All funded projects have made satisfactory progress. It’s crucial to note that as per the agreement among all grant awardees and NCE, a mid-term date of August 15, 2024, has been set. This is a significant milestone, as on this date, the research groups will be required to deliver a project progress presentation, submit a written progress report, and provide a research article for publication in the NCE Journal. These requirements are key to ensuring the successful continuation of the NCE Research Grant Program. Upon evaluation of their research project progress, the second installment (50% of the total fund) of the NCE research grant will be disbursed. An editorial board and a committee will be established to oversee the publication of the next issue of the NCE journal [NCE Journal of Science and Engineering (ISSN: 2717-4786)].
We discussed the next phase of the NCE Research Grant Program, focusing on setting its objectives. We decided that the grant program should either target solving a specific scientific problem or support a broad range of research areas through an open call. After consulting with our research grant recipients, we determined that it would be more meaningful at this stage to solicit proposals aimed at addressing a scientific problem of national importance. To identify these priority scientific problems, we plan to arrange a meeting between NCE and various organizations of national priority in Nepal. The primary goal of this meeting will be to establish clear objectives for the upcoming research grant program; however, we will also explore the possibility of collaborative grants if addressing these scientific problems requires a significant research fund.