Faculty members, scientists and academics belonging to universities and research institutes should form a project team headed by a Principal Investigator (PI). Those having permanent positions in the above-mentioned institutions can apply as PIs. Teams should not exceed five members!

A complete project proposal (in terms of content, names of team members on both sides, … etc.) for academic / scientific co-operation must be uploaded by the German PI to the DAAD Portal, and by the Egyptian PI to the website of the STDF, both in the prescribed format available on the websites.

The project proposal should contain the objectives, technical details, methodology, the expected outputs and achievable goals of the project, the biography of the PI, a list of his/her relevant publications during the last 5 years and a list of other projects, national and international, implemented by him/her etc.

After creating an account on the STDF’s website, the Egyptian PI is kindly requested to fill out all required information and upload One application file, which consists of the following documents:

• Research project
• CVs of all Egyptian and German team members
• Gantt chart showing the timeframe for conducting the project tasks/activities
• Publication list of the Egyptian and German PIs
• Endorsement letter: signed & stamped by the president of the Egyptian PI’s institution (university/research centres)
• Acknowledgement form: signed & stamped by the president of the Egyptian PI’s institution (university/research centres) and the PI of the project.
• Signed Ethical Declaration

All incomplete applications will be considered ineligible and rejected.

• Mobility grants will be awarded within the framework of a research project running for a duration of up to two years
• Total duration of visits by senior scientists should not exceed 1 month per year, whereas total duration of visits by junior scientists should be within the range of 3 to 6 months per year, the table in the funding section explains the allowances according to the duration of stay
• In all cases, the mutual visits of the academics / scientists should be justified in terms of number, duration, expenses and purpose of visit

For both the German and Egyptian partners, this programme is open for publicly funded as well as private universities and research centres. Applicants from both sides should be affiliated to any of the above-mentioned entities.

Please note the following:

• A concrete and sound research proposal must be submitted; all requested documents must be submitted (such as ethical committee approval).
• The Pl must be a Ph.D. holder.
• On the Egyptian side, only Egyptian researchers are eligible for a mobility grant to travel to Germany. Also, the researchers must be affiliated to an Egyptian research institution (universities/research centres).
• More than one application in the same call, team members or PIs during the same funding period are not permitted.
• In cases where a team/team member has been previously awarded a GE-SEED grant, he/she may apply for a new grant through the GE-SEED Programme only after the completion of his/her previously funded project. In this case, a report of the success of the previous project has to be submitted together with the new application to be considered.
• The quality of the project is one of the main criteria for being accepted, nevertheless please note that the involvement of young scientists will be given preference, if applicable.
• A plagiarism check will be applied to all proposals. Accordingly, the proposal must be submitted in a readable PDF format (i.e. not scanned), to facilitate plagiarism checks.

Please note that

the technical responsibility of the research project remains at the German and Egyptian PI; however, the financial responsibility of the programme would remain at the DAAD and STDF for the German and Egyptian sides, respectively.

The following types of proposals shall not be considered:

• Already existing collaborative projects where travel and living expenses are financed by some other source of funding.
• Purely individual visits, training programme(s), or study purposes.
• Organisation of Seminars / Workshops or participation in a Conference / Congress.

Also, the following items/expenses are not covered by this funding programme:

• Purchase of equipment, infrastructure, workspaces and office machines etc.
• Project-related incidental costs (for example: bench fees, staff or running costs, costs for computer time, materials purchases, documentation, photocopying, printing, domestic travel, consumables or other expenses)

Grants will be offered only towards travel and living costs within the framework of a well-defined and approved research project. For the Egyptian PI, the STDF will bear the travel cost as well as the daily allowance during the stay at the German research institution (including overseas medical insurance).

It is expected that primary financing for the collaborative research project, including personnel costs, is already available or will be obtained from other sources of funding.

The total funding requested from the Egyptian and the German side, respectively, must not exceed 15.000 EUR per project per year and it will be distributed as follows:

575 EUR will be granted as travel allowance.

575 EURO will be granted as travel allowance.

N.B.: The information with regard to the scholarship can be changed without prior notice.

• The Egyptian and German PIs will submit annual progress (on the activities carried out) and financial reports to the STDF and DAAD, respectively, at most 2 months after the end of each year. The reports will be assessed internally (on the Egyptian side and the German side independently). Funding for the following year depends on availability, the timely submission of these reports, success of the project and available budget.
• Egyptian research team members will also be required to submit a trip report (both financial and technical) after each visit conducted.

The research teams are strongly encouraged to publish at least one co-authored manuscript in a relevant peer-reviewed international journal (Scopus indexed) with an acceptable impact factor, with acknowledgement of the funding bodies STDF and DAAD. Publishing such a manuscript will considerably increase the possibility of obtaining further STDF funding.

Egyptian side (STDF)

Mrs. Mariam Abdelghany
Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority – STDF
E-Mail: mariam.abdelghanystdf.eg
Webseite: http://www.stdf.eg/

German side (DAAD Bonn)

Please refer to the DAAD Website: http://Förderprogramme finden – DAAD – Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst

Contact Person at DAAD Regional Office Cairo:

Ms. Heba Ahmed
Programme Coordinator11 El Saleh Ayoub St.
Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt
Tel. +20 2-2735-2726, ext. 152
Fax +20 2-2738-4136
Email: heba.ahmeddaadcairo.org