TÜBİTAK 2209-A: Student Research Grant Guide

TÜBİTAK 2209-A is the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye’s support program for undergraduate and associate-degree students who run their own research project under an academic advisor. This guide follows the program’s official page (read 2026-10-28): who can apply, how the application moves through TYBS, what the grant covers, how proposals are scored, and which identifiers and accounts are involved. Call dates and amounts change by year, so confirm them on the official page before you act.

What TÜBİTAK 2209-A is

The official name is 2209-A Üniversite Öğrencileri Araştırma Projeleri Destekleme Programı, in English the University Students Research Projects Support Program. It is run by TÜBİTAK’s Directorate of Science Fellowships and Grant Programmes (Bilim İnsanı Destek Programları Başkanlığı, BİDEB) in Türkiye. The program page lists the contact address [email protected] and the telephone number 444 66 90.

The program supports research projects that students prepare themselves. The money goes to the project, not to the student as a stipend: the official page lists machinery and equipment, consumables, travel and purchased services as supportable costs.

The number “2209” belongs to a numbered catalogue of TÜBİTAK programs. 2209-A is the student research projects line for students in Türkiye; the page itself refers to a sibling program, 2209-B, in its eligibility rules (see below). For the larger numbered programs, such as 1001, see our overview of TÜBİTAK’s research funding structure; other programs with similar-looking numbers (1002, 3501, 2210, 2211) are separate programs with their own rules, listed on tubitak.gov.tr, and nothing on this page applies to them.

Who must or should apply

The 2209-A page sets these conditions for applicants:

You are enrolled in an associate (ön lisans) or undergraduate (lisans) degree program in Türkiye. Open-education (açık öğretim) students and preparatory-class (hazırlık) students cannot be project leader or project partner.
You are registered in TÜBİTAK’s researcher information system, ARBİS, with all information complete and kept current.
The project is carried out under the guidance of an academic advisor who has a current record at YÖK (the Council of Higher Education). The advisor’s details are checked first in YÖKSİS and then in ARBİS, so both records need to be up to date.
You have not applied more than once in the same period, and you are not already a leader or partner in an ongoing 2209-A or 2209-B project.
The same project has not previously received TÜBİTAK support.

Students may apply individually or as a team. Besides the project leader, a project can include at most four project partners. The leader and the academic advisor are jointly responsible to TÜBİTAK. One academic advisor can take part in at most five 2209-A projects in the same period.

Titles and documents must not promote any institution, organisation, firm, commercial product or brand, and must not contain discriminatory or offensive language.

How to apply: the application steps

Applications are made online by the project leader through the TÜBİTAK Management Information System (TÜBİTAK Yönetim Bilgi Sistemi, TYBS; the page gives the address as tybs.tubitak.gov.tr). Documents sent to BİDEB by e-mail, post or fax are not evaluated.

Prepare your ARBİS account. If you have no ARBİS user name and password, the page says to register at arbis.tubitak.gov.tr and fill in the membership details.
Enter the application in TYBS. The research proposal form is generated automatically by the system from the information you enter, so there is no step for uploading a proposal file. The project-content steps should be completed according to the 2209-A Programı Başvuru İçeriği Bilgi Notu (Application Content Information Note), which is published as a document on the program page.
Give your final approval. After the leader’s final approval in the system, the application and its attachments are sent in read-only form to the advisor’s registered e-mail address for “advisor approval” (danışman onayı).
The advisor approves or returns it. By approving, the advisor confirms the data is correct, accepts the advisory role, confirms the scientific field is right and the department’s facilities are adequate, and commits to the program’s obligations. If the advisor returns the project, the student makes the corrections and submits again.
Institution e-signature. Once the advisor approves within the allowed time, the application goes to the authorised official of your university for signature through e-imza.tubitak.gov.tr. The application is considered valid only after that signature.

Following these stages is the responsibility of the project leader and the advisor. The system closes at 17:30 on the last application day. A withdrawal can be made in TYBS within one month of the call closing.

The 2026 call (confirm on the official page, because dates change every year): application and academic advisor approval from 07/10/2026 to 11/11/2026, with the system closing at 17:30 on 11 November 2026; institutional authority e-signature from 16/11/2026 to 23/11/2026.

What the grant covers and how it is paid

Amount and duration. Up to 12,000 TL per project, supported for up to 12 months. Projects must be completed within one year of the support decision being announced on TÜBİTAK’s website.
Eligible costs. Machinery and equipment, consumables, travel and purchased services needed by the research project.
Not eligible. Congress or conference attendance, publication and patent costs, accommodation and daily meal costs.
No per-diem or allowance. No travel allowance or daily payment is made to students or advisors.
Payment details. The IBAN entered in the online application must belong to the student who is the project leader.

