Comprehensive impact of the political, economic and financial sanctions applied to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

In accordance with the priorities of the Ministry of Popular Power for Science and Technology of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the conversations held with CLACSO and the member centers of Venezuela, the priority lines of work for this call will be guided by the approach of the Oriented Research Agenda (AIO).

Specifically, the investigations should focus on the description, evaluation and comprehensive impact of the political, economic and financial sanctions applied to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, focusing on the following sectors:

• Education

• Health

• Food

The proposal includes the development of lines of research in five (5) thematic axes that can be viewed systemically and in some cases guiding principles for the others:

1. Science, technology and society: This proposal aims to address the challenges of national, sovereign science, essential for overcoming Venezuela's material difficulties. It affirms the need to strengthen the national science and technology system as an institutional response linked to the economic, social, and educational sectors. It explores opportunities for strengthening an educational, training, and practical ecosystem centered on science and technology. Finally, it seeks to leverage big data tools for formulating social policies that address current and real needs.

2. State, public management, citizen security and popular power: To address, debate, and rethink both the paradigms governing strategic planning in public policy and management and their reflection in security. To promote the analysis of the structural causes and specific characteristics of violence in the national territory. To understand and disseminate the fundamental participation of organized popular power as agents of change and promoters of innovation to create alternative mechanisms in economic, environmental, food, and service matters.

3. Demography, population and society: This project aims to investigate and discuss youth, gender studies, the demographic dividend, and population shifts toward major centers that concentrate public services and drive national and international economic growth. It seeks to identify weaknesses in Venezuela's social system as a means of retaining young people trained within the economy's productive chain, thereby protecting intellectual, academic, technical, and specialized investment. The project also explores approaches to demographic transition theory and state planning in the face of gradual global aging.

4. Education, communication, culture and entertainment: To address aspects of education, culture, communication, and entertainment in light of new communication tools from a political perspective, recognizing information-promoting hegemonies as power players and disseminators of culture, entertainment, and ideologies. To discuss and offer approaches to new strategies for ongoing professional development and training for teachers in critical thinking for understanding the social, political, economic, cultural, technological, and educational realities in the post-pandemic era.

5. Economy: Energy, environment, finance and money supply: Identify and enhance the energy production needed by both the region and the world. A critical reflection on the current climate of pressure and competition from various hegemonic forces is considered essential, as is overcoming the economic model dependent on rent-seeking and extractive industries, particularly those reliant on oil. Research should be conducted on the dominant mechanisms of the relationship between humans and the environment, alternative sources of environmentally friendly energy, and the promotion of an ecological culture.

3.1. Profile of the applicants

• Applicants must be members of one of the CLACSO member centers in Venezuela, which they will prove with a digital sworn statement.

• Submissions from collaborative teams of four (4) to ten (10) members will be accepted. Research projects submitted under an associative organizational structure will receive positive consideration from the call's evaluation committee.

• The teams can incorporate up to 30% of its members from CLACSO member centers in other Latin American and Caribbean countries.

• The formation of the teams must respect gender parity (at least 50% women) and must select one of the members as responsible for the registration of the project.

• Team composition must respect generational inclusion; therefore, each project must include at least one young or early-career researcher between the ages of 25 and 35. Exceptions related to this age group will be accepted, provided the researcher has completed a postgraduate degree.

• Each team must be made up of trained researchers, that is, those who hold a master's degree, doctorate or equivalent and have a proven academic track record, and researchers in training, that is, those who are pursuing master's or doctoral studies or are up to 35 years of age, in this case with a degree.

• Each researcher or research team may only participate with one proposal in this call.

• If the project is awarded and any travel is necessary, the winners will have to cover the costs of medical insurance or similar expenses themselves.

3.2. Support to be granted

Will be awarded three 3) support for group research projects.

• The amount of support to be granted will be USD 5.000 (five thousand US dollars or its equivalent in the national currency in circulation in Venezuela at the exchange rate established by the Central Bank of Venezuela, BCV) for each research team.

• The proposed research will be carried out within a maximum period of 6 (six) months.

• The scholarships will be paid in installments via bank transfers made to the name of the project leader or coordinator. It is expected that at least 60% of the scholarship funds will be used for activities related to gathering and processing the information necessary for the research, which must be reported to the MPPCT and CLACSO with supporting documentation.

• Payments will be made by the Ministry of Popular Power for Science and Technology (MPPCT) or whomever it designates.

• The selected teams will work with the support of Academic Committee mixed, made up of 3 experts appointed by the MPPCT and 3 experts appointed by CLACSO, who will follow the process of their investigations and results.

• The selected teams will work with the support and monitoring of 1 tutor designated for each research project, an expert in the subject.

