JD42m spent on scientific research in 10 years

AMMAN — The Scientific Research Fund (SRF) has spent JD42 million on scientific research over the last 10 years, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.

SRF Director General Abeer Bawab said that the fund is currently working on registering four patents, publishing 300 research papers in international journals, and 10 books in various scientific fields, in a bid to enhance the national scientific research potential.

The fund spent JD20 million on research projects, JD14 million on national projects, JD2 million on scientific conferences, JD2.5 million on scientific journals, JD4 million on student scholarships and JD500,000 on research excellence awards.

Projects which received funding cover various fields including medicine, pharmacy, biology, hydrology, environmental studies, social and economic studies, humanities, technology, nanotechnology, engineering, veterinary medicine, agriculture, telecommunication and information systems. 

Furthermore, the fund helped 552 students, 498 of whom were master’s students and 54 were taking their PhD's, to support excelling higher education students. 

The journals supported by the fund will become electronic, so as to reduce the financial costs of printing and increase the international presence of Jordanian research contributions, according to Bawab, who stressed that they "attract many Arab researchers".

The fund's title will be changed to "The Scientific Research and Innovation Fund" as the following period will witness more focus on integrative research, particularly on water, energy, and food, the statement added.