The steps listed below are provided as a guide.
First Step, Read the Calls
The first step is very important for you. We have some prerequisites for you to benefit from this funding from TUBITAK. We would like to state in advance that these conditions vary according to the 2232 A International Outstanding Researchers Program and 2232 B International Early Stage Researchers Program. First of all, we expect you to review the following items in the call announcements of the International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers Program (Read 2232 A Call) or International Fellowship for Early Stage Researchers Program (Read 2232 B Call).
2.2. Amount and Duration of the Fellowship and/or
3. Eligibility Criteria, Required Documents and Application Method
If you are in doubt or unclear about the conditions in these two articles, please contact us. bideb223@tubitak.gov.tr
Second Step, Decide to R&D Organization
It is a pleasure to see you at this stage. The second thing you need to do to conduct your research in Türkiye is to decide which research institution you will work at. Although TÜBİTAK is the organization that will fund you, you need to agree in principle with a research institute or private sector organization where you will conduct your research. On this webpage we have listed the information of some of more than 300 R&D organizations. Also, someone from Türkiye may have already contacted you. If you have not found an R&D organization or if you need help in this regard, please contact us. bideb223@tubitak.gov.tr
Third Step, prepare your research proposal
Congratulations. You have completed the requirements to apply for the program. You have decided to carry out your research in an R&D organization. Now it is time to present to TUBITAK what kind of work you will do in this research organization in TÜRKİYE. Actually, we think that this step is the easiest for you. You may be uncertain about some aspects of your research. For example, in which time frame you will complete the research or how many fellows you will involve. We recommend that you discuss similar issues with the official of the institution where you will conduct your research. We will also provide you with some application forms that we think will be helpful.
Fourth Step, Apply for the program
Now that your research proposal is ready, you can apply to the program. You can log in to the application system with your ARBİS username and password at https://tybs.tubitak.gov.tr/ . During your application, you must fill in the information asked step by step. Please do not leave out any information. We do not expect you to upload any other documents other than your research proposal. However, if there is anything you would like to specify in the application, you can add a petition to the "additional documents" section in the last step. Finally, do not forget to confirm your application because applications that remain as drafts will unfortunately not be taken into consideration
Fifth Step, Eligibility Check
Congratulations you have successfully completed your application. The only thing you need to do now is to check the e-mail you provided in your application. After the application period ends, the Eligibility Check process will begin. At this stage, the applications that do not meet the application criteria will be returned, while those which meet the criteria will proceed to the second stage of the evaluation process. You will receive a notification e-mail for both cases. Also, you can always check the status of your application at https://ebideb.tubitak.gov.tr/
Sixth Step, Scientific Evaluation
The second stage of the evaluation process after the Eligibility Check is the Scientific Evaluation. At this stage, your research proposal will be evaluated by expert panellists according to the following criteria: Your academic career, Your 5-year research plan of, Publication quality constituting the basis of your research, and Qualification of your research project. Scientific evaluation results will be finalised upon the consent of Group Executive Committee and the approval of TÜBİTAK Presidency. You will be informed through a notification e-mail again.
Seventh Step, Information / Document Control
You have finally reached the last stage of the evaluation! At this stage, all you need to do is to upload the required documents to the application system at https://tybs.tubitak.gov.tr/ within the 15-day period given to you. So, the accuracy of the information you declared in your application can be checked. Please note that if you do not upload your documents on time, unfortunately your application will be rejected. After the document control, the results of the calls will be announced. Congratulations if you have been accepted, you will be informed about the next process. If your application was rejected, don't worry, you can apply again. We wish you success.
Interview about some frequently asked questions.
In our International Fellowship for Outstanding & Early Stage Researchers Programs, we present a mix of support for researchers evaluating the possibility of conducting their research in our country. Before these programs, the needs of leading scientists who preferred to carry out their research in our country were primarily based on individual efforts. In contrast, the scope of our International Fellowship for Outstanding & Early Stage Researchers Programs addresses these needs and beyond with comprehensive incentives and facilitating services. This year's common purpose of our calls is to encourage young and experienced researchers or entrepreneurs, especially Turkish scientists, who are distinguished by their high-level research in their fields and have work experience abroad, to come to our country. We expect them to contribute to significant scientific and technological advances in strategically important research fields with their leading research and to participate in the processes of co-creation and succeeding together.
In the previous calls of our International Fellowship for Outstanding & Early Stage Researchers Programs, we supported 201 scientists who are pioneers in science and technology to our ecosystem from 28 different countries. These researchers, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, have pioneering projects involving high risk with groundbreaking contributions and high-impact potential. Our researchers continue to demonstrate their pioneering contributions in areas that require essential solutions such as healthy living, sustainable environment, digital transformation, and advanced production. Our researchers are working on protein chemistry and protein engineering, cellular energy metabolism, climate change, lake restoration, medical and smart capsule robots, radiology and computer systems, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, new generation energy storage, and new chemical transformation clean and safe energy, processes, smart cities, composite aviation structures, and predictive maintenance systems. Each of our leading researchers is also raising five graduate students or post-doctoral researchers as an example of co-creation-oriented human resources while strengthening their teams.
