Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) -
UC MEXUS-CONACYT Postdoctoral and Visiting Scholar Fellowships
- Am I eligible to apply?
- I do not have a host faculty at the University of California (or in Mexico). Can UC MEXUS put me in contact or place me with someone appropriate to my field of study?
- Whom can I contact if I have questions regarding my current fellowship or the application process?
- Whom can I contact if I have problems submitting my application on-line?
- Do I need to have a Ph.D. from a Mexican institution of higher education and/or research in order to apply for a fellowship at a UC campus?
- Do I need to have a Ph.D. from the University of California to apply for a fellowship at a Mexican institution?
- What format should I use for the project plan?
- Is the bibliography included in the allowed number of pages for the project plan?
- How many hard copies should I submit to UC MEXUS?
- Why do I have to send hard copies if I've already submitted my application electronically? Can I just send a diskette?
- When will I be notified of the results of the competition?
- When do the fellowships begin?
- May I postpone a fellowship from one year to the next?
- How are applications reviewed?
- Can I get reviewer comments back after the competition is over?
1. Am I eligible to apply?
The eligibility requirements are included in the descriptions for each program under "Eligibility" in the current Call for Proposals.
University of California faculty and researchers who meet UC requirements for Principal Investigator status are eligible to apply to the visiting scholar fellowships. Please check with your department administrator and/or campus research office (or sponsored projects office) if you have any questions regarding your eligibility. Review the eligibility requirements for each program to determine which one would be most appropriate.
Faculty or researchers with full-time positions at Mexican institutions of higher education and/or research recognized by CONACYT are eligible to apply to the fellowship programs through an eligible UC faculty host. Please note that most NGOs (ONGs) are not recognized as eligible institutions by CONACYT, even if they have a research component coupled with the advocacy role. If you are eligible, check the requirements for each program to determine which one would be appropriate. For instance, the visiting scholar fellowships require that the applicant must belong to the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI) at level 1 or higher. Please note that for the postdoctoral fellowships, applicants from Mexico must be Mexican citizens.
Recent Ph.D. graduates (within 2 years of the Call for Proposals) from the University of California or Mexico are eligible to apply for UC MEXUS-CONACYT postdoctoral fellowships. Please note that you may not apply to this program if your doctoral studies were supported via the UC MEXUS-CONACYT cost-sharing program.
2. I do not have a host faculty at the University of California (or in Mexico). Can UC MEXUS put me in contact or place me with someone appropriate to my field of study?
UC MEXUS cannot be involved in proposal preparation, including setting up the initial collaborative connections. As the funding organization and office responsible for overseeing the peer review process, any participation in individual proposal development represents a conflict of interest. The fellowship competitions are open to all fields of study that relate to our basic mandate. UC MEXUS does not push for specific research emphases or disciplines in these competitions and any individual guidance would create an unfair advantage or unrealistic expectation of funding.
The following suggestions may help to find colleagues, contacts, and potential collaborators in the UC system and Mexico. The most direct, though labor-intensive, way is to go through the results of our past grants competitions, and search for previously funded projects in your area. The titles of all the funded projects are on-line, along with the Principal Investigators' departments and home institutions. You can contact the researchers directly to ask for their suggestions of potential collaborators in your area of research. The quickest way to find previous grantees' contact information is to use Google or any other type of on-line search engine and type in the name and institution/campus. Use the department name as well, if a finer search is needed. You may also wish to post your interest in applying for a UC MEXUS-CONACYT Fellowship at the Posting Service.
For researchers seeking colleagues in the UC system, there are several useful and searchable sites:
- www.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/welcome.html - go to any individual campus site and search either by area (e.g., shrimp, forests, indigenous migration, modern dance, etc.) or discipline (e.g., neurology, botany, anthropology, theatre, etc.) or college/school (e.g., medicine, social sciences, humanities, arts, etc.).
- www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/spanishexperts/subjects/agriculture.html - this is the "Spanish Experts" site, which lists scholars who are bilingual with research areas that are related to Latin America or Latino Studies. It is not specific to Mexico and not comprehensive, but it is searchable by area or campus and provides complete contact information.
- expertise.cos.com/ - this is a searchable resource from the Community of Science site. However, keep in mind that it is not specific to the University of California. While it may provide you with a great collaborator, it may not provide you with a colleague who is eligible to apply for a UC MEXUS grant.
- Binational Directory of Researchers in Migration and Health - this directory is published by the California-Mexico Health Initiative (CMHI) at the UCOP California Policy Research Center.
- www.nceas.ucsb.edu/exp/ - a database for anyone with an interest in water resources.
For researchers interested in finding colleagues in Mexico, beyond using the search engines noted above and searching for a specific institution, the best way is to go through the CONACYT main website, and look at the directory of research centers, groups, and networks or the directory for institutions enrolled in RENIECYT. The website for ANUIES (the National Association for Universities and Institutions of Higher Education) also has a page for affiliated institutions which is searchable by state.
