Evaluation process of main activities and recommendation of IncoNet EAP ended. . With accordance to the project objectives and content experts have prepared the three report about Climate Change, Health-Related Issues, Energy. Project Twinning scheme has been evaluated as well and the report about it is available on the link. More information about the project evaluation and its different components can be found on IncoNet EAP-'s newsletter.

Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundaition dissiminates information about the ERC 10 years anniversary celebratory events: back in 2007, the European Commission established the European Research Council with the mission to encourage excellent frontier research in Europe through competitive funding, supporting top researchers across all fields and of any nationality. Since then, the ERC has had a considerable impact on the European research landscape. In almost ten years, it has funded almost 7,000 researchers and thereby supporting more than 40,000 team members. Its support has been acknowledged in close to 100,000 international scientific journal articles.  In 2017 the European Research Council will mark its 10th anniversary, an important milestone in making Europe a global centre of excellence in research. It is time for celebrations in Brussels and all across Europe and for reflection on the past decade and on the future. for detailed information please visit the ERC   10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS WEBSITE https://erc.europa.eu/ERC10yrs/home

Meeting with Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Georgia H.E. JI Yanchi took place at Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation. Ambassador Yanchi, Attaché Ms. Liu Yitong and SRNSF representatives attended the meeting. During the meeting participants discussed future cooperation between the National Natural Science Foundation of China and SRNSF. Meeting of SRNSF and the representatives of the National Natural Science Foundation of China is scheduled in April 2017.  

The main goal of the program is developing intellectual potential of the country and preparing high qualified science staff.  Sub-goals of the program are: targeted use of intellectual potential existing in the universities, creating relevant conditions for the research, collaboration between PhD students and higher education institutions abroad. Objective of the project is identifying successful, talented, young researchers and contributing towards bringing his/her doctoral research project to international standards. This program will contribute to young researchers’ integration in international projects and increase Georgia’s scientific research quality. Call for PhD scholarships 2017 is open to the various fields of science ( sub-fields are listed in the classification ): Natural Sciences; Engineering and Technology; Medical and health Sciences; Agricultural Sciences; Social Sciences; Humanities; Georgian Studies. SRNSF will fund individual grant proposals only. Program participation is announced through open Call. Eligibility: Georgian citizen PhD students of Higher Educational Institutions, enrolled in PhD programs in accordance with Georgian legislation.  2014 and 2016 Call winner PhD students are not eligible to participate in the program. For implementation of the project, researchers can use material-technical base, which belong to the higher educational institution, scientific-research institute or other legal/physical body. Project duration: minimum 6 months, maximum 36 months. Implementation of the winning projects will start from October 1, 2017. Requested funding from SRNSF for each reporting period should not exceed 10 500 GEL. The Call Administration timeframe: March 10, 2017 - Call opening; March 24, 16:00 - Info days 1 - registration form; April 7 - Date of opening electronic registration database; April 12, 16:00 - Info days 2 - registration form; April 20 - Deadline for submitting questions online; April 28, 16:00 - Deadline of submitting electronic proposals; May 3, 16:00 - The deadline for submitting proposals (hard copy) at the foundation office. August – Call results. There will be no individual consultations. Documentation submitted after the deadline shall not be considered. You can find detailed information on Call terms and conditions in the following documents: Decree of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, #128/N, dated September 30, 2014;    Decree of SRNSF Director General dated March 10, 2017; Call conditions (Annex 1); Project cover page and abstract (Annex 2); Project proposal (Annex 3); CV of PhD student (CV) (Annex 4) ; Project implementation timeframe (Annex 5); Project budget (Annex 6); CVs of PhD thesis supervisor, co-supervisor (if applicable) and consultant (if applicable)  (Annex 7)  Georgian / English; Letter of commitment of foreign consultant or foreign co-supervisor (Annex 8); Document proving co-funding (if applicable, Annex 9) Field of Science Classification (Annex 10)  Funding norms per country category  (Annex 11) Decree of the President of Georgia, N231, dated April 20, 2005; Frequently asked questions. Project submitted to the foundation must be prepared in accordance to the forms indicated while the call announcement. Additional documents must be submitted with the project proposal: Copy of PHD student’s ID or passport (active document); Document proving previous academic degree of the PhD student; Certificate proving enrolment at accredited PhD program (issued March 10 – April 28, 2017). Foreign documents (if applicable) must be accompanied by Bureau approved Georgian translation. Each project, after registration at the database, will be assigned special project code. Applicants will be able to generate proposal from the database.   Call for PhD scholarships 2017 coordinators: Ketie Gabitashvili    Mail:   gabitashvili@rustaveli.org.ge   Davit Chichua Mail:   chichua@rustaveli.org.ge Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation wishes you the best of luck!    

On February 28, 2017, at 16:00, info day for winners of 2016 Young Scientists’ research grants was held at the Conference Hall of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation. The meeting participants were explained management issues related to projects funded under SRNSF’s calls. 

On February 23-24 Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation held the 4th International Supervisory Board meeting. The Supervisory Board is a collegial body of the foundation which meets twice a year in order to guide and review the six month 's activity of the foundation and to discuss strategic issues and the action plan. Representatives of the Foundation delivered the summary report to the Supervisory Board along with the achievements, challenges and changes made with a recommendation of the Supervisory Board. Discussion topics included revised terms of the calls, the new grant programs (MG, SRNSF-DAAD and SRNSF-VW joint grant program), the 2017 calls and budget. The meeting also discussed the issues of applied research call, 2018 graduate School supporting project, 2018 Infrastructure Grant Program; Unified evaluation issues for 2017 calls, changes in monitoring the principles of the calls, working conditions for the employees and reimbursement issues, electronic database working process, productivity of the heads of funded projects (AR, FR, DI), CRDF Global-Problems created by the assessments of the (AR, FR, YS.).

On February 28, 2017, at 16:00, an info day for winners of 2016 Young Scientists’ research grants will be held at the Conference Hall of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation.    

Director General of the SRNSF and the representatives of the foundation met with the representatives of U.S embassy in Georgia on 16 th of February. SRNSF, in collaboration with the Embassy, is planning to organize a conference regarding the popularization of science and innovation in Georgia. The conference will be held on 23 rd of April. Invited guests from Georgian public and private sectors and the attendees of the conference will discuss the opportunities and challenges of Georgian research and innovation ecosystem and the strategy of Georgian science development.