African Research Leaders

African Research Leaders is sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). This funding opportunity supports talented and enthusiastic investigators working in all biomedical and health research areas in Africa.

African Research Leaders – UKRI Funding opportunity: African Research Leaders Medical Research Council (MRC) Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Award range: £250,000 - £750,000 24 January 2024 9:00am UK time 24 April 2024 4:00pm UK time Last updated: 4 July 2024 - see all updates We are reviewing this scheme and there are no future opportunity dates currently available.

To check the remit of your project against other opportunities contact rfpd@mrc. ukri. org Apply for funding to support exceptional early to mid-career African researchers to conduct excellent global health research across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Researchers should be supported by an enthusiastic local research environment and by a UK-based partner as part of a partnership between the African and UK institutions. We aim to attract and retain exceptionally talented ‘rising star’ individuals who will lead high quality research on key global health issues pertinent to SSA. Awards will provide support for up to five years and the requested amount should not exceed £750,000 in total.

For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual . You can apply for this funding opportunity if you are a researcher based at an eligible African research organisation with sufficient research capacity to manage and deliver research. This includes: universities or higher education institutions based in SSA with degree-awarding powers recognised by the government in which the organisation is based.

This includes Medical Research Council (MRC) units at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in Uganda and the Gambia research focused institutes based in SSA either funded by the government of the country in which the organisation is based or by a not-for-profit organisation research focused not-for-profit organisations based in SSA with dedicated research capacity If an applicant is returning to work in SSA, they are expected to make their own arrangements for relocating and obtaining a tenured academic position at an eligible African research institution if one is not already held (and should be in post by the start of any award).

The successful applicant would be expected to continue their appointment at the African research institution beyond the term of this award.

The African candidate will: have, at a minimum, a PhD and three years’ post-doctoral research experience, or an MD plus an MSc with three years research experience have some evidence of independent funding as a project lead or co-lead be building a track record of independence in their selected field and demonstrating promise as a future research leader (at a minimum to be demonstrated by at least four publications as first or last author) Applications from women are encouraged.

Applicants wishing to combine their research with domestic responsibilities may seek the award on a part-time basis. The terms and conditions of the award make allowances for maternity or paternity leave. Allowance will also be made to those researchers whose career has been affected, either by a late start or by interruption, for personal or family reasons.

For more details on institutional and individual eligibility, please see the MRC eligibility requirements . The African research leadership application should be submitted in partnership with a UK co-lead (partner) with complementary scientific expertise, offering relevant opportunities, such as: The UK partner institution may be any eligible UK research organisation , including MRC institutes and units based in the UK.

Other named applicants are permitted where they bring expertise from another discipline required to fully address the health challenge identified. Who is not eligible to apply African researchers who already have a well-established record of securing significant international research grant funding or have reached a level of seniority (for example, professor or head of department) should not apply to this funding opportunity.

Limit on the number of applications You may only make one application to this funding opportunity at any one time. There is no restriction on the number of applications submitted by each institution. However, MRC and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) aim to foster research leadership in a breadth of academic environments.

It is therefore unlikely that several awards will be made to any one institution in a single round. Equality, diversity and inclusion We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes: support for people with caring responsibilities alternative working patterns Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI . Lack of grant funding and research infrastructure in many SSA countries can make it difficult to attract and retain talented African scientists.

As a result, African nationals are currently under-represented as leaders in medical research in the region. This funding opportunity seeks to support talented early-to-mid career African researchers who are either already based in a SSA country, or currently working overseas who wish to return to a SSA country.

Your application will be required to meet the four key elements of the funding opportunity, namely a: talented ‘rising star’ African research leader candidate high quality research proposal research conducive academic African environment or institution firm partnership with a UK partner institution Each should be described in the Vision and Approach sections as indicated in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Further details on each of these elements are provided below. Please read each section carefully. We’re looking for ‘rising star’ African research leaders.

You will be a high-calibre, early-to-mid career researchers, who show a clear ability to cultivate a dynamic and innovative research group, likely to attract increasing international recognition and external funding by the end of the award. You will hold (or make arrangements for obtaining) a tenured academic position at an eligible African research institution.

As a ‘rising star’, you will: be developing a research team and undertaking original research be building a track record of independence in your selected field and demonstrating promise as a future research leader be well-qualified for academic research having spent at least the last three years in active research.

This may be evidenced: through a growing track record of staff and student supervision through an expanding portfolio of lead author publications by securing local or national funding by attracting recognition through prizes and awards.

In addition to supporting scientific collaboration with the partner UK institution, the funding opportunity offers you an opportunity to spend time (up to three months) for further career development activities, training or skills development in either country.