How applications are evaluated

Evaluation has two stages. In the pre-review, applications are checked against the conditions. An application is eliminated before any scientific evaluation if it fails an application condition, is not in the required format, was not confirmed in the system by the deadline, does not meet the minimum character limits in the template, or is not written in Turkish.

In the scientific evaluation, advisory board members or panelists and external advisors score the proposals on these criteria:

Criterion	Weight
Scientific quality of the research proposal	35%
Method	25%
Project management	20%
Wider impact of the research proposal	20%

Evaluation uses only the documents entered in the system. The page adds that a balanced distribution across universities and fields of science may be taken into account when selecting projects, and that the support threshold score may differ for applications in priority areas. Results are announced through the BİDEB application and monitoring system (e-bideb.tubitak.gov.tr).

Once a project is funded

If an ethics approval or exemption document is requested, it is uploaded to e-BIDEB; without it the project cannot start. The student submits a final report and expense table in e-BIDEB, and the advisor approves it. Outputs from the project, such as articles or conference papers, are reported to TÜBİTAK, and TÜBİTAK’s support and logo are acknowledged in them. Changes of advisor or project partner require written approvals; the program page provides sample petitions for changing the advisor, changing a partner and withdrawing from the project.

Identifiers and accounts: ARBİS, YÖKSİS and ORCID

The identifiers that matter for 2209-A are the system accounts named on the program page: your ARBİS researcher profile, the advisor’s YÖKSİS record and ARBİS profile, and the TYBS and e-BIDEB accounts used for submitting and reporting. The program page does not list ORCID or any other persistent identifier as a requirement, so do not treat one as a substitute for the ARBİS registration.

That said, a student who expects to publish the results can create an ORCID iD early; it is separate from ARBİS and stays with the researcher after the program ends. Our guides on adding publications to an ORCID record and on how ISNI differs from ORCID explain the identifier side, and TR Dizin describes the Turkish citation index run by TÜBİTAK’s ULAKBİM, where Turkish journal output is indexed.

Common problems

Advisor record out of date. The advisor is checked in YÖKSİS and then ARBİS. If either is outdated, the check can fail.
Waiting on approvals. The application is valid only after the advisor approves and the institution’s authority signs electronically. The two stages have separate date windows in the call table.
Proposal not in the template or not in Turkish. Both lead to elimination in the pre-review, before the content is scored.
Sending documents by e-mail or post. These are not evaluated; use TYBS.
Counting an ongoing 2209-A or 2209-B project. Already being a leader or partner in one blocks a new application.
Budget lines the program excludes. Conference fees, publication fees, patent costs, accommodation and meals cannot go in the budget.

A weak proposal is a separate risk from these administrative ones. Our guide to writing a research proposal covers general structure, but 2209-A proposals are built from the TYBS forms and must follow the information note.

Frequently asked questions

What is TÜBİTAK 2209-A?

It is TÜBİTAK’s support program for research projects prepared by associate and undergraduate students in Türkiye, carried out with an academic advisor, with up to 12,000 TL and up to 12 months of support according to the official page.

Who can apply to 2209-A?

Students enrolled in an associate or undergraduate program in Türkiye, individually or in a team of a leader plus at most four partners, with an academic advisor and an ARBİS registration. Open-education and preparatory-class students cannot be leader or partner.

What is the difference between 2209-A and 2209-B?

The 2209-A page treats them as separate programs: being a leader or partner in an ongoing 2209-A or 2209-B project prevents a new application. For 2209-B’s own rules, use its page on tubitak.gov.tr; this guide does not describe them.

Is 2209-A the same as TÜBİTAK 1001, 1002, 3501, 2210 or 2211?

No. Each is a separately numbered TÜBİTAK program with its own conditions. Our overview mentions 1001 as TÜBİTAK’s general research projects program and 2211 as a domestic doctoral scholarship; check each program’s page on tubitak.gov.tr for its current rules.

Do I need ORCID to apply to 2209-A?

The program page lists ARBİS registration, not ORCID, as the required account. You can still create an ORCID iD for your future publications.

Can the grant pay for conference travel or publication fees?

No. Congress and conference attendance, publication and patent costs, accommodation and daily meals are excluded. Travel needed by the research project itself is an eligible cost category.

Can the proposal be written in English?

The official evaluation rules say proposals not prepared in Turkish are eliminated in the pre-review.

When is the 2209-A deadline?

For the 2026 call, applications and advisor approval close on 11 November 2026 at 17:30, with institutional e-signature from 16 to 23 November 2026. Check the official page for the current call.

Sources (official pages)

TÜBİTAK, 2209-A Üniversite Öğrencileri Araştırma Projeleri Destekleme Programı (program page: eligibility, call dates, support scope, e-application, evaluation), read 2026-10-28.
TÜBİTAK, 2209-A, important points (ethics approval, reporting, changes), read 2026-10-28.
TÜBİTAK, 2209-A, application dates, read 2026-10-28.

TÜBİTAK 2209-A: University Students Research Projects Support Program