Turkey eyes to attract leading researchers through new incentive plan

ISTANBUL

The Turkish government has announced a new program in an effort to reverse the brain drain.

A 24,000 Turkish Lira ($4,400) scholarship will be offered on monthly basis to senior Turkish or foreign researchers with an additional family relocation package worth nearly 2,300 liras ($420) and a 1 million lira ($184,000) minimum research budget, Technology and Industry Minister Mustafa Varank announced on Nov. 14.

For younger researchers, the monthly scholarship will be 20,000 liras ($3,700) with a 500,000 lira ($91,000) research budget, he noted.

“The International Leading Researchers Program aims to bring top-level researchers for their contributions to projects with strategic value,” Varank said at the opening ceremony of Smart Future Expo 2018, a smart technologies exhibition in Istanbul.

He added that the program, which is a pioneer in terms of opportunities provided to researchers, would be conducted in coordination with the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and the incentives would be provided in eight different areas.

While the monthly scholarships will directly be paid to researchers, the planned research grants will be allocated to organizations, which will host the researchers, Varank noted.

In the framework of the program, a 4,500 lira ($822) scholarship will be offered to each PhD student on research teams and up to five PhD students in each team will be able to benefit from this, the minister also said.

The program will be initiated on Dec. 15 and the regarding incentives will be offered in the next 24-36 months, he added.

The flight costs of the researchers and their families will also be covered from the program budget, Varank said, adding that they would also be able to benefit from health insurance coverage free of charge.