Application Deadline: July 4th 2018
The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) Affiliates Membership Programme aims to stimulate and nurture the spirit of scientific discovery and technological innovation in Africa in order to promote sustainable development on the continent through research and development. It is intended to fill a gap in the professional growth of young and early-to-mid career professionals who intend to develop into research leaders in their home countries.
Many countries and organisations are implementing PhD programmes to meet the teaching and research needs of higher education and research institutions. Most of these scholars train in well-established northern institutions or a few relatively well set-up African PhD training centres, but when they return to their home institutions they face significant challenges in developing as independent thinkers and leaders. Supportive/nurturing research environments and opportunities that enable them to generate new ideas, knowledge and innovative solutions to Africa’s problems are limited.
While African states and their sub-regional institutions have the responsibility to attract and retain well trained researchers, pan-African organisations like the AAS can play a catalytic and supportive role in inspiring and providing tangible support to such cohorts. Through the AAS Affiliates Membership Programme, up to 25 young scholars are selected every year to receive career development support and mentorship as well as support to their home institutions to provide an enabling environment for their development into research leaders in their respective fields.
Requirements:
- The AAS Affiliates Programme is targeted at supporting African nationals who are aged 40 years or below, are employed in higher education or research institutions and have obtained their PhD within the last five years.
- Applicants must also have postdoctoral research experience. They may be in any field of specialization and must be nominated by one of their institutional leaders (Vice Chancellor, Director, Head of Department, etc.) or by a Fellow or Associate Fellow of the AAS. Applicants may not nominate themselves.
- The intention is to develop capacity for the sustainable development of the continent and the AAS has a strict policy to work with the African home institutions of its Affiliates. It is therefore mandatory that candidates are Affiliated to an institution in Africa
Nominations are made online on the AAS Ishango Online System. Please follow the instructions given in section 4 below. Nominations must be received on or before 04 July 2018.
How to Apply:
Follow this link to get to the AAS Ishango Online System: https://aasishango.ccgranttracker.com/
- Register as a new user if you have not used the system before. If you have used the system before, please proceed to step 4
- The system will email you a temporary password
- Follow the link https://aasishango.ccgranttracker.com/ again to access the system
- Go to existing user and log in with your password (for first time users, you will be requested to replace your temporary password with one of your choice)
- Once you log in go to new grant application and go to click here
- Select AAS Affiliate Membership and click on apply to begin filling in the online form
- Once you have provided all the required information, please validate and submit the form.
Please contact o.osula@aasciences.ac.ke if you need any clarification or encounter any difficulties as you use the online system.
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) Affiliates Membership Programme