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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.
The LH MENA in numbers
MENA institutions
Awarded projects
Swiss institutions
Program 2025-2028
SEFRI has confirmed that the HES-SO will coordinate Leading House MENA for a third term, from 2025 to 2028.
A new edition of the "Research Partnership Grants" call for projects has been launched in May 2025, with a deadline for applications on 22nd of August and results to be announced in November.
A thematic call will also support reconstruction efforts in MENA countries affected by conflict or crisis. This call will be launched at a later date, with details to be announced in the coming months.
The Leading House MENA 2021-2024 mandate was officially launched at the Kick-off Event 2021-2024 on October 18, 2021. You can find the presentations and excerpts from this event on the following page.
For the 2021-2024 period, the focus is on cooperation for research projects, with the introduction of “Research partnership grants”, a regular instrument that is launched three years in a row. This is followed by a larger instrument, the “Consolidation grants”, launched in the second half of the term.
Each call is announced individually on this website and by email. You can subscribe to our mailing list by writing to lhmena(at)hes-so.ch
In another development for the Leading House, these instruments are now open to all MENA countries, except in special cases: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
Detailed conditions and eligibility criteria are specified in the regulations for each instrument.
You will find below a list of researchers' profiles interested in a partnership as part of the Swiss Leading House MENA. This list is updated every 7 to 10 days.
You can download the list at any time and filter it by country, domain of research or keywords to identify potential partners.
We are currently awaiting the first registrations from interested researchers in Switzerland before publishing the corresponding list. If you would like to be included on this list, please register using the form below.
Last updated on 1st July 2025.
If you would like to add your profile to the list of researchers interested in a partnership, simply fill in the appropriate form.
There is a form for researchers based in Switzerland and a form for researchers based in the MENA region.
Your profile will appear for two years, after which you will need to resubmit it, if necessary.
Nawal Kinany
Head of Emerging Countries
R&I Programs unit
See more details
Send an email
Michael Krieger
LH MENA coordinator
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Send an email
Laure Steiner Convers
Intern
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Send an email
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