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.

Through the programme, 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.

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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.

Benefits from African Postdoctoral Training

Years 1 and 2

• During the first two years of the fellowship at the NIH, APTI fellows shall be engaged as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the NIH Intramural Visiting Fellow Programme (VFP):
  • Stipend support will follow NIH guidelines based on experience, outlined here
  • Insurance will be provided to the fellow and dependents that are living in the US
  • Training support will include Leadership, Management, Mentoring, Grant Writing, Resilience and Wellness workshops and courses through the Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE).

Years 3 and 4

• After successfully completing the two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH, the APTI fellows shall be supported to transition into being independent researchers as follows. APTI fellows shall be provided with a grant of up to USD 226,800 to support years 3 and 4 of the APTI fellowship as detailed below:
  • Salary support of up-to USD 38,400 per year subject to the home institution’s HR provisions. The salary support is aimed at ensuring that APTI fellows spend at least 50% of their personnel time on their APTI fellowship
  • Research support of up to USD $50,000 per year
  • Equipment purchase support of up to USD $50,000 (total)

Eligibility for African Postdoctoral Training

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.

Application of African Postdoctoral Training

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.

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Lastly, It is important to visit the official website link found below to access the application form.

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