons who completed previously held research fellowships no less than three years prior to the submission of the new application, only on condition that these applicants had submitted a satisfactory final report on their previously held fellowship.
Persons who have been granted sabbatical leave, will not normally be granted, save in exceptional circumstances, research fellowships.

Having been vetted by the Secretary to ensure compliance with the selection criteria, applications are reviewed, evaluated and assessed by the Research Fellowship Committee.
Short-listed applicants are selected for an interview by the Research Fellowship Committee.
The Application must be accompanied by letters of support from the Head of Department and the Dean with original signatures, and should be submitted in print to the Secretary, Research Fellowship Committee, Office of the Principal.
Applications will NOT be accepted from persons who currently hold Mona research fellowships or held one within the previous three years

The duration of the research fellowship is one calendar year. In exceptional circumstances, if the nature of the research project is such as to warrant an extension, the research fellow is required, upon successful completion of the year’s project, to apply for the extension.
The Research Fellow is required to submit quarterly reports to the Research Fellowship Committee
Generally, the posts of research fellows should be advertised. However, given the relative scarcity of qualified individuals in specialized areas of research, holders of research fellowships will be allowed to identify and recommend suitable candidates.
Research fellows are not required to teach, but are expected to share their findings in seminars/workshops with members of the academic community.

If there is a delay in the appointment of a research fellow for up to a year after the award of the fellowship, the fellowship will be withdrawn. Research Fellowship holders, therefore, have to seek the permission of the Research Fellowship Committee for a deferral of the start of their fellowships. The fellowships may be deferred for either a semester or an academic year.

A fellowship will be regarded as inactive if work has been suspended on the project for over a period of one month of its approved start-up date.
In the event that the fellowship remains in a state of inactivity the Research Fellowship Committee will terminate the fellowship

The appointment of the research fellow/teaching replacement is for one calendar year only. In order to extend the appointment, the research fellowship holder must apply to the Research Fellowship Committee for the extension.
The Committee’s approval of an extended contract will be determined by the project’s deliverables against objectives as delineated in the end of project report.

Permission must first be sought from the Research Fellowship Committee for the appointment of a replacement for an outgoing research fellow.

Research Fellowships may be withdrawn if:

Every holder of a research fellowship is required to submit an end of fellowship report (see template for end of project report – appendix II) to the Research Fellowship Committee within one month of completing the project. The report should list the project’s objectives, activities and accomplishments over the fellowship period. One of the purposes of the report is to enable an assessment of the research carried out under the fellowship. In order to facilitate this assessment, the report should show if the project’s objectives (as stated in the original project proposal) were achieved. Copies of technical papers produced over the period should also accompany the report.
Along with the report, the research fellowship holder should submit the request for an extension of the fellowship, should this be deemed essential.
If an extension is deemed essential and is being requested, the fellowship holder should submit the end of project report at least one month before the end of the Research Fellow’s or Teaching Replacement’s contract to facilitate re-employment.
In the event that an extension is granted, the Fellowship Holder is required to provide the Committee with a final report no more than one month after completion of the project.

All intellectual property emanating from the fellowship will be held by the University of the West Indies, in accordance with the University’s IP policy, unless otherwise negotiated.

All recipients of research fellowships are required to acknowledge receipt of support from the Research Fellowship Programme in all publications emanating from the fellowship.