Examples include but are not limited to: Proposed research programme We’re looking for talented and enthusiastic investigators working in all biomedical and health research areas. Priority will be given to applications that address key health problems relevant to national and regional health needs, hence best conducted in SSA countries.

We welcome high quality applications across a broad range of research activities within Medical Research Council (MRC) and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)’s global health remits. Please refer to MRC’s and FCDO’s strategic priority pages.

Examples of areas in which research of relevance to SSA may be conducted include, but are not limited to, the following: research focused on the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, cancer, respiratory disease and mental health prevention and control of infectious diseases (major diseases such as malaria, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis), neglected tropical diseases (including snakebite), zoonotic and emerging diseases, co-infections and issues associated with emerging resistance to current drugs multimorbidity (the co-existence of two or more chronic conditions, including long-term infectious and non-communicable diseases and mental health conditions) basic, discovery health research approaches, experimental medicine providing mechanistic insight to human diseases, epidemiological (social, genetic and immunological) research, and prevention research applied research approaches, including public health, health systems, health policy and implementation research maternal and newborn health research sexual and reproductive health and rights research targeting vulnerable or disadvantaged groups including refugees, people living in informal settlements, those living with disability, neonates, children, adolescents or older people Please note, COVID-19 related applications will be assessed according to the scheme specific assessment criteria in a competitive manner with wider non-COVID-19 research applications.

This funding opportunity will not support clinical or health related trials including ‘phase one’ safety, proof of principle, efficacy or effectiveness trials of any new medicinal product, device, vaccine or other clinical intervention.

However, it will support observational programmes of epidemiological, laboratory, field and clinical research and early stage developmental or formative research that may be associated with or lead to future health intervention evaluation. If this is the case, the outcomes of the research and how these will be anticipated to inform future work should be made clear.

The majority of the proposed research is expected to take place in the African environment. The African research leader should be supported by a robust research environment in their own local institution and by a strong linkage with a UK partner. The resources requested should be specific, justified and relevant to the research proposed.

This funding opportunity is not primarily intended to support PhD students in obtaining their degree. PhD fees, allowances and stipends will not be supported. However, if the candidate does propose to involve PhD students to deliver elements of the work within their research programme, it will be necessary to explain how the supervision and input of those students will be managed to ensure their training is protected.

The African research institution The funding opportunity is offered to candidates employed by eligible institutions based in SSA countries with sufficient research capacity to manage and deliver research.

The host African institution must offer a clear research and career development environment with appropriate laboratory, field or clinical facilities to enable the research activities proposed as well as supportive administrative functions. The candidate should be able to draw on mentoring from senior individuals, and their career development should be nurtured.

Where appropriate, fostering of scientific links across SSA institutions is encouraged. The African institution will be expected to provide a strong commitment to the continuity of appointment of the researcher beyond the term of the award, such as a tenured position or equivalent.

There is also an expectation that over time, the African institution would increase its level of financial support of the individual (if not 100% from the outset). The African institution may build into the application a funding contribution for institutional development to support a set of institutional strategic objectives, the outputs of which should be verifiable and be able to be monitored.

This could include capacity strengthening such as improved finance, data or research management, and professional training. Tools and good practice documents on capacity strengthening in low and middle-income countries are available on the Tropical Diseases, Special Programme for Research and Training (ESSENCE) website .

Partnership between the African and UK institutions This funding opportunity aims to encourage a research supportive environment for the developing African research leader, both in the host African institution and importantly involving strong support from, and access to, expertise in UK academia.

The African research leadership application should, therefore, be submitted in partnership with a UK co-lead (partner) with complimentary scientific expertise offering relevant opportunities, such as: The individual scientific partnership between the candidate and the UK mentor must be underpinned either by an established track record of partnership at the institutional level or a clear plan for developing and sustaining long-term cross-institutional collaboration.

Previous partnering need not be in exactly the same area of research proposed in the application, however, the relevant strengths that each institution brings to the research proposed should be indicated. This award is intended to provide long term support and will normally run for four to five years with a maximum tenure of five years.

Candidates wishing to combine their research with domestic responsibilities may seek the award on a part-time basis over a maximum of five years. The terms and conditions of award include provision for maternity or paternity leave. MRC contribution should not exceed £750,000 in total.

The majority of the funding will be for work taking place in the African research institution and so would be eligible for full economic costing (FEC) at 100% and must be entered as exceptions. Any costs specifically for the UK research institution will be provided on the basis of 80% FEC as usual. Please refer to the MRC guidance for applicants .

The total award package is anticipated to include the following elements: The African research leader (ARL), who is the project lead, will be expected to commit a significant proportion of their time (50 to 100%), over the entire duration of this award, to delivering the research programme. The African research institution will be the employer of the ARL. A contribution to the personal salary for the ARL may be requested.