• CLACSO and the MPPCT will publish the final products in print and/or digital media, giving them wide publicity and dissemination through the means they deem appropriate, following open access policies.

• The authors will transfer the original publication rights of their works, given that CLACSO and the MPPCT adhere to and defend the principles of open science and open access to knowledge, ensuring that the resulting work is easy to find, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. Subsequently, the works may be published in any other medium, always citing the grant received. Researchers must inform CLACSO of any subsequent publication of the works resulting from this call for proposals.

3.3. Characteristics of the proposals

• The institutions that endorse the proposals must be associated with the CLACSO network.

• Completed research projects will not be accepted. Proposals may be linked to ongoing research processes, but the final works must be original and unpublished products and developed within the period established by the call for proposals.

• Members of the Steering Committee or officials of the Executive Secretariat of CLACSO and the MPPCT of Venezuela may not participate.

• Proposals from researchers who are currently recipients of research grants, fellowships, or research projects organized by CLACSO will not be accepted. Applications from researchers who have previously received a CLACSO research grant will be accepted, provided that the recipient has fulfilled all obligations in a timely manner.

• Only applications in Spanish will be accepted.

3.4. Selection criteria for proposals

• In the first stage, the submitted proposals will be reviewed for their formal and administrative aspects to ensure their compliance with the competition rules. Proposals that do not meet the established requirements will be rejected.

• Applications that pass to the next stage will be evaluated by the MPPCT – CLACSO Academic Committee composed of experts who will assess the quality and relevance of the proposals, which will be submitted under a pseudonym.

• The Call may be declared void or a smaller number of projects may be selected, if the proposals submitted do not meet the required quality and consistency.

• Situations not covered in this document will be resolved by the convening institutions.

• The ruling will be final.

The criteria for the evaluation and selection of research projects will be:

• Relevance and social significance: up to 15 points

• Feasibility for promoting, creating or evaluating public policies: up to 15 points

• Feasibility and coherence of the project: up to 25 points

• Consistent and up-to-date methodologies and theoretical frameworks: up to 20 points

• Alignment with the objectives of the call for proposals: up to 10 points

• Concurrence with association between CLACSO centers and multidisciplinary researchers: 15 points

3.5. Characteristics of research work

• The research projects will develop their work plan between December 2020 and May 2021. This plan will be implemented with the monitoring of the MPPCT Academic Committee and CLACSO.

• The progress and final reports submitted by the teams will be reviewed by external evaluators appointed by CLACSO and the MPPCT.

• In their final version, the research papers submitted as a result should be between 12.000 and 15.000 words in length (excluding appendices and bibliography), written in Times New Roman 12-point font, single-spaced. This is an approximate guideline, and the Joint Academic Committee, in conjunction with authorities from both the MPPCT and CLACSO, reserves the right to make revisions or exceptions if deemed necessary.

• The structure of the text will be free, respecting the conventions of presentation of an academic text, in addition to APA + GENRE.

• In addition, each team must submit a Guidelines for Action Document, containing inputs and recommendations for public policies and social intervention on the topics investigated.

• Only applications in Spanish will be accepted.

• Deliveries must be made of reports MONTHLY. There were a total of 06 reports.

• Deliveries must be made of Reports each TWO MONTHS, in order to evaluate the progress of the research project. A total of 03 reports were produced.

• A final report with the results of the executed project must be submitted.

It is mandatory that the application be submitted through the online registration system provided by the National Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation (ONCTI). Printed or emailed applications will not be accepted. It is recommended to access the online system to review the registration form.

1. Access the CLACSO websites clacso.org or from ONCTI http://www.oncti.gob.ve/. The online registration system will be available from Monday, October 5, 2020 on the ONCTI website.

2. Register in the ONCTI MPPCT System (http://www.oncti.gob.ve/; https://pni.oncti.gob.ve/).

3. Applicants submitting joint proposals must designate one of the authors as the person responsible for the proposal. This same person will receive the corresponding monetary award if the proposal is selected by the Jury.

4. Once you have entered the National Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation (ONCTI) system, you will be asked to formalize your registration process, which requires uploading information about the research project, as well as personal and academic data of the researchers who are part of the proposal.

5. Applicants must complete the sworn statement on the registration form indicating their affiliation with a Member Center belonging to the CLACSO network in Venezuela. The list of member centers can be found at: www.clacso.org.ar/clacso/centros_miembros_clacso/inicio.php.

6. Complete the personal and academic data form and attach your curriculum vitae in free format; a digital copy of your identity document, passport or ID card; a digital copy of your highest academic degree (or proof of degree in process) and a photograph.