The CoE Grants are mandated to support quality applied/ impact-oriented research with a clear strategy to commercial, sustainable way forward to address socioeconomic and environmental challenges of the country in the longer run. The purpose of these grants is to address challenges in the specific domains of CoEs.
Identifying the Area of Research:
Each CoE Grant will support research activities aligned with the subject specialization mandate of the lead applicant Center of Excellence. While choosing a specific research focus for the CoE Grant, applicants should keep in mind their own expertise and mission focus as well as the social, economic & environmental challenges of Pakistan. In the case of a consortium, the problem defined must fall, broadly, within the knowledge specialization areas of the participating Centers. However, consortiums may propose to address a complex multidisciplinary problem if they have the capacity to do so. Capacity here refers to both the centers' knowledge specialization and that of relevant partners are engaged in the project.
Linking of Area of Research with Economic, Social & Environmental Challenges:
A well-defined problem statement is critical for grant applicants to be successful in being awarded the CoE Grant. The second step, following the problem statement identification stage, is for applicants to highlight the socio-economic challenges that the project will address once it has reached maturity.
Proposals should link the proposed research activities with a direct or significant indirect impact on the resolution of these practical social, economic, and environmental challenges. This impact may occur through commercialization, reduction of cost through process optimization and/or policy level interventions. A successful CoE Grant proposal will clearly demonstrate an overarching strategy for development of a consensus and stakeholder coalition for large-scale adoption, deployment, or scaling of the proposed solution during and after the project timeline.
Developing a Sustainable Solution:
The proposed CoE Grants should support activities that can implemented in a sustainable manner post-project. For this very purpose, the full stage proposal must include a post project sustainable implementation plan. This sustainable implementation plan will be continuously updated during project execution in consultation with HEC and Subject Matter Experts.
