The Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) has announced an open call for applications from female biomedical/health researchers in Africa to participate in its Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme. The programme aims to support active, emerging researchers in developing the skills necessary to secure independent funding for their research.
The fully online programme will consist of eight 3-hour sessions, with a five-week break in between the two sets of sessions. During the break, participants will be expected to write a draft proposal. The programme is designed to produce tangible progress towards a grant proposal by the end of the programme.
The programme will cover topics such as developing and expressing a unique research niche, formulating a compelling research question, understanding funders’ requirements, writing in plain English, and managing and collaborating with a team. It will not cover areas such as research ethics approval or intellectual property management.
The sessions will be delivered via Zoom, and participants will be expected to commit to all sessions and dedicate additional time to prepare for each session and write a draft proposal during the break. Participants will also be expected to participate in monitoring and evaluation surveys.
AREF does not provide funding for equipment or internet services or reimburse participants for any expenses associated with the programme.
The programme is open to women researchers who are actively working on challenges to human health and trained and experienced in one or more of the following disciplines: biomedicine; physiology and pharmacology; clinical sciences; epidemiology; mathematics and statistics; environmental health; “one health” (veterinary science); behavioural, social and economic sciences; and health policy and systems research.
The programme will run from 18th September to 10th November 2023. Applications are now open, and interested researchers are encouraged to apply.
Photo courtesy / Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
Article by Jed Mwangi
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