Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Labour Invalidsand Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) inVietnam have launched the 2018 Labour Research Contest with the topic of“Research for exploring Industrial Relations practices and its reflectiontoward better policies”. 

MoLISA Deputy Minister Le Quan said the contest looks to seek new ideas, thus perfectingpolicies, the revised Labour Code, the Law on Employment, and the Law on GenderEquality.

Through the contest, which is the key activity in the framework of the ongoing “newlabour relations” project in Vietnam, the organising board hopes to create initialexperience for deploying larger research activities in the future, contributingto building a  database on labourrelations in the country.

To build and implement policies on new labour relations, and promotenew practices of voluntary bargaining and social dialogue, Quan said it isnecessary to enhance theoretical and practical research activities of labourrelations-related issues.

The first initiative of its kind aims to provide an opportunity forstrengthening local research capacity on labour issues, especially industrialrelations-related topics. The contest focuses on research skills using databaseand information for analysis and conceptualization.

It is also expected to connect researchers and policy-makers, towards takingadvantages of high-quality labour research with useful and pragmatic findings toserve the policy-making process.

According to Director of ILO in Vietnam Chang Hee Lee, the five themes of thecontest are “The effect of collective bargaining on wages and workingconditions”, “Innovative mechanism to settle interest-based labour disputesthrough mediation”, “Linkage between social dialogue and business performance”,“Trade union rights in the context of Viet Nam’s trade union reform”, and “Gender-baseddiscrimination in the workplace”.

He said the contest is one of efforts of the ILO and the Vietnamese Government toimprove the ability of labour researchers and those on labour relations inparticular, thus supporting the amendment of Vietnam’s labour law in line with commitmentsmade when Vietnam joins free trade agreements, and those arising from thestatus of the ILO’s member nation.

Applicants, who are individuals of Vietnamese nationality or legally operated Vietnameseorganisations in form of research teams, shall submit their applications withdocuments required by the organising board, including application form, budgetproposal, and curriculum vitae. 

Applicants shall have opportunities to receiveawards up to 100 million VND (4,400 USD) for two categories namely Grant awards forgood research proposals and Grant awards forbest papers.

Entries should be submitted before June 26, 2018.Applications and inquiries relating to this contest should be sent to emailhan_contest@ilo.org.-VNA