Al-Musharaka Blog

Twelve researchers have received grants of $2-million each year for the next five years from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, a graduate research institution better known as Kaust, scheduled to open in September 2009. The 11 men and one woman were chosen in part because they are prominent in their fields and work on topics of interest to Saudi Arabia, like solar energy and water desalination. In exchange they are expected to visit for at least three weeks every year during their grant periods.

The grants are generous and come with few conditions. According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education,

Grants to individual investigators from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and other government and philanthropic organizations rarely exceed $1-million. Multi-investigator grants, such as NSF's engineering research centers, are the only things that come close.

The Kaust grants will generally be administered in the same way as other grants. For instance, the scientist's university will keep intellectual-property rights, and Kaust, as the source of funds, will retain certain licensing rights. But one important difference from some grants is that scientists will be free to work on projects without needing to show progress from one year to the next to get the money renewed.