MXA 2020 Science by Women Visiting Senior Research Fellowships for African Women

The Women for Africa Foundation (FMxA), in line with its mission of contributing to the development of Africa through its women, is launching the 6th Edition of SCIENCE BY WOMEN programme, with the aim to promote African women’s leadership in scientific research and technology transfer and to foster the capacity of the research centres in their home countries

Each of these centres will host 1 senior woman researcher with at least 3 years of post-doctoral experience for a six-month fellowship. Applications will be subjected to a rigorous selection process, evaluating the academic merits and leadership of the applicants as well as the scientific quality and expected impact of their research projects. Selected candidates will receive training and integration in a dynamic, multidisciplinary and highly competitive working team, where they will be able to develop their research projects and acquire complementary skills, empowering them to transfer their research results into tangible economic and social benefits.

The main goal is to enable African women researchers and scientists to tackle the great challenges faced by Africa through research in Health and biomedicine, agriculture and food security, water, energy and climate change,  mathematics, Information and Communication Technologies as well as Economic Sciences.

Eligible Fields of Study: The preferred areas of research include:

1. Health and Bio-medicine
2. Energy, Water and Climate Change
3. Agriculture and Food Safety
4. Mathematics, Information and Communication Technologies
5. Economic Science

• Table of Content
• About Fundacion Mujeres Por Africa
• MXA Science by Women Visiting Senior Research Fellowships
• Aim and Benefits of MXA Science by Women Visiting Senior Research Fellowships
• Requirements for MXA Science by Women Visiting Senior Research Fellowships Qualification
• Documents Required for Application
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About Fundacion Mujeres Por Africa

The Women for Africa Foundation is a spanish private, non-profit entity created in February 2012 by María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, the former vice president of the Government of Spain. Its aim is to promote equal rights and opportunities for women, contributing to the progress of the continent. Women for Africa is commited to democracy, governance, peace, human rights and sustainable economic and social development. And all this through equality, because we are convinced that equality is the most powerful instrument of social transformation.... continue reading

MXA Science by Women Visiting Senior Research Fellowships

Aim and Benefits of MXA Science by Women Visiting Senior Research Fellowships

Successful candidates will have access to the following benefits:

• Flight from their centre of origin to the host institution and back
• Living allowance of 2.400 Euros gross per month to cover accommodation, personal expense and health and occupational accident insurance coverage.

Requirements for MXA Science by Women Visiting Senior Research Fellowships Qualification

• Being a woman
• Nationality of an African country.
• PhD with at least 3 years of post-doctoral professional experience
• Contractual relationship with a university or a public or private non-profit organization based in Africa dedicated to significant scientific research in the areas indicated
• Excellent academic record and proven track of relevant research experience
• Solid working knowledge of English
• Proven experience leading a research group

Beneficiaries of first and second edition are not eligible. Candidates must have already contacted and identified research groups in the host centres to confirm that their proposed research can be carried out in collaboration with those research groups and, when needed, in their laboratories.

Selection Criteria: Applications will be subjected to a highly competitive selection process by the Women for Africa Foundation’s Scientific Committee. The jury will evaluate the following criteria:

• The candidate’s research career, curriculum vitae and experience as independent research group leader.
• The project’s scientific -technical quality and innovative potential.
• The expected and measurable economic or social impact of the research project.
• The candidate’s plan to communicate and disseminate the project’s results.
• The proper consideration of ethical issues where appropriate.

Successful applicants will present innovative research projects that respond to the needs of African populations and that are likely to be transferred into products or patents for commercial exploitation, or services and public policies which have a social impact in terms of people’s welfare and quality of life, as well as an economic impact in terms of companies’ productivity and competitiveness.

Documents Required for Application

They must include the following documents:

• Letter of Interest (max. 1 page)
• Full curriculum vitae • Fully filled form
• Brief but concise description of the project to be developed in the Spanish
• host centre (max. 2 pages)
• A letter of the prospective host group’s stating its interest to support the project proposed by the candidate.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Only applications submitted in English via the Science by Women microsite at www.mujeresporafrica.es will be accepted.

For more details, visit MXA website.