CAPREx(Cambridge-Africa Partnership for Research Excellence) is a three-way partnership between the University of Ghana, Legon, Makerere University, Ugandaandthe University of Cambridge, UK,and is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Isaac Newton Trust.

The CAPRExprogramme strengthens academic research and research management capacityin the African partner universities through the provision of fellowships. African research fellows are invited to embark on a collaborative research project with a researcherfrom the University of Cambridge who has mutual research interests, and the research will usually take place in Cambridge.

Collaborator(s) from the other African partner university will also be involved where appropriate. In some cases, more than one collaborator may be involved in the project from Cambridge.

The CAPREx Fellowships
The CAPREx Programme is pleased to invite applicants with research proposals in the following broad fields to apply for Post-doctoral research fellowships available in 2017/18

• Basic and Applied Sciences and Infectious Diseases (University of Ghana, Legon);
• Social Sciences and Humanities including Education, Law and Business (Makerere University).

The focus of CAPREx research projects should be on a research collaboration relevant to Ghana and Uganda.

CAPREx fellowships willallow for an average of 4 months (ranging from minimum of 1 month to a maximum of 6 months) to be spent at the University of Cambridge, or the other CAPREx African partner University if appropriate.

When fellows visit Cambridge, they will engage in a variety of training, seminars and networking opportunities to enhance their research links and skills. Ideally, fellowship visits should be scheduled from May 2016.CAPREx will provide travel (to be arranged from Cambridge) and a subsistence allowance (£2,000 per month pro rata) for the agreed duration of Fellowship visits only (subsistence costs will not be provided for work done within the Fellows’ home country).

CAPREx also provides funding for the Fellows’ collaborator(s) to visit the Fellows’ university to promote sustainable collaborative links and work on their joint research project.

Fellows will be eligible to apply competitively for funds to attend an international conference, in Europe or North America (depending on costs involved) to present their research.

In addition, CAPREx Fellows will be eligible to submit an application, in conjunction with their Cambridge collaborator, to the Cambridge-AfricaAlborada Research Fundto support the research collaboration.

Details of previous CAPREx Fellows’ research projects and experiences during their Fellowship (blog, photos, visits to international conferences, etc.) are available via the following link to the CAPREx website:www.cambridge-africa.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-in-africa-initiatives/caprex/

Eligibility to Apply

Applicants should be:

• Full time PhD-holding members of staff at either the University of Ghana or at Makerere University.Eligibility will focus on early career fellows(5 years since PhD completion)but mid career fellows(5-10 years since PhD completion) may also apply.
• Applicants must be 50 years of age or under
• Applicants from the University of Ghana must be faculty members from the College of Basic and Applied Sciences or faculty members from other UG Colleges doing research on infectious diseases.
• Applicants from Makerere University must be working within the Social Sciences and Humanities. This includes Education, Law and Business.

Please note:
Female staff members are strongly encouraged to apply.
Research Projects involving both African partner countries (Ghana and Uganda) are also encouraged.

Application Requirements

Candidates for the fellowships will be selected using a two-step application process as follows:

Step 1:
Interested and eligible faculty members complete and submit the attached registration of interest form by5th November 2016.

Registrations of Interest should consist of:
• A completed preliminary application form, tobe submitted by email tothe CAPREx CoordinatorOffice of the applicant’s home institution (contacts below). If publications have been listed in the application, then links to these should be provided in the relevant section of the application form. Otherwise, pdf versions of the three most importantpublications should be submitted with the form.
• A CV
• Supporting letters from two professional referees (including their telephone numbers, postal and e-mail addresses) to be sent directly from referees to the CAPREx Coordinator Office of the applicants home institution (contacts below) either by email or in hard copy. At least one referee should be familiar with the applicant’s academic research work.

Step 2:
Shortlisted candidates will be matched to appropriate CAPREx collaborators in Cambridge and/or Africa, and then invited to complete and submit a final application form.This form will request information about the candidate’s proposed research collaboration, and will have to be prepared in consultation with their CAPREx collaborator(s), for submission by the deadline of 5th February 2017. All shortlisted candidates will also be interviewed at their home university.

Review of Applications and Selection of Fellows

Applications will be reviewed by a selection panel comprisingrepresentativesfrom the three CAPREx partner universities, in the relevant subject areas.Reviewers may pay particular attention to the following criteria: research experience; commitment to pursuing an academic research career at the applicant’s home university; research project and potential for long-term collaboration with CAPREx partners and quality of references.

Timelines

• 5th November 2016:Registration of Interest to be submitted to the CAPREx Coordinator Office of the applicant’s home institution.

• 5thDecember 2016: Shortlisted applicantsnotifiedand invited to submit final application.

• December 2016 – January 2017:Shortlisted applicants notified of collaborator(s) they have been matched to, and an introductory email will be sent to put collaborating parties in touch with each other. The candidates can then communicate directly and prepare a more detailed research proposal.

• 5th February 2017: Final Application to be submitted online (details will be provided).

• March-April 2017: CAPREx Fellowship interviews at home university.

• May 2017: Outcome of Fellowship applications confirmed.

Contact Details

University of Ghana: Ms Afua Yeboah, Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID), email: caprex@ug.edu.gh

Makerere University: Ms Susan Mbabzi, Directorate of Research and Graduate Training (DGRT), email: smbabazi@rgt.mak.ac.ug