Sustainable Partnerships Program with The University of Southern California 2025

University of Southern California

Introduction:

In alignment with the vision of the University of Jeddah as a modern Saudi university and the directions of the Ministry of Education towards fostering research and innovation, and guided by the national research priorities set forth by the Research, Development, and Innovation Authority (RDIA), reflecting the Ministry's commitment to emphasizing applied and innovative research, from discovery through development to commercialization.  

The Deanship of Research and Innovation has launched this program to support academic researchers, encouraging international collaboration across research initiatives, enhancing the university's reputation, and contributing to its overarching vision.

General Objectives of the Program:

1. Build strategic research partnerships and a nurturing environment for sustainable collaboration.
2. Produce innovative, applicable knowledge that contributes to the national economy.
3. Support researchers in conducting scientific research and developing faculty research capabilities.
4.  Strengthen the research environment and enable the creation of attractive opportunities that foster excellence, creativity, and innovation.
5. Enhance the research and scientific efficiency of faculty members and students at the University of Jeddah by increasing international collaboration with global scholars.
6.  Increase publication rates in high-impact international scientific journals.

General Regulations of the Program:

1. Priority support will be given to projects aligned with national priorities (especially the university’s areas of focus) with clear justification in the designated section.
2. Priority support will be given to projects without researchers who have delayed projects with the Deanship (more than 3 years since contract signing) and to faculty who have not been previously supported.
3. The project idea must not have been submitted for funding elsewhere, internally or externally, nor duplicated in multiple programs. If duplication is detected, all proposals will be rejected.
4. The principal investigator must be a faculty member at the University of Jeddah with the rank of Assistant Professor or higher.
5. No more than half of the research team (including consultants) may be from outside Saudi Arabia.
6. Previously supported projects cannot be reassigned to apply under the new program.
7. All correspondence must use the official university affiliation (University of Jeddah) and email (example@uj.edu.sa). University email will be the sole channel for communication with the Deanship.
8.  Researchers must provide all requested project updates, reports, or presentations when required.
9. Distribution of financial rewards among team members is the responsibility of the principal investigator. The university is not liable for internal disputes.
10. Projects must pass plagiarism checks with a similarity score not exceeding 15%.
11.  The content and ideas of the research should not conflict with Islamic values, national orientations, and the University's vision. Researchers should not cooperate with entities or bodies that the Kingdom does not deal with in law, and the researcher bears responsibility for violating the law.
12.  All project outputs, including patents, prototypes, applications, etc., are the intellectual property of the University of Jeddah in accordance with its intellectual property policy.\
13. Researchers must adhere to scientific integrity and research ethics. The principal investigator bears full scientific, legal, and ethical responsibility for the published research
14.  Projects must be completed within the agreed contract duration. The Deanship reserves the right to take necessary action if deadlines are not met.
15. Each researcher may apply as a principal investigator only once.
16. Approved projects cannot be modified after approval.
17. Researcher rewards will be distributed according to the unified regulations of scientific research.
18.  All publications must acknowledge University of Jeddah funding as follows:

Acknowledgement

This work was funded by the University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, under grant No. (UJ-25-USC-XX-XXX). The authors thank the University of Jeddah for its technical and financial support.

Program Description:

The program aims to support partnerships with the University of Southern California (USC) by requiring the presence of a USC partner in project applications.

Special Criteria and Regulations:

1. Program duration: two years from contract signing, extendable with justification
2.  Maximum project budget: 200,000 SAR.
3.  The project must include a partner from the University of Southern California.
4. An official approval letter from the University of Southern California must be attached, stating the project title and principal investigator.
5. The international partner must be listed as a co-researcher in all outputs except patents.
6. Submission of a work plan and a full technical report according to required templates is mandatory.
7. At the end of the project, the applicant must deliver one of the following:
   1. A patent + a published Research Article related to the patent in a Q1 or Q2 journal (based on JIF averages in Web of Science).
   2. OR three published Research Articles related to the project in Q1 or Q2 journals (based on JIF averages in Web of Science).