Deadline: November 25, 2020
Applications are open for the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Awards for Scientific Excellence (AUKNASE) 2020. The program is implemented at national level for young researchers, regional level for women scientists and continental level open to all scientists. The Continental level is the highest level of the program.
The objective is to give out science awards to top African scientists for their achievements and valuable discoveries and findings in science, technology and innovation. AUKNASE reflects and underscores a success story and the critical role of science and technology in the development and integration of Africa. Under this program prizes are awarded to top African scientists in each of the following two sectors (a) Life and Earth Science and innovation; and (b) Basic Science, Technology and Innovation at the national, regional and continental levels.
Award Objectives
The objectives of AUKNASE are to:
- Award and honour outstanding African scientists for their achievements and discoveries in science, technology and innovation;
- Promote scientific development in Africa through recognition of excellence among African scientists, women, and men alike and young researchers and encourage them to persevere in their research or academic careers, and nurture their ambitions;
- Popularize and promote public understanding and participation in the implementation of the African Union Agenda 2063, through Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa, the Sustainable Development Goals and the AU Assembly decisions on science, technology and innovation;
- Raise the profile of science, technology and innovation sector in African Union Member States, Regional Economic Communities so that science, technology and innovation effectively contribute to Africa’s sustainable development, poverty alleviation and integration efforts.
Awards
The African Union Kwame Nkrumah Awards for Scientific Excellence Programme (AUKNASE) shall be organized at three levels:
- Continental Level where two awards of USD $100,000 are given each to African pioneer scientists;
- Regional Level where two African women scientists per each of the five geographical regions of Africa are given USD $20,000 each, and
- National Level dedicated to young African researchers, where two prizes are given per country and the value of the prizes is determined by the African Union Commission.
Eligibility
- Nominees shall be African scientists who have made remarkable achievements, demonstrated by number of publications, number of trained research graduate students, applicability of the scientific work to Africa’s challenges, and its patentability. The award is intended to recognize those who demonstrate excellence in research of relevance to the developmental needs of the continent.
- Only nationals of the African Union (AU) Member States are eligible to participate in these Awards;
- Nominees shall be Africans residing in any of the AU Member States and can be nominated only for achievements based on work conducted in an African country.
Regional Award: for Women Scientists, applicants should have nominators with a PhD degree. If she/he is an Academic in a university, she/he must at least have a rank of Associate Professor. There is no age limit for this award. The nominee should meet at least three of the following:
- Must have published at least five articles in journals (with impact factor greater than 1.0).
- Must appear as senior/corresponding author in at least three of the five articles.
- Must at least have a minimum H-index of 5.
- Must have at least one international or two national patents registered.
- Must have supervised or co-supervised at least 5 PhD students.
- Must have won an international grant as a principal investigator.
- Must have written a review article in her/his field of specialization.
Continental Award: is open to all African pioneer scientists, applicants should have nominees with a PhD degree, if the nominee is an Academic in a university, she/he must at least have a rank of Associate Professor. There is no age limit for this award. The nominee should meet at least four of the following:
- Must have published in journals (at least 20 articles with impact factor greater than 1.0).
- Must appear as senior/corresponding author in at least 15 of the 25 articles.
- Must have a minimum H-index of 25.
- Must have at least two international or four national patents registered.
- Must have supervised or co-supervised at least 10 PhD students.
- Must have won an international grant as a principal investigator.
- Must have written a review article in her/his field of specialization.
Application
Nomination Form (in English and French) with all the supporting documents should be posted via physical courier to the following address (NOT by Fax or E-mail):
The Officer in Charge
AU Kwame Nkrumah Awards for Scientific Excellence 2020 Edition,
Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology
African Union Commission
Roosevelt Street
P. O. Box 3243
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
For more information, visit AUKNASE.
