MENA Young Scientists Mobility Grants

MENA Young Scientists Mobility Grants at University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland

Deadline: December 31, 2019

The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) has commissioned the HES-SO as Leading House for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The mandate will last from 2017 to 2020 and its overall goal is to develop scientific collaborations between Switzerland and countries of the MENA region.

The following countries have been identified as priority countries for the first phase of the LHMENA: Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. This call allows funding of approximately 26 mobility grants, subject to the number of applications received as well as compliance with the criteria for evaluation and selection (see section 8 in this document for details).

Benefits

1. The Leading House will fund living allowances for candidates from abroad (actual cost up to CHF 2,500 per month), while the partner institute abroad should fund their flights.
2. Please note that the Leading House will disburse funds to the Swiss sending and/or host institute only. It will make no remittances to any other organization (e.g. host institution, tax authorities, insurance companies, etc.) or individual.
3. The Swiss institute will be responsible for spending the grant money in the spirit of this application

Eligibility

1. Mobility grants can be awarded to young scientists who hold a Bachelor or Master’s degree but no PhD yet, and with not more than 6 years of professional research experience.
2. The call is open for activities in all scientific disciplines and fields of research. Activities may include field work and/or an internship in relation to the applicant’s research project.
3. Host researchers must be permanently employed principal investigators at a university or research institute in their respective country.
4. The applicant’s mobility visit should have a minimum duration of 4 weeks and the amount not more than CHF 5,000 per grant.
5. Applicants need to be scientists with a government accredited, mandated or appointed, or public research institute in their respective country.
6. They need to hold nationality of the country where their home institute is or permanent residence, or cross-border commuter permit there, or be in a marriage, or in a registered partnership with a citizen of the country where their home institute is.
7. Applicants with multiple nationalities, who have indicated the Swiss citizenship and who have attended high school in Switzerland, cannot be considered for a stay in Switzerland. For example, an applicant with double Lebanese and Swiss citizenship, who attended high school in Switzerland, is not eligible for a stay in Switzerland.

Application

The application form must be completed by the Swiss main applicant, both in the case of hosting a MENA young scientist in Switzerland or sending a Swiss scientist to countries of the MENA region.

The Swiss main applicant must be permanently employed at a Swiss federal or cantonal university, university of applied sciences or university of teachers’ education, or a public research institution.

1. The application should include:
   Completed application form
2. Supporting/nomination letter from the supervisor at the sending institution, explaining also why an exchange with a specific scientist in the host country is planned
3. Acceptance letter from the supervisor at the host institute.

Applications shall be submitted in electronic format only. Please email your full application to the Leading House MENA: [email protected]

For more information, visit MENA Young Scientists Mobility Grants .