This may be up to 100% in the first years where a persuasive case is made. The expectation is that over time, the African research institution will demonstrate their commitment to the ARL by taking increasing responsibility for providing the salary. In the final year of award, this should be at least 50% of the personal salary.

Resources to undertake the proposed research programme, which could include research support staff, research consumables and equipment, travel costs (between partner institutions), and other necessary costs. MRC will support indirect and estates costs for organisations based in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Each LMIC research organisation can request indirect costs up to the value of 20% of their direct costs.

Fees and stipends for PhD students contributing to the research will not be provided. An institutional development element is available for the African research institution to support a set of institutional objectives, the outputs of which should be verifiable and be able to be monitored. Support can be requested for help to strengthen institutional capacity to host and sustain competitive research groups.

This could include, for example, improved finance management, data or research management and other professional training. Tools and good practice documents on capacity strengthening in low and middle-income countries are available on the ESSENCE website . A salary contribution for the UK partner may be requested although we would expect this to be kept to a minimum.

Other named SSA-based investigators are permitted on the application where they bring expertise from another discipline required to fully address the health challenge identified.

You can request funding for: 100% salary costs for project leads and project co-leads (international), based within an LMIC support for other posts such as research and technical data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs estates and indirect costs masters and PhD studentships UK publication costs (publication costs where all the authors are from LMICs can be included) You may include team project partners that will support your research project through cash or in-kind contributions, such as: Each project partner must provide a statement of support.

If your application involves industry partners , they must provide a company letter of support if the team project partner falls within the industry collaboration framework . Find out more about subcontractors and dual roles .

Who cannot be included as a team project partner The individual named as the contact for the project partner organisation cannot also be a named applicant, such as those with a role of project lead or project co-lead and any other named member of staff. Please note that the UK partner should not be listed as a project partner. Please list as a project co-lead instead.

International collaboration UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks. Further guidance and information about TR&I, including additional where applicants can find additional support, can be found on UKRI’s website .

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. You can register your organisation by contacting support@funding-service.

ukri. org and provide your organisation name, country and city. The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect the UK partner, other team members and any project partners to contribute to the application.

Check if the lead African research organisation is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply. Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page. Confirm you are the project lead. Answer questions directly in the text boxes.

You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI. Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

You should: use images sparingly and only to convey important information that cannot easily be put into words insert each new image onto a new line provide a descriptive legend for each image immediately underneath it (this counts towards your word limit) ensure files are smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format Watch our research office webinars about the new Funding Service .

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see: how applicants use the Funding Service how research offices use the Funding Service how reviewers use the Funding Service We must receive your application by 24 April 2024 at 4:00pm UK time. You will not be able to apply after this time. Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected. MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice . Medical Research Council (MRC), as part of UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) so that they can participate in the assessment process.

Find out more about how FCDO uses personal information . MRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at African research leaders – funding decisions . If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research .

In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We may make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, so make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example: the wider research community Guidance for writing a summary Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of: goals to be addressed, identifying a concise and clearly articulated ultimate aim of the research the African challenge the project addresses potential applications and benefits List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following: project co-lead (UK) (PcL) project co-lead (international) (PcL (I)) professional enabling staff research and innovation associate Only list one individual as project lead, this should be the African Research Leader candidate.

All projects should also list a UK partner as the project co-lead. Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications . Provide up to five keywords that describe your application.

What assessors are looking for in your response Provide up to a maximum of five keywords, for example: maternal health, malaria, implementation science, sub-Saharan Africa. This is for administrative purposes to help with the initial application processing and will not affect the overall assessment of your application. What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how your proposed work: is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s) has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area is timely given current trends, context, and needs impacts world-leading research, society, the economy, or the environment is driven by the needs of populations in the SSA country where the research is taking place is generalisable beyond the research setting Within the Vision section we also expect you to: identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be identify potential improvements in human or population health, whether through contributing to relieving disease or disability burden, improving quality of life or providing benefit to the health service or health-related industry identify the evidence-gap that the research will fill describe the changes that might be implemented as a result of the project, and by whom You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how you have designed your approach so that it: is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed (if applicable) will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts uses a clear and transparent methodology, ensure you: provide details of the methodological approaches, study design and techniques that will be used.

Enough detail must be given to show why the research is likely to be competitive in its field.

Particular care should be taken to explain any innovation in the methodology or where you intend to develop new methods briefly describe any pilot or preliminary data you have available to help the reviewers assess the feasibility of the proposed study if applicable, clearly explain the intervention you will be testing, what it consists of and why if applicable, demonstrate that you have carried out a datasets review, and explicitly state why currently available datasets are either appropriate or inadequate for the proposed research explain the proposed timeline including milestones and a diagrammatic workplan, such as a Gantt chart, which can be embedded within the text box You have the option to use 500 words to provide additional information about reproducibility and how you will ensure reliability and robustness of your work, such as further details of statistical analyses, methodology and experimental design.

