The World Academy of Sciences invites applications for the TWAS New African Principal Investigators Programme (SG-NAPI) in 2022.
With the support of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), TWAS launches a new programme to strengthen the capacity of African countries lagging in science and technology. The new programme is aimed at young scientists who are getting established in their country or about to return home to an academic position. Under this scheme, grants are awarded to promising high-level research projects in Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Information Computer Technology, Mathematics, Medical Sciences and Physics carried out in African countries lagging in science and technology identified by TWAS.
Worth of Award
- Research Grants to research units amount to a maximum of USD 67,700.
- The grants, which are normally provided for a period of 24 months, may be used to purchase scientific equipment, consumables, which can include fieldwork and maintenance of equipment and specialized literature (textbooks and proceedings only). The grant does not cover the salaries of the Principal Investigator or travel expenses unless they are clearly related to one of the conference and/or mobility components mentioned below. In addition, the purchase of laptops, tablets, drones, and laboratory animals is not supported.
- Awarded PIs may also support MSc students as part of the project, request funding for international conference grants, industrial link grants, mobility grants, and open access publication grants.
- The programme has an additional component that seeks to enhance the productivity of female scientists returning to academia after maternity leave, scientist-after-child grant.
Eligibility
To be eligible for TWAS New African Principal Investigators Programme, the PIs must
- have obtained their PhD within the last 5 years in a country other than their home country.
- have returned to their home countries within the last 36 months or will return home before the end of 2022.
- hold, be offered, or be in the process of accepting a position at an academic and/or research institution (including international research centres) in their home country.
- be nationals of an eligible African country that is lagging in science and technology.
Similarly,
- Applying Principal Investigators must be nationals of an eligible country, who hold a PhD and have good research experience. The grant should operate within a university or a research institution in one of the African countries lagging in science and technology. The PI must be 40 or under.
- Applicants must at the time of application NOT have an active research grant with TWAS or OWSD Early Career Women Scientists (ECWS) Fellowship.
- Applications from women scientists and those working in Least Developed Countries are especially encouraged.
- Applicants must submit a strong Research Proposal.
How to Apply
- All applications should be made online via the official website.
- Please note that a researcher may only submit one application at a time and for only one kind of grant (as an individual applicant, as a research unit, IsDB, or the OWSD Early Career Women Scientists (ECWS) Fellowship). Applicants cannot apply for other TWAS programmes i.e. Postdoctoral, Visiting Scholar, and Visiting Researcher programme within the same year in order to be present in their home country throughout the duration of the grant.
Deadline: May 24, 2022.