Deadline: September 30, 2018
The Women for Africa Foundation invites applications for the 4th Edition of its Science By Women Programme. This is a six-month visiting senior research fellowship, which aims to enable female African Scientists to tackle the challenges faced by Africa through research in health, agriculture and food security, water, energy and climate change, as well as mathematics and economic science.
The Science by Women programme will fund a total of 14 research fellowships for 14 experienced African women researchers in any of the following international research centres of excellence based in Spain. The program’s ultimate goal is to enable African women researchers to play a leading role in the transition of Africa to a knowledge-based and innovation-led economy and thereby in the transformation of people’s daily lives.
In this 4th edition, their associated research centres are:
- Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
- Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (GSE)
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)
- Vall d´Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR)
- Institute for Neuroscience (IN)
- Kronikgune Research Center
- Biocruces Bizkaia (BC)
- DeustoTech
- Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)
- Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII)
- Donostia International Physics Center
- Material Physics Center – Centro de Física de Materiales (MPC-CFM)
- Repsol
- Principe Felipe Research Center (CIPF)
Each of these centres will host 1 senior women researcher with at least 3 years of post-doctoral experience for a six-month fellowship. Applications will be subjected to a rigorous selection process, evaluating the academic merits and leadership of the applicants as well as the scientific quality and expected impact of their research projects.
Selected candidates will receive training and integration in a dynamic, multidisciplinary and highly competitive working team, where they will be able to develop their research projects and acquire complementary skills, empowering them to transfer their research results into tangible economic and social benefits.
Research Areas
The preferred areas of research include:
- Health and Bio-medicine
- Energy, Water and Climate Change
- Agriculture and Food Safety
- Mathematics, Information and Communication Technologies
- Economic Science
- Physics and Materials Sciences
- Nanotechnology
Benefits
Successful candidates will have access to the following benefits:
- Return flight from their centre of origin to the host institution
- Living allowance of 2.400 Euros gross per month to cover accommodation, personal expense and health and occupational accident insurance coverage.
Beneficiaries must devote themselves entirely to research at the assigned research centre and may not be beneficiaries of any other fellowship, grant, stipend or regular income during their research stay.
Beneficiaries might be asked to formalise their relationship with the research centre in writing. In compliance with local laws, the Woman for Africa Foundation or the research centre (as the case may be) will, if so required in each particular circumstance by the tax and/or social security regime, retain or withhold the compulsory amounts from the living allowances.
Women for Africa Foundation, in collaboration with the research centre, will help beneficiaries with the compulsory formalities in order to obtain the visa with Spanish Embassies and Consulates.
Eligibility
Any person who meets the following requirements can apply:
- Being a woman
- Nationality of an African country
- PhD with at least 3 years of post-doctoral professional experience
- Contractual relationship with a university or a public or private non-profit organization based in Africa dedicated to significant scientific research in the areas indicated
- Excellent academic record and proven track of relevant research experience
- Solid working knowledge of English
- Proven experience leading a research group
Beneficiaries of first, second and third editions of this program are not eligible.
When applying, candidates must have already identified research groups in the host centres to confirm that their proposed research can be carried out in collaboration with those research groups and, when needed, in their laboratories.
Selection Criteria
The jury will evaluate the following criteria:
- The candidate’s research career, curriculum vitae and experience as independent research group leader.
- The project’s scientific -technical quality and innovative potential.
- The expected and measurable economic or social impact of the research project.
- The candidate’s plan to communicate and disseminate the project’s results.
- The proper consideration of ethical issues where appropriate.
Successful applicants will present innovative research projects that respond to the needs of African populations and that are likely to be transferred into products or patents for commercial exploitation, or services and public policies which have a social impact in terms of people’s welfare and quality of life, as well as an economic impact in terms of companies’ productivity and competitiveness.
Application
Only applications submitted in English via the Science by Women microsite will be accepted. They must include the following documents:
- Letter of Interest (max. 1 page)
- Full curriculum vitae
- Fully filled form
- Brief but concise description of the project to be developed in the Spanish host centre (max. 2 pages)
Research proposals should fall within the main research strands of the chosen centre, as specified in section 6 of the Rules & Guidelines document.
For more information, visit Science by Women Call.
