Deadline for applications : 31 March 2026.
UTIQUE is the bilateral Partenariat Hubert Curien (PHC) between France and Tunisia. In France, it is coordinated and co-financed by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and the Ministry for Higher Education, Research and Space (MESRE). In Tunisia, it is implemented and funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS) and managed by the Directorate General of Scientific Research (DGRS). The programme is supervised by the Joint Committee for University Cooperation (CMCU) under the responsibility of a French co-chair and a Tunisian co-chair.
The aim of the programme is to strengthen scientific and technological collaborations of excellence between French and Tunisian teams, by encouraging the emergence of new structuring partnerships, the integration of young researchers and doctoral students, and the positioning of teams in larger-scale projects on a Euro-Mediterranean and European scale.
All areas of research are eligible for this call for proposals. Particular attention will be paid to projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), especially when they involve interdisciplinary approaches or are linked to societal, economic or territorial issues.
Particular attention will be paid to projects that :
- Involve socio-economic partnerships. Applications containing one or more letters of support or commitment and mentioning the nature of the contribution will be given priority;
- Encourage innovation and the transfer of knowledge and skills for the benefit of both countries; ;
- Encourage the structuring of research and the networking of research teams.
The partnership may involve several research teams per country, in order to encourage broader inter-laboratory collaboration.
The presence of at least one co-supervised thesis project must be clearly indicated in the proposal submitted.. The thesis co-supervision agreement must be put in place after notification that the project has been selected.
The programme may finance the mobility of a maximum of two (2) co-tutored doctoral students per project. Each grant covers a total of nine (9) months' mobility for the doctoral student over the thirty-six (36) months of the thesis, spread over three (3) years, with annual stays of three (3) months.
The programme encourages the mobility of post-doctoral students (maximum two). Each grant covers three (3) months of the post-doctoral student's stay over the thirty-six (36) months of the project, spread over three (3) years with annual stays of one (1) month.