Targeted Travel Grants for the 4th annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations headquarters, New York, 14-15 May 2019

FinCEAL Plus BRIDGES has opened a Targeted Travel Grant Call to support the participation of senior researchers from Finnish higher education or research institutions interested in attending the 4th Annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the United Nations headquarters, New York, 14-15 May 2019.

Information on the Forum

As part of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism mandated by the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the STI Forum provides a venue for facilitating matchmaking and networking between relevant stakeholders and multi-stakeholder partnerships to identify technology needs in scientific cooperation, innovation and capacity-building, and to help facilitate development, transfer and dissemination of relevant technologies for the SDGs. There will be also discussions on STI cooperation around thematic areas for the implementation of the sustainable development goals.

This year the focus of the STI Forum will be on the following SDGs:

• Goal 4: Quality Education
• Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
• Goal 13: Climate Action
• Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

More information on the Forum can be found here. The programme will be published on the website later this spring. Each SDG mentioned above will have its dedicated session. In addition to the main programme, there will be 20-30 thematic sessions or side events, some of which are likely to be organized either on May 13^th or 16^th.

Information on the Travel Grants

This call is directed to senior researchers and experts from Finnish universities or research institutions who:

1. are actively working with partners from Africa, Asia or Latin America and the Caribbean.
2. have demonstrable, relevant expertise in one or more of the thematic focus areas of the Forum.
3. take an active interest in the policy framework and implementation of the SDG’s, and specifically the role of Science, Technology and Innovation in achieving them.
4. have the capacity and disposition to make a statement or act as commentator during a session in their field of expertise, if the opportunity arises.

Note that this call is for researchers residing in Finland only, and only for this particular event. Interested researchers should send a short description (no more than one page) detailing their interest in the event, a brief overview of relevant expertise, and how it relates to their work. A CV or link to online profile should also be included. The maximum individual grant is 1900€ for experts residing in the Helsinki region, and 2000€ for the rest of Finland. The grant can be used to cover travel, accommodation, and daily allowances. Any costs exceeding the granted amount need to be covered by the home institution of the grantee.

FinCEAL Plus BRIDGES will award max. 3 grants. Deadline for applications is Friday 15^th March, 2019. Decisions on the applications will be communicated during the following week. Please note that recipients of the grant will be required to apply for a special visa to be able to enter the United Nations headquarters. Please send your application by email to Quivine Ndomo: quivine.a.ndomo[at]jyu.fi with the subject heading ‘Targeted Travel Grant application for the UN STI Forum’.

Any questions regarding the event or the grants can be directed to the FinCEAL Plus BRIDGES Coordinators:

• Kajsa Ekroos (BRIDGES LAC), kajsa.ekroos[at]helsinki.fi
• Jarkko Mutanen (BRIDGES Asia), jarkko.mutanen[at]uef.fi
• Melissa Plath (BRIDGES Africa), melissa.plath[at]jyu.fi

[1] Researchers with research profile level R3 or R4 as determined by EURAXESS. PhD students are not eligible to apply for the particular call.