Research criteria approved by Ministry

Abu Dhabi: Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, has approved standards for those seeking to receive grants and participate in research programmes conducted by the National Research Foundation for 2014.

The Foundation launched a database for researchers last December to serve as a scientific reference for researchers in all disciplines. It also directed students and researchers at academic institutions to conduct research that focuses on areas that benefit the country, provided that this research meets the requirements and standards of scientific research as established by the Foundation.

The standards, which should be met by researchers and youths, include obtaining a graduation certificate from one of the federal, licensed, or accredited universities inside the country or abroad; conducting research of scientific or academic value in an area of specialisation; the research should have already begun in order to receive financing for research visits for students; and financing should pay for scientific visits to conduct research at a foreign university or institution, or participate in other scientific research teams.

As for financing visits by researchers from among university students and faculty members, the main researcher should hold a doctorate degree and be a full-time employee at one of the federal universities, or those licensed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the country. Also, the university must approve the research programme, and approve the researcher’s participating in a scientific visit to a university or scientific institution abroad.

Regarding grants for collaborative research between universities and the industrial sector, grants are provided to researchers who hold a doctorate degree and who work at a federal or licensed university that conducts research based on international standards, and the main researcher must supervise the research team from inside the university or with collaborative authorities from the industrial sector or foreign universities, according to the competitive research grants programme. As for grants to finance patenting, the proposal should include inventions or innovations that are previously unregistered and undisclosed to another party, and its results have not been published in scientific journals or at conferences.