17-09-2018

 

Oman Observer

Muscat: In its second meeting for the year 2018 held at the headquarters of The Research Council (TRC) at the Innovation Park Muscat, and steered by His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq Al Said, Advisor to His Majesty the Sultan, and Chairman of TRC, held today, the TRC Board approved the proposal of the restructure of the Open Research Grants (ORG) program.

The new proposed restructure, which was approved by TRC Board today, aims to activate the role of research institutions more through self-development and management of their own research programs by granting them the privileges to evaluate, fund and follow up the implementation of research proposals within their own institutions, taking into consideration that attention must be paid to research projects that address the Sultanate’s national priorities.

The ORG is the first research support program established by the Council in 2009.  It is TRC’s main research support program that has contributed to research capacity building in the Sultanate.

During the meeting, the Board also reviewed the results of the science and technology indicators for the years 2016 and 2017, which are updated every two years, coinciding with the survey conducted by UNESCO Institute for Statistics. TRC Board also approved the proposed budget for the Council for 2019.