QNRF announces the 3rd cycle awards and launches the 4th cycle of its flagship program NPRP

Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) announces the research awards for the 3rd cycle of its flagship program National Priorities Research Program (NPRP), with a generous $ 113.8 million divided amongst 126 proposals from 14 submitting institutions in collaboration with 373 institutions for more than 49 countries. Recipients will be notified of their success today.

The 126 awarded proposals are distributed across the following disciplines; Natural Science, Engineering and Technology, Medical and Health Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities.

QNRF in its first cycle awarded $25 million to 47 proposals out of 175 proposals that passed QNRF screening, and awarded in its 2nd cycle $86 million to 93 proposals with out of 482 proposals that passed QNRF screening. In the 3rd cycle an impressive number of 536 proposals have passed screening and gone through the peer reviewing process where 126 proposals were awarded.

The submitted proposals were independently peer reviewed by up to 5 international peer reviewers, selected based on their research qualifications. QNRF were keen to ensure the utmost integrity and transparency throughout the submission and the review processes.

The awards reflect Qatar Foundation’s ambitious vision of developing research, and QNRF dedication in fulfilling that vision.

Dr. Abdul Sattar Al-Taie, QNRF Executive Director, presented in the 2nd QNRF Forum held yesterday, statistics pertinent to the 3rd cycle he also said "This forum provides the opportunity to researchers and research offices to hear about QNRF's latest initiatives, enhancement to existing programs and above all it gives the opportunity to QNRF to meet and interact with researchers."

Furthermore, in the same Forum, QNRF announced the launch of NPRP 4th cycle in which Ms. Noor Al-Merekhi, NPRP Program Officer, outlined the major changes and enhancements made in the 4th cycle such. It also entailed an addendum for Exceptional Proposals where it will open the window for proposals that are in need of more time (up to 5 years) and/or funding (up to $5 million) beyond that offered by the NPRP.

The NPRP is an annual program with grants ranging from $20,000 up to $350,000 per year (up to 3 years). It funds original, competitively selected research and is the largest funding activity of QNRF. The fund is open to both Qatari and non-Qatari citizens, within and outside the country and accepts proposals from across academic fields. The submission of Letters of Intent (LoI) for the 4th cycle of NPRP will start on 14th of Sept. 2010.