Research grant opportunity from Japan

1. Toray Science and Technology Research grant
This is only for young academic staff (below 40 years).
This is now open until 31st May.
2. Nagao Natural Environment Foundation (NEF)
One of the due date for this year is 17 October.
Please consider about submission to this grant, since we still have time.
3. Kurita water and Environmental Foundation
We have to have Japanese collaborators, because we have to submit recommendation letter together with application form.
Due date for this grant is 12 May (sorry for short notice).
4. Sumitomo Foundation
There are some opportunity to submit proposal. Please see the link.
Especially, if you can read and write in Japanese,
Grant for Environmental Research Projects, and Grant for Basic Science Research Projects
is good opportunity for us.

Research University Grant (Tier 1) Phase 1/2016

Research University Grant (Tier 1) Phase 1/2016

 We are pleased to announce the opening of the application for Research University Grant (Tier 1) Phase 1/2016. The application period is from 15 Apr 2016 to 15 May 2016.

All applications must be submitted online through RADIS System https://radis.utm.my before the deadline of 15 May 2016 (Sunday, 5.00pm).

Criteria :

Tier 1

The criteria for Tier 1 application is as follows :

–       The Researchers must be UTM permanent /contract academic staff.

–       The minimum number of members is two ( 2 ) academic staff including Project Leader

–       Maximum budget is RM 50,000.00

–       The application should be solving industry problems/concerns industrial needs

–       Application must attach proof of collaboration i.e. official letter from industry/international partner

–       Industry/international partner is encouraged to contribute cash or in-kind

–       Project start date is 1st July 2016

–       Project period : 12 – 24 months
Please be informed that evaluation will be conducted online through the RADIS system, starting from 1st – 14 June 2016. During this period, please pay attention to RADIS notification emails, revise your application according to panels’ comments, and resubmit without delay.
For more details about criteria, please go to www.rmc.utm.my/downloads

How to Write a Research Proposal

How to Write a Research Proposal
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Regardless of whether you are applying for the Master or PhD programmes, your research proposal should normally include the following information:
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1. Title

This is just a tentative title for your intended research. You will be able to revise your title during the course of your research if you are accepted for admission.
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2. Abstract

The proposal should include a concise statement of your intended research of no more than 100 words. This may be a couple of sentences setting out the problem that you want to examine or the central question that you wish to address.
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3. Research Context

You should explain the broad background against which you will conduct your research. You should include a brief overview of the general area of study within which your proposed research falls, summarising the current state of knowledge and recent debates on the topic. This will allow you to demonstrate a familiarity with the relevant field as well as the ability to communicate clearly and concisely.
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4. Research Questions

The proposal should set out the central aims and questions that will guide your research. Before writing your proposal, you should take time to reflect on the key questions that you are seeking to answer. Many research proposals are too broad, so reflecting on your key research questions is a good way to make sure that your project is sufficiently narrow and feasible (i.e. one that is likely to be completed with the normal period for a MJur, MPhil or PhD degree).
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You might find it helpful to prioritize one or two main questions, from which you can then derive a number of secondary research questions. The proposal should also explain your intended approach to answering the questions: will your approach be empirical, doctrinal or theoretical etc?
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5. Research Methods

The proposal should outline your research methods, explaining how you are going to conduct your research. Your methods may include visiting particular libraries or archives, field work or interviews.
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Most research is library-based. If your proposed research is library-based, you should explain where your key resources (e.g. law reports, journal articles) are located (in the Law School’s library, Westlaw etc). If you plan to conduct field work or collect empirical data, you should provide details about this (e.g. if you plan interviews, who will you interview? How many interviews will you conduct? Will there be problems of access?). This section should also explain how you are going to analyse your research findings.
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6. Significance of Research

The proposal should demonstrate the originality of your intended research. You should therefore explain why your research is important (for example, by explaining how your research builds on and adds to the current state of knowledge in the field or by setting out reasons why it is timely to research your proposed topic).
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7. Bibliography

The proposal should include a short bibliography identifying the most relevant works for your topic.

