The Sub-Saharan African Consortium for Advanced Biostatistical Training (S2ACABT), a consortium of twenty African and northern institutions with the University of the Witwatersrand as the lead; and KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programmes, Universities of KwaZulu-Natal, Warwick and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as co-applicants, has secured funding from the Wellcome Trust/AESA through the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Traning and Science (DELTAS). The full list of participating institutions are listed below. The funding will cover Masters and PhD programmes in Biostatistics in participating training institutions to develop and improve biostatistical skills among researchers, with an ultimate goal of creating research nodes of excellence to grow the discipline and a biostatistical network to nurture researchers with advanced skills and expertise. The consortium is therefore calling for full time scholarship applications for Masters and PhD degrees.

The scholarships are open to candidates with strong background in either Statistics, Mathematics, Demography, any other quantitative fields , including competent candidates from the lab/health field such as biomedical sciences, pharmacy, medicine who may benefit from a postgraduate course in biostatistics.The potential fellows should have applied for a place at one of the postgraduate biostatistics degree programmes being offered by partner institutions.

These degree programmes will be focused on courses relevant to quantitative research in the health-related fields and developing careers in Biostatisticics, which is a growing field particularly in developing countries where the demand is high due to increased biomedical research. Therefore, the goal of this financial support is to enhance Biostatistical graduate training capacity and boost the number of researchers and practitoners in low and middle-income countries.

MASTERS’ SCHOLARSHIPS: APPLICATION DEADLINE – 15th DECEMBER 2015
ELIGIBILITY
• The scholarship is open to nationals of low and middle income countries in the Sub-Saharan African Region that are resident in the region. (http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-and-lending-groups#Sub_Saharan_Africa ) and partnering institutions in the consortium.
• Applicants should normally be under 35 years for the Master Programme
• Applicants should meet each of the separate University’s admission requirements for the level of degree applied for before applying for the scholarship.

SCHOLARSHIP PACKAGE
The scheme will provide full scholarships for 18 Masters students fellows in the 2016 academic year and covers the following:
• Tuition fees and basic medical and accident insurance
• A monthly stipend to cover accommodation and living expenses.
• Support for the Masters research project supervision

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For the MSc scholarships, applicants should provide the academic training institution with:

1. A comprehensive curriculum vitae including relevant research and work experience
2. Letter of motivation explaining why you want to pursue an MSc in biostatistics
3. Certified copies of academic transcripts and degree certificates
4. Evidence of acceptance or application to study Biostatistics at any of the partnering institution for commencement in the 2016 academic year
5. Two confidential referee reports should be sent directly to the training institution

PHD SCHOLARSHIPS: APPLICATION DEADLINE – 31st MARCH 2016
ELIGIBILITY
• The scholarship is open to nationals of low and middle income countries in the Sub-Saharan African Region that are resident in the region. (http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-and-lending-groups#Sub_Saharan_Africa ) and partnering institutions in the consortium.
• Applicants should normally be under 40 years for the PhD Programme.
Applicants should meet each of the separate University’s admission requirements for the level of degree applied for before applying for the fellowship.
SCHOLARSHIP PACKAGE
The scheme will provide full scholarships for 5 PhD Fellows in the 2016 academic year and covers the following:
• Tuition fees and basic medical and accident insurance
• A monthly stipend to cover accommodation and living expenses.
• Reasonable support for the PhD research project and supervision
• Bench fees to research institution hosting the PhD student
• Travel costs to and from academic training institution and the host research institution
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For the PhD scholarships, applications must be either be based research questions on data from a recognised Research Institution, and include a co-supervisor from that institution, or from an academic training institution. Potential PhD scholarship applicants should provide the academic training institution:
1. A comprehensive curriculum vitae including relevant research and work experience
2. Letter of motivation explaining why you want to pursue a PhD in biostatistics
3. Certified copies of academic transcripts and degree certificates
4. A concept note, not exceed 5 pages, outlining the proposed area of research.
5. A sample of written academic work of which the applicant is the primary author e.g. Masters’ thesis/research report, journal article
6. A letter from the proposed research institution supervisor indicating willingness to supervise
7. Evidence of acceptance or application to study Biostatistics at a partner institution
8. Two confidential referee reports should be sent directly to the training institution.
Preference for these (MSc and PhD) scholarships will be given to candidates who are likely to strengthen the SSACABT institutions either as academic staff members or affiliation to research institution within the consortium.
Further, recipients’ careers will be tracked with the new Wellcome Trust DELTAS S2ACABT alumni that will monitor the impact of the programme, as well as networking and increased visibility opportunities for the Fellows.

