Preparatory Fellowships – in collaboration with the Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) – 2019

Description

Background
There is a need to provide aspiring African researchers with the necessary tools for development in the form of structured mentorship support and stimulating research challenges. Such support can best be provided to early postdoctoral researchers by well-resourced and established institutions. Africa accounts for 15-20% of the world’s population and a disproportionately large share of disease burden, yet scientific publications by African researchers account for less than 2% of the total academic journal output.* Therefore, it is imperative to enable African researchers to enhance their competitiveness for international funding opportunities early in their careers while retaining them in Africa, working on Africa’s health challenges and priorities.

The capacity strengthening needs for health research in sub-Saharan Africa predominantly centre on lack of funding and limited systematic career development for researchers. In general, health research capacity building programmes in Africa and other low-income regions are more tailored to PhD candidates than to early-career postdoctoral scientists. Furthermore, international fellowship programmes typically focus on people who are already well-trained and who show exceptional talent and promise. The experience of global health research funders is that African scientists are under-represented and less competitive in local and international funding schemes: their science may be promising but the framing of research questions; the research design; the proposed analyses and mentoring structure are often not well developed.

The Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) aims to bridge the critical gap early in the career path from research experience to research leadership. AREF is an independent charity established by the UK Medical Research Council and led from sub-Saharan Africa, with the support of the UK Medical Research Foundation.

Scope
The purpose of the AREF/EDCTP Preparatory Fellowship is to enhance the competitiveness of up-and-coming post-doctoral sub-Saharan African scientists and clinicians aspiring to receive international/regional/national fellowships or grant support, such as the EDCTP Career Development Fellowships. The AREF/EDCTP Preparatory Fellowship targets outstanding early-career researchers residing in or wishing to relocate to sub-Saharan Africa, who demonstrate independent scientific thinking and have potential to deliver locally relevant research with measurable impact and within the scope of the EDCTP2 programme.

The objectives of this call are:

1. Enable outstanding sub-Saharan African researchers (0 to 3-year post-PhD) to
   • further advance their research skills, through short-course(s) and hands-on training, especially using biological samples and data they or their home organisations have generated;
   • strengthen their competencies in project and proposal design;
   • enhance essential generic/transferable researcher skills that will allow them to secure research partnerships, and make effective use of fellowships;
   • contribute to creating a pool of researchers optimally equipped with the expertise and skills to address local research needs.
2. Enable individuals to deploy their own resourcefulness and research relationships to best effect in competing for early/mid-career fellowships, such as (but not limited to) the EDCTP Career Development Fellowships;
3. Enhance career development and retention of postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate medical researchers in research in and for sub-Saharan Africa;
4. To provide a firm foundation and increase the quality, efficiency and impact of fellowship projects funded by organisations such as the EDCTP Association.

The proposal for an AREF/EDCTP Fellowship Preparation Award must be submitted by the home organisation (‘the applicant legal entity’). The grants will be awarded to the home organisation with the explicit commitment that this organisation offers appropriate conditions for the fellow to direct and manage their funding for the duration of the fellowship. AREF will fund fellows employed by a research institution based in sub-Saharan Africa (the fellow’s home organisation and applicant legal entity), whereas the EDCTP2 programme will fund fellows employed by a sub-Saharan African legal entity (the fellow’s home organisation and applicant legal entity).

Successful applicants will use the funding for a 3 to 9 months placement at a centre of research excellence in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa contracted to host the fellow before spending a 3-months re-entry re-integration period at the fellow’s home (employing) institution, making a total training period of up to 12 months. The re-integration project will be developed by the fellow with approval of the home institution so that it is aligned with its institutional research and human resources development plan.

Expected impact
Projects funded under this call for proposals should:

• contribute towards the achievement of SDG3 ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’);
• enhance the ability of fellows to design, plan and execute clinical biomedical and/or social science/ethics research proposals, and manage research relationships within the scope of the EDCTP2 programme, and to generate competitive proposals and into effective projects;
• promote and enhance competitiveness for the next tier of fellowships and grants, such as (but not limited to) the EDCTP Career Development Fellowships;
• lead to high impact research outputs by junior sub-Saharan African scientists who have not been supported by major funders previously;
• foster new collaborations and mentorship opportunities for newly trained fellows;
• equip the next generation of African researchers to sustain excellent and relevant research in sub-Saharan Africa, and engage as African citizens with African leaders, policy-makers and industries to drive forward evidence-based health improvement.

