The British Ambassador to Egypt John Casson - File photo/Reuters
CAIRO - 5 July 2018: The British Ambassador to Egypt John Casson said that the bilateral scientific initiative of Newton-Mosharafa Fund has focused on supporting Egyptian researchers and helping them turn their ideas into projects that are useful to their country.
In a conference held at the British Embassy in Cairo on Thursday, Casson said the Newton-Mosharafa is a £50-million joint project ($66 million), funded by both Egypt and the United Kingdom.
Egypt Today was invited to attend the farewell ceremony for dozens of Newton-Mosharafa PhD candidates, nearly half of them were women, before they leave to the UK to do start their scholarship.
In a conference hosted by Casson in the British Embassy headquarters on Thursday, Casson affirmed that the Newton Mosharafa is £50 million – Press photo
The Newton-Mosharafa has funded 170 PhD scholars and 31 remotely-studying fellows, according to the embassy’s statement during the conference. Moreover, the fund established 53 research partnerships and held 30 workshops for Egyptian researchers.
During the conference, Head of the Science Department of the British Council branch in Egypt, Daniel Steel reviewed the legal and cultural issues that can face the candidates during their residency in the UK, giving them some guidelines to adapt to the British community, as well as reviewing the academic regulations.
Daniel Steel has focused on explaining legal and cultural issues an Egyptian researcher would face during his journey in the UK – Egypt Today/Amr Kandil
Earlier in June, Casson pointed out that 20,000 Egyptians are studying in UK, expressing his wishes to see more Egyptians benefit from the opportunities offered by the British government.
In a statement released Wednesday, the British Embassy announced new funding opportunities for Egyptian researchers under the Newton-Mosharafa PHD Fund.
The fund offers PhDs and research partnerships in 5 areas including sustainable food production, renewable energy, affordable and inclusive healthcare, archaeology and cultural heritage, and sustainable water management.
The Newton-Mosharafa was first founded in Egypt in 2014, opening a new frontier for Egyptian researchers by strengthening their research capacities and providing them with an opportunity to collaborate with the British counterparts; so that they could be able to come up with viable solutions and strategies to address the current challenges faced by the country.
The program is financed by the Department of Business Administration, Engineering and Industrial Strategy in the UK, and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which represents the Egyptian side.
The British Council handles the recruitment process for the scholarship by screening the applications of the students and then nominating the eligible ones for the program.
Scientific cooperation
Egypt’s Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli witnessed the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 25 to boost scientific cooperation between the Higher Education Ministry and the British University of Liverpool.
The MoU was signed by Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, Professor Dame Janet Beer.
Beer affirmed the university’s keenness on cooperation with the Egyptian universities and research centers, in order to provide all aspects of support to the higher education system and the scientific research field.
Madbouli said that the MoU aims at developing the strategic partnership between the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Liverpool University through establishing advanced educational initiatives that benefit both students and teachers.
Egypt’s newly-appointed PM stressed the government's keenness on completing a mechanism to develop the national education system.
“Our meeting is a good opportunity to expand cooperation between Egyptian and British universities in the higher education and scientific research domains” PM Madbouli said during the signing ceremony.
Additional reporting by Walaa Ali
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