HOW TO APPLY
The application process is two-fold.
1. Applications for places should be made to the preferred host training institution. Institutions and their contact persons are listed below.

A. University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa:
• Institutional lead: Prof Tobias Chirwa (Tobias.Chirwa@wits.ac.za)
Contact persons for Masters and PhD enquiries:
• Mrs. Busi Mamabolo (Busi.Mamabolo@wits.ac.za) for the MSc Programme Please access the following website for more details: http://www.wits.ac.za/academic/health/publichealth/18699/postgraduateprogrammes.html
• Mr. Paul Bohloko (Paul.Bohloko@wits.ac.za) for the PhD Programme.
• Please access the following website for more details: http://www.wits.ac.za/academic/health/publichealth/phdgraduateprogrammes/10542/how_do_i_apply.html

B. University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa:
• Institutional lead: Prof. Henry Mwambi (MwambiH@ukzn.ac.za)
Contacts for Masters and PhD enquiries:
• Ms Christel Barnard (BarnardC@ukzn.ac.za) for both MSc and PhD applications
• Note: The MSc and PhD programmes at UKZN will be by research and thesis.

C. University of Malawi, Malawi
• Institutional lead: Dr Jupiter Simbeye (jsimbeye@cc.ac.mw)
Contacts for Masters and PhD enquiries:
• Mr. Tsirizani Kaombe (biostat-unima@cc.ac.mw) for the MSc Programme
Please access the following website for additional information:
http://www.science.chanco.unima.mw/index.php/stu/postgraduate-programmes?layout=edit&id=47
• Dr. Jupiter Simbeye (jsimbeye@cc.ac.mw) for the PhD programme.

D. University of Nairobi, Kenya
• Institutional lead: Prof Patrick Weke (pweke@uonbi.ac.ke)
Contact for Masters and PhD enquiries:
• Dr. Nelson Owuor Onyango (onyango@uonbi.ac.ke)
• Please access the following website for more details: http://www.mathematics.uonbi.ac.ke

E. Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Tanzania
• Institutional lead: Dr Michael Johnson Mahande (jmmahande@gmail.com)
Contacts for Masters and PhD enquires:
• Mr Victor Selengia: vselengia_2006@yahoo.com
Please access the following website for more details: www.kcmuco.ac.tz/index.php/admission

F. Stellenbosch University, South Africa
• Institutional lead: Prof Rhoderick Machekano (rhoderick@sun.ac.za)
Contact for Masters enquiries:
• Maxwell Chirehwa (mtchirehwa@sun.ac.za).
• The link to the postgraduate programs and application procedures is http://www0.sun.ac.za/pgstudies/postgraduate-programmes/faculty-of-medicine-and-health-sciences.html
2. Application for the DELTAS S2ACABT scholarship
The application for the DELTAS S2ACABT scholarship should be made separately and in writing, as outlined under the MSc and PhD scholarship sections above.
Scholarship applications should be sent to: Mrs. Busi Mamabolo (Busi.Mamabolo@wits.ac.za) and copied to Dr. Eustasius Musenge (Eustasius.Musenge@wits.ac.za)
PLEASE NOTE: The application deadline for MSc scholarships is 15th December 2015 and 31st March 2016 for PhD scholarships