AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme Oct/Nov 2024 For African Researchers

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Applications are open for AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme. The Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) works to strengthen the health research capacity of scientists in Africa who are engaged in tackling the sub-region’s significant health challenges. AREF is calling for applications from scientists who are active, emerging biomedical/health researchers in African countries to participate in its Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme.

This fully on-line programme will be held over eight 3-hour sessions during the weeks of 21st October 2024 and 9thDecember 2024. There will be a six-week break in between the two-part programme, where you will be expected to write a mini proposal and participate in an activity to review the proposals of your colleagues. This is an intensive programme that is designed to produce tangible progress towards a grant proposal by the end of the programme series. Your commitment to the entire series and to the additional work outside of sessions will be necessary to achieve these outcomes.

To fully benefit from this programme series, you will be at a stage in your research career where you are actively seeking independent funding, and have perhaps won smaller grants, but have yet to secure that big grant necessary to support your research independence.

AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme Series

Programme aim

The Programme aim is to enable talented early-career health- and health-related researchers from countries in Africa to build skills to develop their own research and fellowship proposals of the quality required to win competitive international, regional and national funding.

What the Programme will cover

Developing and expressing your unique research niche
Formulating your compelling research question
Understanding funders’ requirements
Writing in plain English
Writing the different sections of a proposal
Key parts of a typical Case for Support / Project Description
Planning your proposal project plan and budget
Principles of managing your collaboration and team
Understanding and practicing peer review
Preparing for a Fellowship interview.

What the Programme will not cover

The programme will not cover the following: how to get research ethics approval; how to complete individual funders’ application forms; the details of intellectual property management; practice in research communication.
The facilitators will use examples of real funding applications. However, they will not be assisting participants directly with the participants’ own specific proposals.

Format of the Programme series

The Programme series will be held as

Monday 21st to Friday 25th October 2024: daily 3-hour on-line sessions, 08:30 – 11:30 GMT
Monday 9th to Wednesday 11th December 2024: daily sessions 3-hour on-line sessions, 08:30 – 11:30 GMT

Participants will be provided with appropriate learning materials including preparatory exercises before the first session and between sessions. Each session will be delivered through Zoom. Participants will work in on-line groups and offline subgroups. All sessions will be conducted in English.

Expenses

AREF does not provide funding for participants to access equipment or internet services with which to participate. Nor do we reimburse you or your institution for any other expenses associated with the programme or any form of per diem payment.

AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme Scope

AREF welcomes applications for this Programme from researchers who are actively working on challenges to human health and are trained and experienced in one or more of the following disciplines: biomedicine; physiology and pharmacology; clinical sciences; epidemiology; mathematics and statistics; environmental health; “one health” (veterinary science); behavioural, mental health, public health, data science for health, social and economic sciences; and health policy and systems research.

Eligibility for AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme

To be eligible, you need to provide evidence that:

You are a citizen of a country in Africa
You are in the early stages of your research career, having completed your research education
EITHER
- you have been awarded a research doctorate (PhD/DPhil/MD) from a recognised academic institution normally within the previous 6 years, (i.e. awarded on or after 1 January 2018);
- OR you have a medical/clinical qualification PLUS a research-relevant Master’s degree, both awarded normally within the previous 6 years (i.e. awarded on or after 1 January 2018).
You are currently employed in Africa by a recognized university and/or specialist research institution.
You have not participated already in equivalent proposal development / grant-writing training.
A significant part of your current employee role is to develop and conduct health research.
You do not already have a significant portfolio of international research grants (Combined value of £250,000 or more).