PhD students from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) are still leading in the state grant competition announced by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation to render financial support to PhD students. A total of 54 winning projects were revealed in 2018 with 28 projects (52% of winning projects) presented by PhD students from TSU (see the link).
Last year, 14 out of 40 winning projects (35% of winning projects) were submitted by PhD students from TSU.
The purpose of the competition is to support the development of the intellectual capabilities and scientific quality, enhanced scientific capabilities of the HEIs, providing proper environment for scientific research, integrating young scientists into international scientific community, identification of young, talented scientists and supporting their research capabilities, advancement of the high quality research in the country, increasing the academic level of PhD educational programmes and providing proper conditions for young researchers.
Within the frame of the call, PhD students can submit project proposals in the scientific fields defined by the scientific field classification as follows: Natural sciences; Engineering and technology; Medicine and healthcare; Agricultural sciences; Social Sciences; Humanitarian sciences; Georgian Studies.
According to the terms and conditions of the 2018 competition, duration of the project should be 6-36 months. Funding required from the SRNSFG should not exceeded 10 500 GEL (6 months) per period; PhD student’s scholarship should not exceed 5250 GEL (6 months) per period.
Project’s budget can cover the following categories of expenditure: a) Stipend (scholarship) for PhD student; b) Expenditure of technical equipment, laboratory supplies for educational and research process or/and costs of fieldwork (without per diem expenses); c) Expenditure of participation in international scientific event (conference, congress, workshop, seminar and etc.) for the purposes of the project and on the background of agreement with the thesis supervisor – this includes travel costs in the country and abroad, accommodation and per diem expenses, travel insurance, passport and travel related another documents (i.e., visa) costs, as well as registration costs; d) Expenditure of research visit abroad for the purposes of the project and on the background of agreement with the thesis supervisor; e) Other costs necessary for educational and research process – might include payment of educational costs, purchase of printed/digital literature and computer programme, publication and patent obtaining costs, costs of stationary and travel in Georgia as well as all other costs those cannot be included in the above mentioned budget categories.
The grantee is responsible to publish at least one scientific article on the basis of the research materials of the funded project in international peer-reviewed journals or proceedings of conference papers that are indexed in Scimago Journal Ranking, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIH plus as well as in the international peer-reviewed journals published with the financial support of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia: a) Transactions of A. Razmadze Mathematical Institute, and b) Annals of Agrarian Science are also accepted.