If this information is not applicable, then you should not use this space to expand on other areas of your approach and your response to this section should be around 4,500 words. The reproducibility information should be clearly identified using the heading ‘Reproducibility and statistical design’.

We expect you to seek professional statistical or other relevant advice in preparing your response, which may include: experimental approach to address objectives planned statistical analyses models chosen (for example animal model, cell line) Refer to the MRC guidance for applicants, section 2. 2. 3.

5 ‘Reproducibility and statistical design’ , for further information, examples and online tools. You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

How will your research project contribute to reducing gender inequalities? What the assessors are looking for in your response Outline how you have taken meaningful yet proportionate consideration to how the project will contribute to reducing gender inequalities.

Within this section we expect you to consider: whether measures have been put in place to ensure equal and meaningful opportunities for people of different genders to be involved throughout the project.

This includes the development of the project, the participants of the research and innovation, and the beneficiaries of the research and innovation the expected impact of the project (benefits and losses) on people of different genders, both throughout the project and beyond the impact on the relations between people of different genders and people of the same gender.

For example, changing roles and responsibilities in households, society, economy, politics or power how any risks and unintended negative consequences on gender equality will be avoided or mitigated against, and monitored whether there are any relevant outcomes and outputs being measured, with data disaggregated by age and gender (where disclosed) How does your proposed work meet ODA compliance eligibility?

What the assessors are looking for in your response As part of your application, you are required to provide an ODA compliance statement which explains how your research is compliant.

Your statement should answer the following questions: which country or countries on the OECD DAC list of ODA recipients will directly benefit from this application and are these countries likely to continue to be eligible to receive ODA for the duration of the research?

Refer to the DAC list for information about countries that will be considered for graduation at the next review how is your application directly and primarily relevant to the development challenges of these countries?

Provide evidence of the development need and articulate how the proposed activity is appropriate to address this need how do you expect that the outcome of your proposed activities will promote the economic development and welfare of a country or countries on the DAC list? what approaches will you use to deliver development impact within the lifetime of the project and in the longer-term?

Consider the potential outcomes, the key beneficiary and stakeholder groups in the DAC list country or countries and how they will be engaged to ensure opportunities for them to benefit and to enable development impact to be achieved The African environment or institution: demonstration of a research-conducive environment How will the African research institution support the candidate and the project?

This section should be used to describe the proposed African institution’s research environment including: What the assessors are looking for in your response the African institution’s mission, scientific objectives, strategy, management and governance policies the level of the African institution’s commitment to the mid to long-term career of the proposed research leader.

Describe how the institution intends to increase its level of financial support of the proposed research leader the commitment of the African institution for supporting the proposed programme of research and career goals of the candidate what relationships have been established with the research relevant health services and Ministry of Health what the African institution’s commitment is to developing systems for translating research outputs towards health policies, practices and products that the institution is a valued partner in south-south or north-south links (or both), demonstrated through contribution to research networks, joint training and development of initiatives nationally and internationally how the proposed research leader’s activities will generate added value or synergies for the African institution that any request relating to the African institution’s institutional development needs relating to the proposed African research leader candidate (appropriateness, quality, feasibility, value for money and likely benefit) Vice Chancellor statement of support Upload a PDF containing a letter of support from your host organisation.

This must be a maximum of two sides of A4 (or equivalent), on headed paper. This is a statement of support from the vice chancellor or equivalent at your research organisation. It should include: a declaration that it is a government-owned or not-for profit institution confirmation that you have a contract in place.

If you are moving back to SSA, we require confirmation that you will have a contract in place if awarded commitment to the continuity of support for the African research leader.

Describe how the research organisation will support you following the end of the award formal confirmation that the institution agrees to the roles and responsibilities as detailed in the application provide access to laboratory space or investment in equipment to establish the applicant’s laboratory, and access to communal departmental resources Stakeholder statement of support (Optional) Upload a PDF containing a letter or email of support from a single key stakeholder.

This must be a maximum of one side of A4 (or equivalent), on headed paper or 450 words in an email from an institutional email account. If applicable, have appropriate co-production plans been embedded in the study, as well as appropriate engagement and dissemination plans with relevant stakeholders? The African-UK institutional partnership How will the African-UK partnership benefit the candidate and the project?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Describe how the partnership will enable the research including: the existing strength and equity of the research partnership between the UK and African institutions, demonstrating a commitment to research excellence, capacity development and research to improve the health of disadvantaged populations how the existing partnership provides a platform for the proposed research leader activities, both in scientific and developmental terms any existing