Ideal Tempus Project Update

Dr. Bassem Kaissi and Dr. Samer Nakhle represented MUBS in the first training for research administrators entitled “The Role of Research Offices in Academic Institutions” organized by the Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC) at the American University of Beirut on October 21-22, 2013. The training was the first of a series of five that are sponsored under OGC’s EU Tempus project called IDEAL “Innovation and Development of Academic-Industry Partnerships through Efficient Research Administration in Lebanon.” 

The two-day training aimed at establishing and improving offices of research in Lebanese universities and was held under the patronage of the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS).

The training was delivered by European project partners from Staffordshire University in the UK and FH Joanneum University in Austria and by the American University of Beirut. Forty trainees representing several Lebanese universities attended, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education the National Tempus Office.

The objective of the training was to help academic institutions build and improve their offices of research support. The first day focused on a general overview of a research office and detailed the functions of such an office. The second focused on the policies and procedures of a research office in an academic setting.

The IDEAL three year project (October 2012-2015) has been awarded a budget of over one million dollars and has a consortium of over 15 partners, five of which are European and ten of which are Lebanese. Four more training sessions are planned to be held in the next two years of the project. The remaining training sessions are designed to build capacity in offices of research support, such as: soliciting and securing funding support, grant and financial administration, technology transfer and generation of innovation and commercialization.