Africa Research Excellence Fund 2020 Research Development Fellowship

Published: 25 Jun 2020 1,270 views

The AREF Research Development Fellowship (RDF) Programme is being launched to support African researchers who are working on important challenges for human health in Africa.

AREF Research Development Fellowship

Benefits of AREF Research Development Fellowship

The Programme Aim: To support researchers in Africa who are emerging leaders and are working on important challenges for human health to develop their skills as a researcher. 

What we offer: A three to nine-month placement at a leading research institution in Europe or Africa, with additional support at your home institution before and after the placement, up to a maximum of £38,000.

Requirements for AREF Research Development Fellowship

To be eligible, applicants must be a national of a country in Sub-Saharan Africa. You need not be resident in Africa at the time of applying, provided that your application is officially supported by an African institution that meets the eligibility criteria for an employing institution and which attests that it intends to employ you locally. 

Academic qualifications:  

• Non-clinician. Essential: PhD qualification within the last six years – awarded a PhD or equivalent postgraduate degree from a recognised institution of higher education after May 2014.  

If you do not currently have a PhD, you must provide evidence that a recognised examining institution expects you to have been examined for the degree of PhD/DPh by September 2020. You will not be able to take up the Fellowship without having been awarded a doctorate by a recognized and reputable academic institution. 

• Clinician. Essential: Clinically-qualified applicants with a PhD/DPh/MD should have been awarded the doctorate from a recognised institution of higher education after May 2014. 

Clinically-qualified applicants without a doctorate may apply.  They must have been awarded a research-relevant  Master’s degree. They should also have at least two and not more than seven years of active research experience.  Experience both before and after gaining the Master’s qualification counts towards the experience total.  They will normally have plans to gain a PhD or equivalent doctorate (although not funded as part of the AREF Fellowship). Medical College memberships and fellowships are not counted as doctorates.   

Applicants must ensure that their Employing and intended Host Organisations?(the sponsors) understand the purposes of the AREF Fellowship, how AREF will pay the organisations and what their obligations are if they accept an award. 

Tips for success:

• Communicate a clear and compelling vision of what you want to achieve:  How will the Fellowship impact on your career, your ability develop the next research project, and your organisation’s research capacity?
• Be specific about what you want to do at each step of the Fellowship.  Many applications fail because they are vague or badly thought out.
• Justify the particular training and conference:  Identify and explain why you have chosen those particular activities.
• Engage?as soon as possible?with your home institution so they actively support your application.?  
• Engage?early?with your intended academic?host and the host institution: they need time to develop the right kind of support for the Fellowship.  
• Work out what costs are likely to be using available sources of information.

Application Deadline

How to Apply