The Research Council funds 266 research projects in 2019

Muscat: The Research Council (TRC) has announced that the research projects funded by TRC in 2019 has reached 266 projects, amounting OMR1.50 million, within the Block Funding Program (BFP).
BFP is an institutional and performance-based funding, which were distributed on research projects by PhD holders, projects by master and doctoral students, and projects by students of academic institutions and self-funded students. The number of academic and non-academic institutions, both governmental and private, benefiting this year, has reached 22 institutions.
His Excellency Dr Hilal bin Ali Al Hinai, Secretary General of TRC, said, “The support provided by TRC comes hand-in-hand with the National Strategy for Research and Development 2020-2040 that aims to build the local research capacity, and provide a stimulating research environment for scientific research and researchers and build their capabilities at various academic levels.”
He further added that TRC has launched several programmes, projects and initiatives in support of research and innovative activities in the Sultanate, and the Research Support Program comes as one of the most important of these programmes, as it was developed last year to keep up with the requirements of the research and provide the institutions with a wider space to submit competitive research to TRC.
The research projects by PhD holders funded in 2019 by TRC has reached 74 projects out of 172 research proposals with an amount of up to twenty thousand Omani riyals for each research project as a maximum for a period of two years. As for master students, 27 research projects were funded by TRC out of a total of 43 research proposals with an amount of up to three thousand Omani riyals for each project as a maximum. Furthermore, 152 student research projects were funded out of a total of 207 research proposals received from higher education institutions in the Sultanate at a value of OMR1,500 for each research project as a maximum.
The date to submit research proposals to TRC for 2020 is open, as announced since September 2019, provided that TRC would receive the final funding requests from research institutions no later than the end of April 2020.