3. Whom can I contact if I have questions regarding my current fellowship or the application process?
At UC MEXUS, contact Dr. Wendy DeBoer (wendy.deboer@ucr.edu; tel: 951-827-7339)
At CONACYT, contact Dra. Maria Cristina Revilla Monsalve (mrevilla@conacyt.mx; tel 5322-7790 ext. 6100)
4. Whom can I contact if I have problems submitting my application on-line?
At UC MEXUS, contact Susana Garcia (susana.garcia@ucr.edu).
5. Do I need to have a Ph.D. from Mexican institution of higher education and/or research in order to apply for a fellowship at a UC campus?
Only if you are applying for a postdoctoral fellowship. For all other programs, check the eligibility requirements, which usually state that you must be a full-time researcher or faculty at a Mexican institution of higher education and/or research.
6. Do I need to have Ph.D. from the University of California to apply for a fellowship at a Mexican institution?
Only if you are applying for a postdoctoral fellowship. For all other programs, check the eligibility requirements, which usually state that you must have UC Principal Investigator status as per UC policy.
7. What format should I use for the project plan?
There is no specified or required format. We suggest that you keep the narrative simple, with at least 1 inch margins all the way around, 11-12 point fonts, and 1.5 or double-spaced. Breaking up the text with subheaders and illustrations or diagrams can also lighten a dense presentation. Keep in mind that reviewers have to read and discuss all the proposals for their particular committee, which may include 20 applications or more. They appreciate a simple, straightforward presentation and are dismayed when someone tries to put 20 pages worth of text into a 10-page narrative.
8. Is the bibliography included in the allowed number of pages for the project plan?
No, that is considered separately. You have the whole 10 pages for text if you need it but consider that reviewers are grateful for short, clear, concise presentations.
9. How many hard copies should I submit?
Submit three copies total, which would consist of one original (with original signatures) and two copies.
10. Why do I have to send hard copies if I've already submitted my application electronically? Can I just send a diskette?
As the Office of Record, UC MEXUS must retain a hard copy with all the original signatures. We also have a set of hard copies on hand for CONACYT and also for any reviewers who are uncomfortable with accessing or reviewing the proposals from the online site.
11. When will I be notified of the results of the competition?
Applicants are notified only after all the review committees have met and submitted their recommendations to UC MEXUS and CONACYT. Typically, notification of the final results is sent in early June, but it can be later depending on when committee members are available to meet. You may request information about the status of your application at that time. Once all the notifications have been sent out to the awardees, a list of the fellowship recipients will be placed on the UC MEXUS website under "Program Results."
12. When do the fellowships begin?
They may commence after September 1 of the funding year. Fellows must begin their stay within 90 days of the originally proposed starting date and complete their residency no later than within 12 months or less from that starting date.
13. May I postpone a fellowship from one year to the next?
No, fellowships may not be deferred to a subsequent year. UC MEXUS and CONACYT can only hold the funds for one year.
14. How are applications reviewed?
UC MEXUS and CONACYT are committed to the principles of academic peer review. Proposals undergo an initial administrative review at UC MEXUS for completeness and eligibility. In consultation with CONACYT, they are then divided into broad academic areas, depending on the disciplinary range of the proposals received. These divisions are used to determine the compilation of the grants review committees, such as Social Sciences & Humanities, Medical and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences/Engineering/Computer Sciences, and Natural Sciences, although these broad categories are adjusted depending on what areas are prevalent in the proposals that are received.
UC MEXUS and CONACYT subsequently work together to develop committees with a broad range of expertise in each area. CONACYT appoints researchers from Mexico to form half the committee, and UC MEXUS appoints faculty from the University of California to form the other half. Committee members go through all the individual proposals for their committee and make initial notes on their qualifications. In addition, each proposal is assigned two primary reviewers within the committee. These committee members review their assigned proposals in detail and present the projects and their corresponding assessments to the rest of the committee when it meets.
Committee meetings are held at the end of the review period. During the meetings, the proposals are discussed and scored individually, based on their own merits, and subsequently ranked against each other in order of priority for funding. The committees also indicate which proposals are not recommended for support, regardless of available funding. The rankings are presented by the committee to UC MEXUS and CONACYT as a set of recommendations.
15. Can I get reviewer comments back after the competition is over?
UC MEXUS and CONACYT do not provide reviewer comments. While reviewers may make some initial notes on a proposal prior to the committee meeting, the critical review work is undertaken during the final committee meeting. Reviewers' early assessments of a project may change significantly during the committee discussions, especially as projects are compared against each other. We have found that these discussions cannot be encapsulated in a way that captures the committees' nuances for an applicant. In addition, the committee recommendations are not the only factors in the final decisions by UC MEXUS, which can include funding limitations and comparisons across committees. Instead, we suggest that applicants look closely at the proposal-writing suggestions specific to the fellowship programs to see if their proposal might be strengthened in one area or another.