The Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) commissioned the HES-SO as the Leading House (LH) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Its overall goal is to develop scientific collaborations between Switzerland and countries of the MENA region.
Goals
The Leading House MENA has set three strategic goals:
- Further development of the research cooperation between Switzerland and countries with a high development potential in the above mentioned region with funding instruments designed according to the interests of the Swiss research community
- Increase of knowledge on countries with a high development potential among the Swiss research community through the availability of contacts and know how
- Representation of the interests of the Swiss research community towards potential partners in the region.
Programme 2021-2024
The 2021-2024 mandate of the Leading House MENA was launched during the Kick-off Event 2021-2024 on 18th October 2021. You can find the presentations and videos of this event on the following page.
For the 2021-2024 period, the focus is put on research projects, with the launch of a regular instrument, the "Research partnership grants", which is launched three years in a row. It will be followed by a more important instrument, the "Consolidation grants", launched in the second half of the mandate.
The schedule for the next four years is as follows:
| Instrument | Maximum amout | Launch | Application deadline | Project duration |
| Research partnership grants | CHF 15,000 | October 2021 | December 2021 | June 2022 - July 2023 |
| Research partnership grants | CHF 15,000 | May 2022 | September 2022 | February 2023 - March 2024 |
| Joint call for projects Morocco-Swtizerland | CHF 10,000 + MAD 100,000 | September 2022 | December 2022 | Septembre 2023 - September 2025 |
| Research partnership grants | CHF 15,000 | April 2023 | August 2023 | January 2024 - January 2025 |
| Consolidation grants | CHF 40,000 | June 2023 | October 2023 | March 2024 - September 2025 |
Each call is announced on this website and by email. You can register to our mailing list by writing to lhmena(at)hes-so.ch.
Other change of the Leading House, these instruments (specific calls excepted), are now open to all countries of the MENA region, which are: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Occupied Palestinian territory, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
Conditions and eligibility criteria is specified in the regulation of each call.
First mandate (2017-2020)
During the first four-year mandate, the Leading House MENA funded 35 projects with instruments supporting mobility, research and innovation. More information on the funded projects can be found on the pages below.