Seed Fund for Research and Training Grant

Seed Fund for Research and Training Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: SEARCA
Amount: Up to US $15,000
Last Updated: September 19, 2025

Summary

The SEARCA Seed Fund for Research and Training aims to empower Southeast Asian researchers by providing essential start-up funds for innovative projects in inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development. This initiative seeks to enhance research capacities, foster regional cooperation, and promote impactful scientific outputs, thereby addressing funding barriers that hinder promising research. By aligning with SEARCA's strategic goals, the fund facilitates long-term support from donors, ensuring that vital research contributes meaningfully to the region's development.

Overview

The Southeast Asian (SEA) region has a number of promising researchers and scientists whose desire to contribute to the region's development through research and knowledge dissemination initiatives is hindered by lack of funds. This situation serves as a barrier to translating promising research and training into scientific outputs that could be applied to promote development. To address this concern and in line with the Center's thrust of promoting, undertaking and coordinating research programs relevant to inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development of the region, SEARCA will dedicate funds to be known as the SEARCA Seed Fund for Research and Training (SFRT). The SFRT is envisaged to provide chosen research and training project proposals with limited start-up funds intended to enhance chances of securing long-term support from donor agencies. Objectives SFRT aims to provide start-up funds to researchers and scientists who can make significant contributions to the development of the region but lack the funds to carry out their projects. It intends to build capacities of researchers to develop research proposals and conduct the research, mindful of inherent technical, financial, and administrative responsibilities of such an undertaking. It seeks to expand SEARCA’s reach in terms of research, capacity building, and contribution to the body of knowledge on ISARD in the region. Program Elements The proposed project should be aligned with Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (ISARD), the overarching theme of SEARCA’s 10th Five Year Plan (FY 2014/2015 - 2018/2019), along at least one of the following elements: Social Inclusion in Agricultural and Rural Development Participation of poor and vulnerable sectors of rural societies in food and agricultural value chains and agribusiness commodity systemsFood and nutrition security for poor and vulnerable sectors of rural societies Productivity-enhancing innovations and modern technologies Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Natural resource managementClimate change mitigation and adaptation in agricultural and rural developmentResilience of agricultural systems to climate impacts Regional and Sub-regional Cooperation Sub-regional cooperation in trade and investmentsRegional market, trade and economic integration Institutions and Governance Government policies, institutions and governance mechanisms and reforms for ISARD Features: The proposed project should be all of the following: Innovative and is accompanied by an appropriate plan for developing it into a potentially large-scale research/training program greatly relevant to the agricultural and rural development needs of the regionHas strong potential for generating significant long-term funding supportCan be completed within a period not exceeding one yearDetails plans for generating future funding supportSpecifies a plan for dissemination of results, including policy recommendations, to various stakeholders in modes deemed appropriate Output: The proposed project should be able to generate: A research report which can be published as a discussion paperAt least one policy brief or research/learning/experience noteWhen possible, presentation of research results in at least one scientific forum/conference

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Basic Eligibility:The proponent should be a Southeast Asian national who is a graduate of at least a four-year degree course, with limited research/training start-up funds.Southeast Asian nationals outside of the SEARCA network (described in Preferences, below) who are regular employees of development organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies of any of the SEA countries may likewise be considered.Previous grantees may re-apply provided that their last SFRT grant has not been within the preceding two years.