ARUA Early Career Research Fellowships
The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), with support from the Mastercard Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, is launching this Early-Career Research Fellowship program. The initiative will fund up to forty-two (42) early-career researchers to conduct globally competitive research at the host and affiliated institutions of ARUA’s thirteen (13) Centres of Excellence (CoEs) and the twenty-two (22) Clusters of Research Excellence (CoREs). Each fellowship will have a duration of six months, to be undertaken between March 2026 and February 2027. There will be only two commencement dates for the awards: March 2026 and September 2026. Candidates may select their preferred fellowship period: • The fellowship period for option 1 runs from March to August 2026. The deadline for application for option 1 is 22nd January 2026. • The fellowship period for option 2 is September 2026 to February 2027. The deadline for application for option 2 is 15th July 2026. At least 70% of the fellowships are reserved for female candidates, and applicants must be no older than 35 years at the time of application. The program aims to enhance the capacity of early-career researchers at African universities by providing them with time away from teaching duties at their home institutions to collaborate 2 with highly experienced and distinguished researchers at ARUA CoEs or the Africa-Europe CoREs. Each CoE or CoRE is expected to host research fellows from countries other than its own.
Applying for this scholarship?
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What you need
a) Applicants must be African nationals who have a PhD in a discipline/sub-discipline related to the thematic area of the Centre of Excellence or Cluster of Research Excellence. b) Applicants must be within 5 years of completing their PhD c) Applicants should be young faculty (or research) members at an ARUA university. Eligible candidates from non-ARUA Universities can apply. d) Female postdoctoral fellows will be considered in limited cases. e) The applicant should not be more than 35 years old at the time of applying. f) Applicants should have a highly competitive track record relevant to the opportunity and be willing to develop a strong international standing and research reputation. g) Applicants must be available to spend 6 months away from their home university and be able to return to their home institution. h) Applicant must be working on an ongoing project related to the CoE or CoRE and have readily available data to accomplish the main roles and responsibilities (see section 3) i) Eligible women are strongly encouraged to apply. At least 70% of the fellowships will be awarded to female candidates.
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