ISLAMABAD: COMSTECH, the OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technical Cooperation, has invited applications for the first cycle of the “COMSTECH Science in Exile Fellowships Program for Displaced and Refugee Scholars and Scientists,” Pakistan’s state-run APP news agency said on Tuesday.
The fellowships program aims to support displaced and refugee scientists from Afghanistan, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The deadline to apply is Dec. 15 and scholars will be able to pursue their research at institutions and universities of the COMSTECH Consortium of Excellence (CCoE). Ten Research Fellowships and 10 Post-doctoral Research Fellowships are being offered for the year 2024.
“Armed conflicts, civil wars, political instability, and persecution force people to flee their homes and seek refuge in other countries or within their own borders,” APP said.
“Many refugees were involved in research or higher education in their home countries prior to displacement. The conflict disrupts their research projects, academic careers, and scientific contributions. Keeping this mind, the COMSTECH has taken an initiative to support displaced and refugee scientists to pursue their studies and research without disruption.”
The duration of the fellowships is six months. The areas of research are agricultural sciences, structural, cell and molecular biology, biological systems and organisms, neuroscience, chemical sciences, engineering, astronomy, space and earth sciences, mathematics and physics while the language of instruction is English.
“Applicants should be displaced or refugee scholars and scientists and currently living in any OIC Member State and holding the right to live and study in the respective country or able to travel to Pakistan,” APP said.
“The program is not suitable for scholars at risk who need specific assistance to leave their home country. The scholarship winners are responsible for arranging the logistics and safety of their own relocation.”
Those traveling from outside Pakistan will be eligible for a one-time economy class return air ticket for the entire duration of the fellowship.
