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African Fellowship Programme on Neglected Tropical Diseases
Strengthening African research capacity in neglected tropical diseases and related public health research by supporting young African researchers in African research institutions.
This new fellowship programme addresses the need for relevant and applied research on neglected tropical diseases and related public health research in sub-Saharan Africa though strengthening African research capacity. It is supported by a consortium of European Foundations (including Gulbenkian Foundation, Merieux Foundation, Nuffield Foundation and the Volkswagen Foundation).
The Fellowships draw on collaboration between African and European research institutions. The Fellow will be based in an African institution and he/she will determine with which European institution he/she proposes to collaborate and on what research issues and topics.
Junior African postdoctoral scientist and PhD students who will finish their degree by the end of 2008 can apply for a 3-year Junior Fellowship based on a specific scientific research project. Experienced postdoctoral scientists can apply for an Extended Fellowship. Depending on the success of this initiative, further support may be possible to lead Fellows from junior postdoctoral researcher to research group leader positions in a step-by-step process.
The funding provides for additional support to the Fellows beyond salary, travel and research costs – a mentorship programme enables the Fellows to establish links to two leading scientists of their choice (one from an African and one from a non-African institution) independent from the research project itself. Training will also be provided in key career skills such as proposal writing and communication at annual meetings of all Fellows.
The programme will support biomedical or related public health research projects that address an urgent and important translational research question in the African context. Pure clinical trials without significant basic research components will not be considered. The programme seeks to support work that will develop and establish new methods/techniques and/or address research questions related to diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention and, where appropriate, bridge biomedical and public health research questions.
Diseases in the focus of the initiative are neglected tropical diseases (including where appro-priate the vectors) relevant to Africa, e.g. Schistosomiasis, the filariases , soil transmitted helminths, Buruli ulcer, Human Trypanosomiasis, but also bacterial meningitis, viral diar-rhoea, etc. Projects on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria will NOT be considered unless, in exceptional cases, for example if candidates are aiming at the development of new methods and techniques that might be directly transferable to other tropical diseases or address coinfection between these diseases and NTDs. In such cases applicants should demonstrate that support for their project is not available in dedicated funding portfolios of other organisations focussing on these diseases.
Information about the programme and how to apply is available from the website here.
Last Updated Wed, 11 June 2008