Islamabad :- OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH), in collaboration with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), has awarded ten new research grants of one-year duration to researchers from OIC member states.
The grants have been awarded to scientists from Cameroon, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Libya, and Tunisia, under the COMSTECH-ICGEB Scientific Cooperation Program, aimed at strengthening research capacity and promoting collaboration in biotechnology and genetic engineering across OIC countries.
COMSTECH and ICGEB signed a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2022 to establish a comprehensive framework for cooperation in science, education, and technology. Subsequently, the COMSTECH-ICGEB Scientific Cooperation Program was launched to support research grants, fellowships, and training workshops in emerging technologies for capacity building in OIC states.
Under the program’s first segment, 11 Collaborative Research Projects (CRPs) were funded during 2022–23. The funded projects involved researchers from Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Türkiye. Ensuring gender inclusivity remained a priority, with 45 percent of the grants awarded to women scientists.
The second segment focused on fellowships, divided into short-term fellowships at ICGEB component laboratories and South-South mobility fellowships (SMART Fellowships). Under the short-term fellowship program, eight fellowships were awarded, including five to women scientists.
Under the SMART Fellowships, six awards were offered to researchers from Cameroon, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tunisia, enabling them to undertake research in institutions located in Hungary, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Zimbabwe, and Türkiye.
The third segment of the program focused on organizing training workshops in emerging technologies. Two international workshops were successfully conducted in Nigeria and Malaysia in February and August 2024, respectively. These events attracted many researchers from Somalia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Djibouti, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, and Uganda, significantly contributing to regional capacity building.