According to the results of our previous calls, 93 of our researchers conducted or are conducting groundbreaking projects in the fields of technical sciences, 47 in basic sciences, 11 in social and humanities, 7 in health and life sciences, and 1 in agricultural sciences. Seventy-four of our researchers came to our country to conduct their research in our ecosystem from the United States. Other countries with the highest number of researchers are England, Germany, and the Netherlands. In a short time, our researchers integrated into our ecosystem and contributed to our impact-oriented processes.
These crucial developments were possible by supporting the most qualified applications that we received. The overall success rate for our first call was 52%. Of the 359 applicants who met the high criteria we put forth, 260 were from the top 150 universities globally in their field, 36 were from global companies with the most R&D expenditure, and 46 were from the first 250 public institutions.
Under the calls of the TÜBİTAK 2232 Program that are opened as 2232-A and 2232-B, we have set conditions for outstanding researchers who are experienced and young, respectively. The common conditions we consider are being among the most cited researchers based on the list published by Thomson Reuters or working in a leading institution or firm. We expect these institutions to be among the first 100 universities in the field for experienced researchers or 150 universities for young researchers, the first 2500 companies that make the most R&D spending, the first 250 public institutions and institutes (including health, public institutions, or non-profit institutions) or successful start-ups and Unicorn companies. The evaluation of these conditions is based on the QS or THE World University Rankings, European Commission JRC Industrial R&D Scoreboard, Scimago, CBInsights, or Crunchbase resources. For experienced researchers, the duration of working abroad is expected to be at least a total of 4-6 years, while for young researchers, this period is 1-4 years. In addition, work experience in universities, companies, or public institutions and institutes that meet the above conditions is expected to be at least 48 months for experienced researchers and 12 months for young researchers during this time.
At a time when TÜBİTAK has put forward an approach of co-creation and succeeding together for our ecosystem, one of the most important features to which we give importance as an institution is based on our ability to manage our processes in a more agile and flexible manner. This feature is also reflected in researchers who may be candidates within the scope of our 2232 calls to shape their options for the institutions and firms they are currently working. Our researchers can receive sabbaticals from the institutions or firms and return after the support duration, postpone the need to decide for a particular time or make this decision at an earlier time. All of these options are possible. In addition, as we have stated in our call, our researchers can be abroad for up to 3 months each year while their support continues. This period can further be spent in the institutions and organizations they have worked full time before. In this way, we are especially encouraging our researchers to pursue their research links and to facilitate the transfer of knowledge.
In our calls, we provide opportunities for our researchers to realize their research objectives in our country and encourage them to work with our country's ecosystem and achieve new achievements. We offer a package of 10 different fellowships and support incentives to the researcher, the research project, the research team, and his/her family comprehensively. In this context, monthly scholarship for the coordinator during the support period, initial research grant that is given as a fixed sum at the beginning of the project, support for the research project with a duration of at least 24 and at most 36 months according to the content of the research project, scholarship expenses for five graduate students or post-doctoral researchers for strengthening research teams, project incentive bonus for researchers who will take part in the research project, and an institution share for the host institution or organization. In addition to the research project support, which varies from project to project and amounts to a maximum of 1.650.000 thousand Turkish Liras, the initial research grant is given as 4.700.000 Turkish Liras for experienced leading researchers and 2.350.000 Turkish Liras for young researchers. In addition, a family life expense scholarship and travel support for the arrival to Türkiye for the coordinator, spouse, and children, if any, and health insurance support are provided. As a new incentive, mentoring support is provided by our International Leading Researchers, who were previously supported in the previous calls. This incentive will also provide essential guidance for increasing the impact potential of our researchers within our ecosystem. Moreover, if the education period of the graduate students who are scholarship holders exceeds the project duration, our support continues.
The host institution or firms, which will host the researchers in our ecosystem, are expected to be leading state or foundation higher education institutions, research infrastructure that have received research and managerial competence in critical fields, public research institutes, firms with R&D or design centers or companies that established within technoparks. The institutions or firms that intend to be hosts are also expected to present an invitation letter. Depending on the researcher's ties to our country, both sides may have initiated this process. According to the host institution or firm, the invitation letter is expected to be signed by the rector or vice-rector, the director of the research infrastructure, or the top-level representative of private sector institutions. In the support process, if the host institution is a public institution or a state university, we cover 100% of the support items. If the host institution or organization is a foundation university or SME, 25% of the scholarship amount is expected to be covered, or 40% if it is a large-scale company. In these cases, based on the call, TÜBİTAK covers the remaining percentage.
Our application forms are made online through one of the electronic application and tracking systems of the TÜBİTAK, called the TYBS system (https://tybs.tubitak.gov.tr/). All procedures are carried out through the TYBS system upon logging into the system, including the approval of the application file created in the system. We also share all the details regarding the process within the scope of our calls.
After examining the information on our website, we recommend that the preparation starts as soon as possible by contacting the institutions and organizations of our ecosystem. Our leading international researchers, whom we supported in our previous calls, will provide contributions within the scope of mentoring support. The knowledge and experience provided by our leading researchers from top research universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, MIT, and Yale, global R&D companies such as Amazon, Apple, and Intel, and public research centers such as Argonne National Laboratory will help guide the preferences and application preparations of researchers in following a similar path. Here are the websites for more information;
