5th International Rice Congress (IRC2018) support grants for RICE-CRP students

The CGIAR Research Program on rice (RICE) offers support to undergraduate and graduate (BSc, MSc, PhD) students to attend the 5th International Rice Congress, 14-17 October 2018 in Singapore (IRC2018; http://ricecongress2018.irri.org/).

The grant will help students link with global rice researchers and contribute to building a network among young scientists from around the world who can contribute to society through rice research. Up to 40 travel grants of US$1,000 each are made available to students associated with any of the six lead centers of RICE (AfricaRice, CIAT, IRRI, Cirad, IRD, JIRCAS) and conducting their research in the RICE program. Award recipients will receive the award in cash in person at the IRC2018 upon presentation of a valid student identity card (issued by the university at which they are enrolled) and of their registration documents for the IRC2018.

Eligibility Criteria for application: applicants must be associated with any of the six RICE-CRP centers (mentioned above), conduct their research as part of the RICE program, have submitted an abstract for presentation at the IRC2018 with the applicant as presenter (can be oral presentation, flash talk, or poster). Applicants from all nationalities and countries can apply, and there is no age limit.

Application process: applications must be submitted before April 30 to riceirc2018grants@irri.org. The following three documents need to be submitted:

a) The submitted abstract to the IRC2018 in the format requested by the IRC2018 (see https://www.judgify.me/IRC2018), and of which the applicant is the presenter;

b) A motivation letter, including the following: name of applicant, name of university at which applicant is enrolled, level of study (BsC, MsC, or PhD), name of RICE center with which applicant is associated (AfricaRice, CIAT, IRRI, Cirad, IRD, or JIRCAS), name of RICE center's supervisor, name of RICE flagship project under which the research is conducted, brief description of research area (max 350 words), motivation for application for the IRC2018 support grant (max 250 words);

c) Support letter from the RICE center's supervisor, including relevance of the student's research to RICE, name of RICE flagship project under which the research is conducted, and benefits from attending the conference.
Timeline and review process: Submission of applications is open till April 30, 2018. A committee of international scientists of the RICE program will review the applications using the criteria following criteria:

Significance of presented research to the field
Strength of research method
Implications of research findings
Clarity of writing
Potential to stimulate discussion

Successful applicants will be notified by mid June 2018. Decisions made by the selection committee are binding. No additional financial support will be provided to the successful candidates than the 1,000$ grant.

For further information: please send inquiries to riceirc2018grants@irri.org.