Eligibility
A proposal/application will only be considered eligible if:

1. its content corresponds, wholly or in part, to the topic/contest description for which it is submitted;
2. it complies with the eligibility conditions for participation set out below, depending on the type of action:
   • The applicant must be a legal entity established in sub-Saharan Africa (the applicant legal entity)*;
   • The fellow must be employed or have guaranteed employment by the applicant legal entity (the host organisation) where they intend to remain working for a minimum of two years after the expiration of the grant.
   • The applying fellow must:
     • be a post-doctoral scientist;
     • have been awarded their doctorate within 3 years before the submission deadline of the AREF-EDCTP Preparatory Fellowship application;
     • have been either a PhD student or MD, who have been active researchers for up to three years following award of their doctorate;
     • be a resident of or be willing to relocate to a sub-Saharan African country;
     • not have been funded under this fellowship scheme before**.
   • The requested EDCTP2 contribution per action shall not exceed EUR 70,000;
   • Placements sought shall be for a period of at least 3 and up to 9 months, following which there will be a re-integration period of up to 3 months. The maximum fellowship duration shall be 12 months.

Notes

*The Economist: ‘On the rise – Scientific research in Africa is gathering momentum‘ (09 Aug 2014).

**This additional condition for participation according to RfP Art. 9.5 is required due to the objectives of this Training & Mobility Action. It aims to support junior fellows in sub-Saharan Africa in line with the activities called for by the EU legislator (EDCTP2 Basic Act, Annex II, activity 1c). It contributes to the specific objectives of the EDCTP2 programme which calls, e.g., for cooperation with sub-Saharan Africa on building their capacity for conducting clinical trials in compliance with fundamental ethical principles, relevant legislation and international standards, and for extended cooperation with private partners (EDCTP2 Basic Act, Annex I, objectives 2b).

**This additional condition for participation according to Rules for Participation (RfP) Art. 9.5 is required due to the objectives of the EDCTP2 programme which requires that the capacity for conducting clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa are built and strengthened (EDCTP2 Basic Act, Annex II). Allowing fellows in sub-Saharan Africa to only receive once a specific EDCTP2 fellowship will increase the number of different fellows supported and promoted under the EDCTP2 programme, and in turn, strengthen more broadly the corresponding clinical research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa.

Procedure and application process

Submission and evaluation procedure
This is a single-stage application procedure. Proposals must be submitted by 27 November 2019, 17:00 CET via EDCTPgrants. Evaluation results are expected to be made available by 19 April 2020.

The host organisation (applicant) must provide a support letter confirming that the organisation is supportive of the proposed action and willing through its financial and administrative systems to enable the fellow to direct independently the proposed action and manage its funding for the duration of the fellowship.

Evaluation, scoring, and thresholds
Following an admissibility and eligibility check, full proposals will be evaluated by an independent evaluation committee comprising experts jointly identified by the EDCTP Association and AREF in compliance with the provisions set in the Rules for Participation of Horizon 2020 and the EDCTP2 Basic Act.

Proposals are evaluated according to the criteria Excellence, Impact and Implementation (see Article 15 of the Horizon 2020 Rules for Participation Regulation No 1290/2013). Each criterion will be scored out of 5. The threshold for individual criteria will be 3. The overall threshold, applying to the sum of the three individual scores, will be 10.

For all proposals involving human participants, and/or human tissues, cells or personal data, the evaluation process will include an assessment of ethical issues.

The following aspects are considered under the evaluation criteria:

1. Excellence

• Fit with the scope and objectives of the EDCTP2 programme, the EDCTP Association strategic research agenda and the call topic description;
• Importance, relevance/pertinence, and clarity of the objectives;
• Soundness of the concept and credibility of the proposed approach/methodology;
• Suitability of the candidate, considering their track record, degree of independence and/or potential, and how the fellowship will further the individual’s career;
• Quality of the project and its fit with the fellow’s expertise and career development plan, including acquired competencies and skills to be developed further;
• Quality of the mentorship and/or training plan.

2. Impact

• Call specific aspects as listed under ‘expected impact’ in each individual call;
• The extent to which the outputs of the proposed work would contribute, at the European, African and/or International level, to each of the expected impacts listed in the work plan under the relevant topic;
• Likelihood to result in major advances in the field with the potential benefit of the research to the affected populations;
• Advancing the fellow’s clinical research skills and career development;
• Contribution to development of research independence and/or scientific leadership;
• Contribution to strengthening clinical research capacity at the home or host organisation;
• Effectiveness of the proposed measures to exploit and disseminate results generated during the fellowship (including management of IPR), to communicate the fellowship activities, and, where relevant, to manage clinical data;
• Sustainability and retention of capacity beyond the end of the grant.

3. Quality and efficiency of the implementation

• Quality and effectiveness of the work plan, including the extent to which the resources assigned to work packages are in line with their objectives and deliverables;
• Appropriateness of the management structures and procedures, including risk and innovation management, and how responsibilities for research data quality and sharing, and security will be met;
• Complementarity of the participants within the consortium, and the extent to which the consortium as whole brings together the necessary expertise;
• Appropriateness of the allocation of tasks and resources, ensuring that all participants have a valid role and adequate resources in the project to fulfil that role;
• Feasibility and appropriateness of the methods and project management to achieve the objectives within the timeframe of the grant;
• Compliance with national and international standards of research, Good Clinical Practice, ethics- and safety-related issues;
• Participants have the operational capacity, to carry out the proposed work, based on the competence and experience of the individual participant(s);
• Suitability of the fellow’s home and/or host organisation to support the fellowship project;
• The intention of the fellow’s home organisation to develop and commit to a career post-fellowship or re-integration plan.

