Small Grants

In pursuing its mandate of developing capacity in the area of research in trade and industry, TIPS is pleased to announce that it is in a position to offer small research grants to students at the Masters level. Small grants of up to R20,000 are available to students in South Africa, though students from outside South Africa would be considered in exceptional cases.

Grant applications are considered according to the following criteria:

• that the beneficiary student is registered at a (South African) University on a full-time basis
• the grants are allocated for the production of a (small) research piece
• the research piece is to be completed within 6 months of the contract having been communicated to the supervisor
• The research piece needs to incorporate a theme pertaining to economic development.  
• Students having secured 70% or above in their coursework.

Those seeking support should note that the small grant is allocated to supervisors who are responsible for the disbursement of the grant. The supervisor is therefore the grant holder/recipient and has to ensure that good and timely progress is being made on the research.

When applying, the supervisor should send an abstract from the student which specifies the general research question, the broad methodology followed in the research and a tentative title.

As TIPS seeks, through its small grant, to support the broad dissemination of students’ research, the research piece sponsored will be posted on the TIPS website. The research piece is posted as an unedited piece and it is the responsibility of the student and supervisor to ensure that the piece is grammatically sound and that the argument is coherent.

For further information on the small grant scheme, supervisors or students should please contact Ipeleng Mohlala.

 TIPS Small Grant Scheme Research Paper Series 2010