Muscat: Three hundred and forty-nine research proposals were funded under the Block Funding Programme 2022 with grants amounting to OMR1,953,272, according to the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MoHERI).
The programme funded research spanning several categories, including Research Grants (RG), concerned with supporting research work of PhD holders or its equivalent, Graduate Research Grants (GRG) for research of master’s or bachelor’s degree holders, Undergraduate Research Grants (URG) for research of students of higher education institutions and Graduate Research Grants Abroad (GRG-Abroad) for research of students studying abroad at their own expense.
Under the RG category, the number of research projects funded by MoHERI was 120 with an amount of OMR20,000 per project for a maximum period of two years, while 103 research projects were funded under the GRG category with an amount of OMR3,000 per project. 126 student research projects were funded with an amount of OMR1,500 per project under the URG category. As for the GRG-Abroad category, 16 research proposals were funded with an amount of OMR3,000 per project.
The number of government and private academic and non-academic institutions benefiting from this year’s support reached 31 institutions.
The support comes with an aim to build local research capacity, provide a stimulating research environment for research and researchers and building their capacities at various academic levels.
The Block Funding Programme also seeks to activate the role of academic and research institutions and support research that contributes to the implementation of the national priorities and achieve practical, applicable results that raises the standards of the Sultanate of Oman in the fields of research and innovation.