Tips for Writing Your Research Proposal

  1. [Tips for Writing Your Research Proposal]

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1. Know yourself: Know your area of expertise, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses. Play to your strengths, not to your weaknesses. If you want to get into a new area of research, learn something about the area before you write a proposal. Research previous work. Be a scholar.
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2. Know the program from which you seek support: You are responsible for finding the appropriate program for support of your research.
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3. Read the program announcement: Programs and special activities have specific goals and specific requirements. If you don’t meet those goals and requirements, you have thrown out your chance of success. Read the announcement for what it says, not for what you want it to say. If your research does not fit easily within the scope of the topic areas outlined, your chance of success is nil.
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4. Formulate an appropriate research objective: A research proposal is a proposal to conduct research, not to conduct development or design or some other activity. Research is a methodical process of building upon previous knowledge to derive or discover new knowledge, that is, something that isn’t known before the research is conducted.
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5. Develop a viable research plan: A viable research plan is a plan to accomplish your research objective that has a non-zero probability of success. The focus of the plan must be to accomplish the research objective.
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6. State your research objective clearly in your proposal: A good research proposal includes a clear statement of the research objective. Early in the proposal is better than later in the proposal. The first sentence of the proposal is a good place. A good first sentence might be, “The research objective of this proposal is…” Do not use the word “develop” in the statement of your research objective.
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7. Frame your project around the work of others: Remember that research builds on the extant knowledge base, that is, upon the work of others. Be sure to frame your project appropriately, acknowledging the current limits of knowledge and making clear your contribution to the extension of these limits. Be sure that you include references to the extant work of others.
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8. Grammar and spelling count: Proposals are not graded on grammar. But if the grammar is not perfect, the result is ambiguities left to the reviewer to resolve. Ambiguities make the proposal difficult to read and often impossible to understand, and often result in low ratings. Be sure your grammar is perfect.
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9. Format and brevity are important: Do not feel that your proposal is rated based on its weight. Use 12-point fonts, use easily legible fonts, and use generous margins. Take pity on the reviewers. Make your proposal a pleasant reading experience that puts important concepts up front and makes them clear. Use figures appropriately to make and clarify points, but not as filler.
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10. Know the review process: Know how your proposal will be reviewed before you write it. Proposals that are reviewed by panels must be written to a broader audience than proposals that will be reviewed by mail. Mail review can seek out reviewers with very specific expertise in very narrow disciplines.
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11. Proof read your proposal before it is sent: Many proposals are sent out with idiotic mistakes, omissions, and errors of all sorts. Proposals have been submitted with the list of references omitted and with the references not referred to. Proposals have been submitted to the wrong program. Proposals have been submitted with misspellings in the title. These proposals were not successful. Stupid things like this kill a proposal. It is easy to catch them with a simple, but careful, proof reading. Don’t spend six or eight weeks writing a proposal just to kill it with stupid mistakes that are easily prevented.
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12. Submit your proposal on time: Duh? Why work for two months on a proposal just to have it disqualified for being late? Remember, fairness dictates that proposal submission rules must apply to everyone. It is not up to the discretion of the program officer to grant you dispensation on deadlines. Get your proposal in two or three days before the deadline.

SODO B21 and B29.

This is a friendly reminder regarding the usage of a SODO B21 and B29.
Only conference fees need to be claimed under B29. For all other research activities, claims need to e be done using B21.
For example: if the total amount of approved budget for attending a conference is RM 10,000.00. Registration fees is RM 3,000.00 and the travelling expenses is RM 7,000.00. The fees will be covered using SODO B29. The travelling expenses will be covered using SODO B21

Open Access Thesis & Dissertations

List of some freely available scholarly resources (theses and dissertations) for you to use. Check out also UTM Digital Thesis Collection available at http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/.
1. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/ – PQDT Open provides the full text of open access dissertations and theses free of charge. The authors of these dissertations and theses have opted to publish as open access. Open Access Publishing is a new service offered by ProQuest’s UMI Dissertation Publishing, and we expect to have many more open access dissertations and theses over time.
2. https://oatd.org/ – OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes 3,080,752 theses and dissertations.
3. http://search.ndltd.org/index.php – Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. NDLTD provides information and a search engine for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), whether they are open access or not.
4. http://www.openthesis.org/ – OpenThesis.org is a searchable thesis & dissertation database, which helps increase the availability and utility of these important documents. OpenThesis contains the bibliographical information, normally including author, school, title, abstract, date of publication, and more. Full text is available for thesis & dissertation that have received permission from the school or author.
5. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/ – The Students’ Repository provides an online archive for the written work of University of Malaya students such as academic exercises, dissertations and theses.