Financial provisions

• The call budget is EUR 400,000;
• The requested contribution per project should not exceed EUR 70,000.
• The funding level is 100% of eligible costs.

Grant agreement
The legal entity employing the successful fellow (‘host organisation’) will be required to sign a General EDCTP2 grant agreement mono-beneficiary with options for fellowships.

The fellow’s host organisation will have to sign a good practice charter prepared by the EDCTP Association for EDCTP2-funded fellows and by AREF for AREF-funded fellows. Host organisations need to meet a set of minimum requirements in order to qualify as prospective hosts. They should have

• some clinical research capacity, including staff who are GCP qualified or experienced;
• demonstrable ability to follow-up community involvement in clinical research;
• availability of an institutional review board or national guidelines for conducting clinical research;
• GCLP compliant laboratories
• adequate facilities with qualified staff
•  sufficient biostatistics capacity including relevant computer technologies;
• experienced data management staff
• ability to store some or all of the samples locally and an excellent IT platform.

AREF requirements will be similar and appropriate to its remit, which includes non-clinical trial methods e.g. in laboratory and in social and behavioural sciences.

Application process

• The application must be submitted online via EDCTPgrants;
• Only registered users of EDCTPgrants system can apply for grants and therefore you are advised to register on the system as soon as possible.
• Please click here to download the Word version of the application form.
• Please note: this Word version serves as the full application form which should be submitted via the tab Proposal upload in EDCTPgrants.

More information

• EDCTP2 Frequently Asked Questions about calls for proposals
• For specific questions related to this call for proposals, please contact EDCTP (Dr Michelle Singh, Project Officer at singh@edctp.org) or AREF (Mr Sulayman Janneh, Fellowships Manager at Sulayman.janneh@aref-africa.org.uk)
• For questions and issues about EDCTPgrants and the online application submission please contact EDCTP via edctpgrants@edctp.org
• For guidance on applying to EDCTP, please refer to the Templates, guides and policies section of the EDCTP website
• The EDCTP2 programme runs until the end of December 2024. Applicants should take into consideration the programme end date when planning their proposals.

Projects awarded under this call

AGBBU
Fellow: Dr Francis Zeukeng
Developing advanced genomics and bioinformatics skills and application to uncover route of transmission of Buruli ulcer in Africa

Université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Host organisation: Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Ghana
Starting date: 01 October 2020
Duration: 12 months
Grant amount: EUR 63,825
Grant agreement: TMA2019PF-2693

CyToVac
Fellow: Dr Gyaviira Nkurunungi
How does exposure to helminths alter vaccine responses: employing cytometry by time-of-flight (CyToF) technology for high-resolution immunophenotyping of cellular pathways underpinning helminth-induced immunomodulation

Uganda National Health Research Organisation (UNHRO), Entebbe, Uganda
Host organisation: Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands
Starting date: 01 January 2021
Duration: 12 months
Grant amount: EUR 69,956
Grant agreement: TMA2019PF-2707

FM-DIALLO
Fellow: Dr Salou Diallo
TMA2019PF-2739 DIALLO

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CNRST) – Institut de Recherche en Science de la Santé (IRSS), Ouagadoudou, Burkina Faso
Host organisation: Amsterdam University Medical Centres, Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology – Experimental Parasitology Unit
Starting date: 01 August 2021
Duration: 12 months
Grant amount: EUR 70,000
Grant agreement: TMA2019PF-2739

GM MOD Pf SEV DIS CH
Fellow: Dr Mary Oboh
Patho-immunological modulatory effect of the human gut microbiome in children with severe P. falciparum infections from Cross River, Southern Nigeria

Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine London, United Kingdom
Host organisation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
Starting date: 01 December 2020
Duration: 08 months
Grant amount: EUR 69,835
Grant agreement: TMA2019PF-2773

SABIO
Fellow: Dr Debora Ch. Kajeguka
Use of an Aedes salivary biomarker to assess arboviral disease transmission risk in northern Tanzania

Tumaini University – Kilimanjaro Christin Medical University College, Moshi, Tanzania
Host organisation: Centre for Global Health, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Starting date: 01 February 2021
Duration: 12 months
Grant amount: EUR 68,537
Grant agreement: TMA2019PF-2694

VARIAFRICA
Fellow: Dr Sebastien Kenmoe
Viral acute respiratory infections in Africa

Centre Pasteur du Cameroon, Yaounde, Cameroon
Host organisation: Centre for Global Health, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Starting date: 01 April 2021
Duration: 09 months
Grant amount: EUR 69,688
Grant agreement: TMA2019PF-2705