The final phase (Seminar II) of training program in the field of " Writing Grant Proposals for Young Palestinian Researchers", which was launched several months ago, has been held in Ramallah city in the period between 8-11/8/2021. 

The program aims at training 20 young academicians from Palestinian universities (West Bank and Gaza) to write a professional grant proposal which will be submitted to funding agencies at the end of the training.

This program was built by five young Palestinian academics who are qualified and certified as a trainer from the German Foundation for Culture and Science "DAAD" and the DIES program at University of Cologne. The team is made up of the team leader Dr. Ithar Beshtawi, Dr. Ihab H. Alsurakji, Dr. Mohammad abuabiah from An-Najah National University, and Mrs. Suha Al-Butma from Al-Quds University and Dr. Omar Abu Abed, from Arab American University. In addition to two regional experts, Dr. Nisreen Houry from Lebanon, and Dr. Samer Raddad from Palestine.

The training program included three different phases, where the first phase has been held remotely in June via the Zoom platform, followed by the e-learning phase in July, and concluding with a hybrid seminar II in August.

The activities of the last day of the course concluded with a speech by Mrs. Sarah Marilyn, from the University of Cologne, who praised the trainers’ commitment to the highest professional standards and the methodology of writing proposals. She added that this program was recently developed to support academics around the world, especially in countries that have the least opportunities for support. Mrs. Sarah added that the Palestinian team is the first team in the world to complete this course with great success.

The certificates were distributed in the presence of the representative of the Palestine Academy for Science and Technology Dr. Ayman Haj Daoud, and the representative of DAAD IC in East Jerusalem, Mrs. Eveline Muhareb.

In fact, this kind of program opens horizons for Palestinian scientists to secure funding from international agencies for their research ideas, and enables them to win high-ranking international prizes. Therefore, a sustainable strategic plan has been signed with local collaborators namely; ANNU, AQU, AAUP, PYA, PALAST, and CELT.

This type of agreement will be a stepping stone for many future activities. More information about the program can be found on the following website
(http://gryps.palast.ps/).