AREF-MRC Towards Leadership Programme 2025/2026 (Fully Funded)

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Applications are open for AREF-MRC Towards Leadership Programme 2025/2026. The Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) is delighted to announce the launch of the Towards Leadership Programme in partnership with the UKRI Medical Research Council.

The AREF Towards Leadership programme aims to empower talented, emerging scientists in Africa to compete successfully for UKRI MRC and other major funding opportunities in global health research. Together we are investing in talented African scientists in Africa, enhancing their global health research and leadership potential.

The programme will run between Dec 2025 to Nov 2026, consisting of two residential workshops (opening and closing) and one virtual workshop.

The curriculum is designed to support engage and enhance the participants’ capabilities and to empower talented, emerging scientists in Africa to compete successfully on a level playing field for UKRI MRC and other major funding opportunities in global health research. The programme is directed towards to winning grant funding, empowering effective teams, collaborating internationally, influencing stakeholders, and building rewarding research careers.

AREF-MRC Towards Leadership Programme Outline

The Programme comprises the following elements:

Three inspiring and practical blended workshops at six-monthly intervals

Supplementary webinars, tutorials, and online resources

Baseline and end-of-programme assessments and evaluation

Collaboration between participating individuals

Themes

The Programme has the following themes tailored to meet the needs of each cohort:

The Researcher as a Leader focusing on learning & leading in a complex world; raising the cohorts’ self-awareness, and mindfulness while also building their coaching, influence, and leadership capabilities.

The Effective Researcher develops the individual’s ability to envision, plan and action career goals and development trajectory through personal development planning, time management, and mentorship.

The Researcher as a Communicator augmenting the individual’s leadership, authorship & authority skills through the use of effective presentations, storytelling and messaging while refining their engagement with research users.

The Compelling Applicant: Understanding funders. Proposal development and writing skills: formulating a research question; justifying the design/strategy; concept notes and full proposals. Data sharing. Understanding peer review. Fellowship interviews.

The Researcher as a Manager: Building a great team. Effective collaboration. Implementation planning. Working with Research Support and Finance departments. Managing a budget. Managing intellectual property.

The five themes will be integrated across the three workshops. The balance of the curriculum will be determined by the participant’s needs.

AREF-MRC Towards Leadership Programme Benefits

The costs of the workshops and associated accommodation and travel of selected nominees will be met by MRC and AREF.

Eligibility Criteria

You are a citizen of a country in Africa.
You are currently employed in Africa by a recognised university and/or specialist research institution.
You are an early career researcher, having completed your research education and are now at the early stages of leading your own research group.
You will hold a research doctorate (PhD/DPhil/MD) from a recognised academic institution OR you have a medical/clinical qualification PLUS a research-relevant Master’s degree, both usually within the last 10 years. If it has been longer than 10 years since your last degree, please explain in your application why you should still be considered an early career researcher (i.e. caring responsibilities or career break/change impacting your research career).
You are currently responsible for managing/supervising one or more research students and/or research staff members and are involved in building research collaborations.
You demonstrate evidence of being at the early stages of leading a research team or being an active member of a research team conducting Global Health Research.
A significant part of your current employee role is to develop and conduct health research.
You already have experience in obtaining research funding (Combined value of £500,000 or less).

Program Timeline:

The opening Workshop is planned for 1-3 December 2025.
Workshop 2 will be held virtually and is anticipated to run in April 2026.
The closing workshop is anticipated for November 2026

How to Apply for AREF-MRC Towards Leadership Programme

The applications for the Towards Leadership Programme must be submitted online by May 2025.
Complete the application form via the portal at https://programmes.aref-africa.org.uk/

Click here to apply and more details

Applications deadline: 16:00 GMT 2 May 2025