Fellowships Program and post graduate scholarships for implementing and managing agricultural research in the Arab countries

About

Through the funding support of AFESD since the Memorandum of Understanding signed between AFESD and ICARDA in 2012, ICARDA enrolled 42 Young Arab Post Graduate students through three series of “Open Call for Application”. Among the forty-two students, 16 have been conducting a MSc and 26 have been conducting a PhD.

Impact

Goals

The AFESD research grant program has the goal of enabling young Arab scientists to engage in newly-developed agricultural research topics and methodologies, in order to gain relevant scientific knowledge and strengthen institutional research capacities at the national level.

Objectives

The Program aims to provide institutional support to build research capacities in agricultural research institutions in the Arab countries, through the design and implementation of research activities, and the strengthening of mechanisms for scientific networking and knowledge sharing. The project also aims at transferring modern technology applied in international agricultural research centers to the national programs in the Arab countries, to improve the productivity of the agricultural crops.

Impact pathways

Through the AFESD research grant program, young Arab scientists can link their MSc or PhD studies in agricultural research, in progress with their university, with the expertise of experienced ICARDA scientists. The program will build skills for the selected researchers and their institutions by giving them new experience in basic and applied research and by filling critical capacity gaps in their National Agricultural Research Systems. In this way, new opportunities in knowledge exchange will be created, as candidates will be linked to a network of counterparts from different international research centers. Ultimately, the program will contribute to transfer the newly-created knowledge, research methodologies and technologies to farmers' organizations and colleague researchers, in the perspective of enhancing agricultural quality and productivity in the Arab region.