The African Academy of Sciences 2022 African Postdoctoral Training Initiative (APTI) Fellowships for African Researchers

Do you belong to a cadre of talented early-career African scientists who wish to be trained abroad and return to their home institutions and become scientific leaders in their community, help solve Africa’s challenges in global health and development, and become trainers for the next generation? If yes, the African Postdoctoral Training Initiative (APTI) has an opportunity for you.

APTI is implemented by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) in partnership with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Through the program, APTI Fellows are trained and supported to become scientific leaders who can advocate for increased research and innovation projects in Africa. This is done through 4-year postdoctoral fellowships where APTI Fellows are placed in various laboratories of the NIH Institutes or Centers (i.e., Intramural Research Program) for 2 years before returning to their home institutions in Africa for another 2 years of research.

APTI fellows are expected to be a part of an African regional and global web of collaborations connecting to their home institutions. Moreover, the APTI fellows will be linked to existing African and global scientific networks and will be expected to nurture these scientific collaborations and relationships. Currently, the APTI program has two active cohorts. The current call for applications will recruit about 10 fellows to form the 3rd cohort of APTI fellowships.

Field of Research: The research priority areas are in infectious diseases, nutrition, and reproductive, maternal, and child health and developing skills for clinical and translational research.

• Table of Content
• About The African Academy of Sciences
• APTI Fellowships
• Aim and Benefits of APTI Fellowships
• Requirements for APTI Fellowships Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for APTI Fellowships
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About The African Academy of Sciences

The AAS is a non-aligned, non-political, not-for-profit pan African organisation whose vision is to see transformed lives on the African continent through science.

APTI Fellowships

Aim and Benefits of APTI Fellowships

APTI fellows will be expected to lead important research programs in their home countries and institutions. After successful completion of the two-year postdoctoral fellowship, trainees will be provided with 50% salary support for an additional two years to assist their transition into independent researchers.

Requirements for APTI Fellowships Qualification

Eligible applications for APTI fellowships must meet the following criteria:

• Must be citizens of an African country, currently employed in an academic, research, or government position in an African country
• Must have a relevant doctoral degree (e.g., PhD, MD, MBBS) awarded no more than 7 years before the application submission deadline. Applicants whose doctoral degrees were awarded earlier may be considered on a case-by-case basis subject to justification (e.g., where one took a career break for family-related reasons or to seek asylum due to political instability). Such applicants should submit a request (with justification) for consideration
• Must have less than 5 years of relevant research experience after the award of their doctoral degree, by their start date at the NIH. Brief periods of clinical work and/or teaching, that does not include research, may be allowable, but cannot exceed 2-3 years total.
• Must be fluent in English – reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Interview date, Process and Venue for APTI Fellowships

• Professional merit, scientific ability, and potential future career impact (based on CV, letter of interest, and two reference letters).
• Assurance and availability of resources from the home institution for a designated, funded research position for the postdoc upon completion of their fellowship (expressed in letter from director/head of research of home institution).
• Commitment to return to their home country following completion of training (expressed in a letter of interest).
• A selection committee will ensure the best match of outstanding candidates and NIH laboratory positions. Additional selection factors may include diversity in scientific research areas, geographic origin, and gender.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

All applications and their supporting documents must be submitted in English. Supporting documents issued in a language other than English should be accompanied by their English translation.

Applications must be submitted via the AAS Grants Management system (Ishango).