In the third year of the Horizon Europe, the largest research and development funding source of the European Union covering the period 2021-2027, Middle East Technical University became the university with the highest number of projects funded among Turkish universities by participating a total of 26 projects to be funded. METU was followed by TÜBİTAK with 24 projects, and Koç University with 23 projects. While Koç University became the university receiving the highest amount of funding with 16 million 61 thousand euros, METU ranked second with a project budget of 12 million 2 thousand euros.
Two of the 26 projects METU participated in are funded by the European Research Council (ERC), and one is supported within the COFUND call under the Marie S. Curie Actions (MSCA). ERC projects rank among the most prestigious and high-budget programs of Horizon Europe, the European Commission’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation. The COFUND program, on the other hand, aims to provide additional funding to organizations that either already have scholarship and support mechanisms for research projects or intend to establish such programs. As a result, the program seeks to help organizations create regional, national, and international scholarship programs while also supporting the currently existing ones.
Through its participation in Horizon Europe projects, METU makes significant contributions to the production of scientific knowledge in various fields ranging from marine sciences to architecture, energy studies to communication technologies, digital transformation to climate change, and materials science to educational systems.
