K-CARE Research Grant
Kuwait Climate Action, Resilience, and Environmental Health
Kuwait faces an array of environmental challenges due to its its arid climate, reliance on fossil fuels, and rapid urbanization, all of which threaten the country’s environmental health and biodiversity. In line with its commitment in addressing urgent sustainability challenges, GUST Center for Sustainable Development is pleased to offer K-CARE, a research grant of KWD 3,000 dedicated at supporting academic research on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality in Kuwait. K-CARE seeks to promote high-impact innovative academic research that advances our understanding of Kuwait’s unique environmental context while offering practical solutions to mitigating the effects of climate change, enhancing environmental health, and restoring ecosystem vitality.
Key requirements
The following criteria outline the key requirements for research proposals that will be considered for funding:
- The research topic must be relevant to at least one of the following key research areas:
- Climate Change Performance: proposals should address measurable aspects of climate change performance and mitigation in Kuwait.
- Environmental Health: proposals should address measurable aspects of environmental health in Kuwait, identifying solutions for improvement.
- Ecosystem Vitality: proposals should highlight how it will contribute to the understanding, preservation, or restoration of ecosystems in Kuwait.
- Proposals must be innovative and grounded in ethical scientific principles, with a well-structured research question, sound methodology, appropriate data collection and clear research objectives
- Proposals must demonstrate a clear potential for tangible outcomes that can enhance climate change mitigation, environmental health, or ecosystem resilience in Kuwait, and be aligned with Kuwait's Vision 2035 for sustainability and climate action.
- Priority will be given to projects with the potential to influence decision-making and raise public awareness.
- The project must have a clear and realistic timeline, with specific milestones that can be achieved within the grant period.
- It should demonstrate the feasibility of the research plan, with appropriate resources, partnerships, or infrastructure to support the project.
- Researchers must provide evidence of relevant expertise and experience to carry out the proposed research.
- Multidisciplinary and international collaborations that bring diverse perspectives and expertise are highly encouraged.
- The proposed budget should be clear, detailed, and aligned with the project’s goals and deliverables.
- Proposals must demonstrate cost-effectiveness, ensuring that the requested funds are used efficiently to achieve maximum impact.
- The authors should use the CSD's affiliation on the resulting papers and summarize the policy recommendations of their results in (a) GUST CSD Policy Brief(s).
First Grant Cycle
Deadline: February 28th, 2025. Application form. Please send the complete application form to: CSD@gust.edu.kw
Recipients of the First Grant Cycle:
Dr. Omer Aydin, Associate Professor, Erciyes Universitesi, Turkiye, for his research project:
"A Novel AI-Enhanced SERS-Based Platform for Rapid Antimicrobial Resistance Detection and Environmental Health Monitoring".
Biography: Dr. Omer Aydin is an Associate Research Professor at Erciyes University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, where he leads the NanoThera Research Group. His interdisciplinary research focuses on smart nanomedicine systems for gene and drug delivery, as well as biosensing technologies for disease detection. He has conducted pioneering work on the rapid detection of antimicrobial resistance and cancer using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) combined with artificial intelligence (AI), earning national and international recognition. Dr. Aydin has led multiple projects involving CRISPR-Cas9, siRNA/miRNA delivery, and AI-integrated sensing platforms. His work bridges nanotechnology, biotechnology, and machine learning to develop sustainable, next-generation healthcare solutions.
