The ACM Special Interest Group on Economics and Computation (SIGecom), with financial support from Facebook, is announcing a new Global Challenges in Economics and Computation request for proposals (RFP). The RFP will provide $150K in funding to aspiring researchers from low- and middle-income countries to apply research in economics and computation (EconCS) to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to being awarded funding, select winners may have the chance to present their projects at a special session at the ACM Conference on Economics and Computation, July 13 to 17, 2020, in Budapest, Hungary.

In a recent letter to the EconCS community, the SIGecom executive committee identified “three broad goals for the coming years: disciplinary and demographic diversity, a cohesive community, and most importantly, sustained and significant impact on academia and society.” This RFP aims to address all three of these goals by helping form teams of established EconCS researchers, aspiring researchers, and practitioners in low- and middle-income countries. We want these teams to tackle social issues, and every team member will play an important role in doing so. Moreover, we hope that this extends EconCS expertise into new parts of the world so that future students in those areas can turn to local experts for EconCS mentorship.

A submission to this RFP must satisfy three eligibility criteria. First, the research proposal should be led by an aspiring EconCS researcher who has lived or currently lives in a low- or middle-income country. Second, it should help achieve a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal in a low- or middle-income country. Third, it should use techniques from EconCS to achieve that goal.

For a research proposal to be compelling, it should be concrete, tackle a real-world problem, and present a feasible path toward a solution. Most important, a successful submission will include a team of relevant experts. Aspiring EconCS researchers should team up with practitioners and established researchers in EconCS to ensure that they are correctly capturing the nuances of the problem, have someone on board who can provide them with relevant mentorship in EconCS, and have someone on board to help deploy their solution.

Apply now, before the RFP closes on May 22. Join the corresponding Facebook Group to find collaborators, explore project ideas, and get feedback from relevant experts.