The «MERLION» is a joint programme for franco-singaporean scientific collaboration. Launched and managed by the Science Section of the French Embassy in Singapore, the programme initiates and encourages scientific exchanges between laboratories in both countries through the funding of researcher mobility. Since its creation, «MERLION» has funded nearly 200 projects.
The «MERLION» programme – supporting the mobility of researchers
The «MERLION» programme is one of 67 bilateral programmes that support the mobility of researchers, which together make up the Hubert Curien Partnerships (PHC), named in honour of the French crystallographer physicist, justly considered the father of the European space programme.
The PHC covers all scientific domains, including the social sciences and is a preferential instrument used in scientific collaboration with France’s partners. The programme finances the travel of researchers and Ph.D students between France and Singapore, in the framework of research projects that involve at least one French and Singaporean laboratory. However, the programme does not provide direct funding for the research projects themselves.
The «MERLION» programme is divided into three sections : Merlion Project which funds short exchange visits of researchers, post-docs or Ph.D students between France and Singapore with amounts up to 30,000 euros over two years; Merlion Workshop which gives up to 20,000 euros for seminars held in either France or Singapore on a common research theme and which could lead to a formal research collaboration; and finally, Merlion Ph.D which contributes up to 23,000 euros over three years for stays of up to six months in any year in France of Ph.D students from Singapore who do a doctoral thesis between the two countries on a common subject.
«MERLION» like the other PHC programmes, is funded equally by France (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the MESR) and its foreign partners. In Singapore’s case, the various institutions co-finance the projects in which their research teams are involved the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) about 40% of the projects, followed by the National University of Singapore (NUS) about 30%, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) about 20%, and finally the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and the Singapore Management University (SMU) which together represent 10% of the collaborations.
Merlion Programme : Institutions partners distribution & subjects fields