UEMF Welcomes a Delegation from USAID: Launch of the MERC Call for Proposals Program (2023-2024)

As part of the development of international cooperation, a working meeting was held on Thursday, December 7, 2023, at the Université Euromed de Fès between the Vice-Presidency for Research, Innovation and Partnership, the heads of the Euromed University of Fes institutions, and the representatives of the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program.

This meeting was an opportunity to present the new call for proposals program (2023/2024) for funding applied research projects. These innovation-driven projects are incubated within the Eco-campus of the Université Euromed de Fès.

The MERC Program, managed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), focuses on technology, development, and capacity building for young researchers. This program also aims to support scientific cooperation between Israel and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The main objective of MERC is to award grants for applied scientific research on topics related to regional development, as well as for organizing one-off events, such as regional workshops and scientific exchanges aimed at promoting regional scientific cooperation.

During this meeting, Prof. Salim Bounou, Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Partnership, presented the University's main missions, its values, its training offerings, and the opportunities that Euromed University of Fes offers in terms of scientific research and study grants. He also outlined the major project for developing 4.0 industrial activities, the Fès Smart Factory (FSF). In turn, the MERC members present took care to present the evaluation criteria for benefiting from this program, the possible funding opportunities, as well as the steps for submitting applications and the evaluation timeline.

At the conclusion of this meeting, the teacher-researchers who attended enriched the discussion by exchanging questions and answers to address all aspects related to this initiative.