Research Grants

The STCU Grant Process

The STCU grant process consists of three main stages: Short Form application, Full Form application and the Project Agreement stage. Please review the "Typical STCU Project Lifecycle" for a simplified graphic view of the STCU Project Process.

Short Form

Project Managers and Scientists begin the Grant or Project preparation process by obtaining the STCU Project Software"and downloading the small, easy-to-use program. Once the program is downloaded, the Project Manager or Lead Scientist completes the Short Form application. This Short Form proposal is then sent to the STCU either online or via email to the rco@stcu.int for registration and approval by the STCU Deputy Executive Directors.

Once the Short Form approved and registered, a representative of the STCU will send the Project Manager a Registration Letter confirming the registration process along with a registered Project Number. This process will usually occur in less the 30 business days. The registered Project Number is used by the Project Manager to complete the Full Form proposal application which is also contained in the same STCU Project Software used to create the Short Form.

Full Form Proposal

Once the Project Manager has completed the Full Form proposal, the Full Form is sent to the appropriate Host Government by the Project Manager for approval, called "Host Government Concurrence". Host Government Concurrence of a Full Form proposal means that the government has approved the proposed research (which involves foreign collaboration) as acceptable and legal to be performed on its territory. The designated Host Government Concurrence agencies are usually the Ministry of Science and Education in Ukraine, Department of Science and Technology in Georgia, Azerbaijan Academy of Science, Science and Technology Center in Uzbekistan and Academy of Science of Moldova. Completion of Host Government Concurrence the Full Form process generally takes 2 to 3 months. However when a Project involves teams from more then one country, Host Government Concurrence is required from each country where project work will occur, and thus the Host Government Concurrence process may take slightly longer.

Please keep in mind that only countries that have a signed agreement with the STCU can participate and currently these are limited to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan Joint Projects with the ISTC in Kazakhstan are also possible and are explained in another area of the STCU Web Site.

When the Host Government approves the Project Proposal, the Host Government will send a Letter of Concurrence to the STCU and an STCU Senior Specialist will develop a "Transmittal Cover Sheet" for Donor Party review. The STCU requires that Letters of Collaboration and Support for each Project Proposal be submitted along with the Cover Sheet.

Project Agreement

The Funding Parties or Governing Board will review the Project based on consistency with STCU charter and mission, general WMD nonproliferation impact, and overall technical merit and present their decisions during one of the semiannual Governing Board Meetings (GBM). You can review previous GBM decisions on our Web Site. Decisions made by the Governing Boards can take many forms; Approval, Rejected, Awarded a partial grant for further development/improvement of a proposal, Postponed for clarification or Postponed to a later Governing Board Meeting. Once a positive funding decision has been made by the Governing Board, the Project is considered "Funded" and ready for Project Agreement preparation. Project Mangers will be notified by the STCU that their Project has received a favorable decision from the Governing Board and a Project Agreement will be prepared and signed between the STCU and the Project Participants.

Other areas that you may find of interest include the Document Center, Managing Your Project and Project Oversight

If you should have any other questions please feel free to contact us by email or through any of the other Contacts available through our Web Site

STCU processes personal data in accordance with the privacy disclaimer available here. Where personal data or access to personal data is provided to us in the course of the research grant process (hereinafter referred to as "provision") the act of provision confirms that the above privacy disclaimer had been available and understandable and that the below responsibilities and liabilities are also understood. Where personal data are provided to us by a person other than the data subject itself the person who provides personal data shall bear full liability for compliance with the legal grounds for providing personal data and other responsibilities of the controller under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with regard to the particular act of provision and shall inform the persons whose personal data are provided to STCU about our privacy disclaimer and its content.