The presentation is about Funding Opportunities for Researchers. It was conducted by Dr. Sara Banu Akkaş & Dr. Asuman Özgür Keysan from Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

1. Funding Opportunities for
Researchers
Dr. Sara Banu Akkaş & Dr. Asuman Özgür Keysan
Middle East Technical University
Research Coordination Office
Ankara, Turkey
30.01.2020

2. Audience
EURAXESS staff who want to better inform post-doctoral
researchers (especially R3 and R4) about funding
opportunities.
Aim
Give a general overview on how to encourage, increase
awareness of and support R3 and R4 researchers on R&D
funding

3. Themes
 Research ecosystem structure
 Methods of communication (general info days, focus group meetings and one-to-one
meetings)
 Best practices
 What does funding opportunities bring to career development of researchers?
 Background of researchers
 National vs. international funding opportunities
 Bottom- up vs top-down funding opportunities
 Head-hunting with respect to institutional and national priorities (internationalization,
mobility, networking and cooperation) vs. solution-development with respect to
personal needs

4. Expectations of the Audience
 an overview of European funding opportunity for post-doctoral
researchers
 To learn about the best practices
 How to plan the career based on the funding opportunities
 To learn how to support young researchers in advancing their
networking skills for the purpose of more effective job search

5. METU | RESEARCH ECOSYSTEM
EVENT or PRESENTATION SHORT TITLERESEARCH @ METU

6. 6
METU | RESEARCH ECOSYSTEM
EVENT or PRESENTATION SHORT TITLERESEARCH @ METU

7. Methods of communication
 General info days
Via announcements through
 Focus group meetings research@metu.edu.tr,
social media, faculty visits
 One-to-one meetings

8. General info days
 The Office of Sponsored Projects (PDO) under the Research Coordination
Office of METU has been organising general information days since 2009.
 These information days are generally organised together or in coordination
with several other offices.
 The main focus point of these info days is national (mainly TÜBİTAK) and
international (mainly H2020, Erasmus+ and Newton Fund) R&D funding
opportunities, with frequent emphasis on project development and
management issues.
 These info days target all researchers – including R1 and R2 – and are
generally call-based.

9. Focus group meetings
 Focus group meetings – including workshops and team studies – have
been organised since 2011.
 They target all researchers but are call-based (e.g. ERC, WIDESPREAD).
 The speakers may be funding agency representatives, professionals
outside the university or Research Coordination Office professionals.
 This methodology aims to specifically inform a set of researchers
selectively matched with the respective call.

10. One-to-one meetings
 PDO has been carrying out one-on-one meetings since 2015 with researchers
when they are either
(i) trying to prioritize their call applications amongst a vast selection of
choices or determining the call matching their research question or
(ii) developing a proposal to an already selected call (most frequently
ERC, MSCA-IF and national funding programs).
 Such meetings are realized upon request and they average to about 3/week.
 This methodology aims to contribute to the success rate of a developed
proposal by informing researchers about the different expected impacts of
different calls.

11. Best Practice 1: Academic Development Program (AGEP)
 METU offers a well-designed development program for faculty
members; i.e. assistant professors and instructors who have just
been employed at METU.
 It has been developed to meet the needs of faculty members and
instructors who are at the onset of their academic career and thus
the program aims to facilitate their adaptation to METU as well as
to increase the impact of their activities in the areas of education,
research, and social services, which are the three pillars of the
University’s mission statement.

12. Best Practice 1 : AGEP Modules
 The 9 modules of the program are
structured in order to provide
information about METU’s facilities,
research and
collaboration/cooperation
opportunities as well as a variety of
general principles and requirements
applicable to researchers.
 We are responsible for modules 4,5
and 6.

