Applications are open for the women for Africa Foundation (FMxA) 5th Science By Women Programme 2019. The Women for Africa Foundation (FMxA), in line with its mission of contributing to the development of Africa. Further, through the drive of its women, launched the SCIENCE BY WOMEN program. Also, with the aims of promoting African women’s leadership in scientific research and technology transfer. Fostering the capacity of the research centers in their home countries. Further, The program’s ultimate goal is to enable African women researchers to play a leading role in the transition of Africa to a knowledge-based and innovation-led economy and thereby in the transformation of people’s daily lives. Further, To achieve this ambitious goal, FMxA collaborates with the Spanish Centres of Excellence, whose prestige is unanimously recognized throughout Spain and internationally, thereby ensuring excellence in scientific research in various fields.

Program Content

The Science by Women program will fund a total of 15 six-month visiting senior research fellowships for 15 experienced African women researchers in 15 different international research centers of excellence based in Spain. Each of these centers will host 1 senior woman researcher with at least 3 years of post-doctoral experience for a six-month fellowship.

Each research center will host one researcher. Here below the list of participating centers:

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
6. Physics and Materials Sciences
7. Nanotechnology

Additionally, 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.

Benefits

Successful candidates will have access to the following benefits:

• Return flight from their center of origin to the host institution
• Living allowance of 2.400 Euros (before taxes) per month to cover accommodation, personal expenses and health and occupational accident insurance coverage.

Beneficiaries must devote themselves entirely to research at the assigned research center and may not be beneficiaries of any other fellowship, grant, stipend or regular income during their research stay.

Eligibility

Any person who meets the following requirements can apply:

• Being a woman
• Having the nationality of an African country
• Having a PhD with at least 3 years of post-doctoral professional experience
• A current 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 above
• Further, Excellent academic record and a proven track of relevant research experience
• Solid working knowledge of English
• Proven experience leading a research group

Beneficiaries of first, second and third editions of this program are not eligible.

When applying, candidates must have already identified research groups in the host centers to confirm that their proposed research can be carried out in collaboration with those research groups and, when needed, in their laboratories.

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.