Call for applications: Africa India Mobility Fund (AIMF)

Deadline: 04 October 2019
Open to: African and Indian scientists who wish to conduct visits of up to three months in either direction
Benefits: the award will cover directly incurred costs up to USD 5,000 + additional USD 2,500 may be requested for laboratory reagents

Description

The Africa India Mobility Fund (AIMF) is now accepting applications from African and Indian scientists who wish to conduct visits of up to three months in either direction.

The AIMF is a partnership between The African Academy of Sciences (The AAS) and the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance (India Alliance) that has been running since April 2018 to promote collaboration between African and Indian scientists.  Travel grants which seek to establish links between African and Indian researchers that cultivate a culture of collaboration will serve as a vehicle to improve research capacity and build leadership in biomedical and clinical research for Africa and India.

The AIMF comes on the heels of the Third India-Africa Forum Summit held in 2015, where Heads of State adopted the Delhi Declaration renewing their commitment to work with each other, and outlining the priority areas and ways in which Africa and India can work together to improve the lives of their people.

The AIMF is also one of many efforts to exploit the synergistic relationship between Africa and India outlined in the India Africa Health Sciences Summit held in 2016.

Africa and India share many challenges, including in health, and the asset of a young population. The AIMF hopes that bringing together researchers from these geographies would lead to sustainable solutions for common problems.

The relationship between India and Africa is mutually beneficial. India has the technological advances, including the production of generic drugs and being one of the world’s leading filers of patents, hence providing learning opportunities for African scientists. While Africa provides a conducive environment for research with its genetic diversity, fairly well-developed capacities for clinical trials and high disease burden. The AIMF also hopes to exploit this relationship and contribute to efforts to building a highly skilled science technology and innovative workforce and thereby advance knowledge economies and ensure more people live healthy, productive lives.

Funding will support collaboration in research in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, dengue, malaria, vector-borne diseases, parasitic infections, emerging infections, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, health systems research, antimicrobial resistance, microbiome, drug development and general biomedical sciences.

Eligibility

  • Applicants must be nationals of India or nationals of countries within Africa.

  • They should be based either in Africa or in India, and should be affiliated with a recognised academic, medical, research institution, or other similar institutions. Those based at for-profit organisations are not eligible.

  • The call is also open to non-African investigators who must be resident in Africa or Overseas Citizen of India (evidence may be requested), have an appointment/affiliation with an African/Indian institution, and their residence and tenure of service with the appointing African/Indian institution should cover the duration of the award.

  • Travel should be between an African country and India and can be in either direction. Travel within Africa can also be sought for an engagement of more than one African country with India.

  • Applicants must have a PhD/MD or equivalent research qualification and hold a permanent or fixed-term contract in an eligible institution, which must span the duration of the project.

  • Collaboration should focus on a single project involving researchers in Africa and India, respectively.

  • An applicant is eligible to receive only one grant per year.

Benefits

  • The award will cover directly incurred costs up to USD 5,000 / INR 325,000 for travel lasting up to 3 months. This is to cover the applicant’s airfare (at Economy class) and subsistence whilst on the visit. Salaries and fees to attend meetings will not be eligible. An additional USD 2,500 may be requested for laboratory reagents, however, the decision to award the extra funds will be on case by case basis upon justification of the needs.

  • The amount of each individual award will vary according to location and timescale. For example, if staying for a 3-month placement, the applicant may be expected to source university accommodation, or a short term let. However, if visiting for a week, a hotel or equivalent may be more suitable. The decision committee will consider whether the expenses are reasonable and may ask for revised costing.

  • Please note that the grant can only be used to deliver the objectives stated in the grant application. Ensure that the best estimates for the full cost of undertaking the project described in the application are requested.

  • Applicants may not seek funding for conference attendance, salary, equipment, per diem and indirect costs.

How to apply?

In order to apply you must register an account here.

For more information please visit the official website.