13. Best Practice 2: Research Info Days
• Organised every year since 2009.
• The contents of the research info day series have always been flexible
in order to not only meet the needs of all researchers but also adapt to
the constantly evolving funding opportunities.
• All offices under the Research Ecosystem of METU contribute to the
content development and execution of these info days.
• The speakers may be funding agency representatives, researchers with
success stories, professionals outside the university or Research
Coordination Office professionals depending on the needs.
• Complemented with call-based info days throughout the year.
• 70 infodays since 2009 with more than 2000 participants

14. OUR PERSPECTIVE
• It is important for us to understand where the researchers see their
career in 10 years and we strongly believe that choosing the right
funding option is critical to build and promote this career.
• What does it bring?
– Establishment of lab, team, etc.
– Networking
– Visibility
– New collaborations

15. WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR PhD DEGREE?
METU
TR
EUROPE
OTHER




>> 3501 / 3001  1001
>> 3501 / 3001  1001

16. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUILD AN INFRASTRUCTURE?
• 3001
• 3501
• 1001
• Newton Funds
• Ministry of Development
Do not forget to keep your budget
balanced!

17. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUPPORT STUDENT/POST-DOC?
• 3501
• 1001
• Newton Funds
• H2020

18. WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR PhD?
METU
TR
EUROPE
OTHER




>> 3501 / 3001  1001
>> 3501 / 3001  1001
Network /
Mini Intl+
Mini Int+
Network  Mini Intl+
WOULD YOU LIKE TO STEP INTO INTERNATIONAL FUNDS
FROM NATIONAL FUNDS?

19. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUILD A NETWORK IN EUROPE? | Project
• TÜBİTAK
– Bilateral cooperation projects – including ERANETs
– 2223-D
• COST
• Vision 2020, UNICA etc.
• Newton Funds
• Erasmus+
• H2020 MSCA ITN & RISE

20. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUILD A NETWORK IN EUROPE? | Budget
• TÜBİTAK Supports
– Conference Fellowships
– Info-day, Brokerage Event etc. Travel Funds
– Coordinatorship Support
• METU Funds
– Conference funds
– To support new projects or to lend money to ongoing
projects.

21. WOULD YOU LIKE TO INVITE RESEARCHER FROM ABROAD?
• TÜBİTAK BİDEB:
– BİDEB 2221 - Visiting Scientists Fellowship Programme
– BİDEB 2216 - Research Fellowship Programme for International
Researchers
– BİDEB 2232 - International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers
Program
– BİDEB 2236 - Co-funded Brain Circulation Scheme (Co-Circulation)
• Newton
– TÜBİTAK Fellowships
– Researcher Links - Travel Grant
• H2020 MSCA IF

22. Head-hunting vs. Solution-development
• Head-hunting with respect to institutional and national priorities
(internationalization, mobility, networking and cooperation)
• Solution-development with respect to personal needs
• Means:
– AGEP
– H-index
– Clustering (data from Personnel Office)

23. SHIFT IN VISION: From individuality to institutionality
complemented with international visibility
• Action Plan Consultancy – from FP7 to Horizon 2020
• Horizon Europe – following the same procedure
• Trainings
• Study visits
• Brokerage events
• Results:
– 3 ERC projects and 2 coordinatorships in H2020
– EURAXESS

24. EURAXESS PORTAL

25. Internationalization
• Significant role of International Cooperation Office (ICO)
• Internationalization= Research + Mobility

26. ICO
• Coordinates METU's internationalization efforts, strives to enhance the
university's international network and the range of international
activities.
• Builds long-lasting relations with some of the world's prominent
universities and its number of international collaborative protocols
exceeds 800.
• Every year students and staff from more than 50 different countries visit
METU campus and more than 450 METU students and 150 METU staff
visit international partners on a short term basis.
• https://ico.metu.edu.tr/

27. Concluding Remarks
• Proactive
• Networking
• Flexible
• Tailor-made solutions
• Close links with BHO

28. Thanks for your attention
METU Research Coordination Office
e-mail: pdo@metu.edu.tr
euraxess@metu.edu.tr