A*STAR Manufacturing, Trade and Connectivity (MTC) domain - Young Individual Research Grant (YIRG)

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Objective

The Manufacturing, Trade and Connectivity (MTC) domain aims to develop and strengthen technological capabilities to support continued growth and competitiveness of Singapore’s manufacturing and engineering sectors, so as to achieve GDP growth, create good jobs for Singaporeans and position the economy for the future.

While the MTC IRG aims to develop novel and fresh R&D ideas that are in line with the MTC strategies and goals, solicited through an investigator-led, ground up mechanism across the research ecosystem; the MTC YIRG is a sub-category of grants under the IRG that aims to groom young scientists towards conducting independent research.

Eligibility

1. Please note that healthcare professionals can be considered eligible if they have MD/MBBS/BDS certification instead of a PhD.
   

2. PI should not have a more than 7 years post-PhD.

3. PI should hold a primary appointment of at least 75% in a local publicly funded institution and salaried by the institution.

4. Team PI/Co-investigator (Co-I) must hold an appointment in a local publicly funded institution.
   

5. Applicants should not have any outstanding reports for all national grants currently or previously held. 

Additional eligibility criteria

1. PI of an on-going MTC/AME IRG or MTC/AME YIRG project will not be eligible.

2. Applicants are required to work with a mentor for guidance in their research. Applicants' current supervisor can be the mentor for the proposal but not a Team PI, Co-I or Collaborator. Applicants must indicate how the proposed area of work would be distinct from their current supervisors' existing research.

Funding Details
Typically up to S$325,000 per project (inclusive of 30% indirect costs) over 3 years.

Submission

1. All applicants must first submit their applications (the completed application form with all materials combined in a single PDF file) through their Host institution's Research Offices to SingHealth Office of Research (OoR), attention to Dr See Jie Yang at see.jie.yang@singhealth.com.sg by 26 May 2025 (Monday), 12pm for initial review and shortlisting of all the applications.

• The application quota is 2 applications per healthcare cluster. Thus, there may be potential shortlisting of 2 nominations internally (within the SingHealth cluster) prior to submission by PI on iGrants.  Please refer to below email and "annex-1-2025-mtc-irg-yirg-overview" for application quota of IHLs (i.e., NTU, NUS) and A*STAR Research Entities. 
  

• SingHealth Office of Research (OoR) to notify shortlisted applications through Host Institution by 4 June 2025 (Wednesday), 12pm.

2. Shortlisted applicants can then proceed to submit the completed 'annex-4-2025-mtc-irg-yirg-proposal-template.docx 'LOI file online via the iGrants website: https://igrants-app.a-star.edu.sg/  (internet accessible link).
   

3. Each application must be endorsed by the Host Institution's Research Director (or equivalent) prior to submission by 16 June 2025 (Friday), 11:59pm. This is to ensure that there is organisational support for the PI to participate in the grant call.

Note: SingHealth PIs are to please refer to your respective Institutional Research Administrators for guidance on internal deadlines and submission procedures set by your institutions.

Contact person 

For enquiries on YIRG, please contact:

IRG_MTC@hq.a-star.edu.sg.

Additional Information

MTC Package.zip