Information for Researchers

Yes, but you need to justify those costs.  AREF is willing to support the travel and accommodation / subsistence costs of external trainers and – if required – for external participants.  However, AREF expects your employing institution to provide the workshop location for free (no hire charges). AREF also does not support a per diem for workshop participants, except where it can be justified that the per diem provides only for food and accommodation: payments to motivate attendance are not supported by AREF.

Yes, you may include the costs of publishing results that arise from work directly related to the Fellowship.  You will need to report on your Fellowship activities and account for your expenditure, including that on publication fees. Please note that the focus of the Fellowship is training and not project work and so publications may or may not arise from the Fellowship.

contact the AREF team for more information regarding this.

No, placements may not be taken in your employing institution.  

No.  AREF Fellowships do not provide salaries for you to conduct a project – whether to collect new data or analyse them.  You may include a contribution to personnel costs as part of a service that you have to buy, e.g. for the preparation of sample and data for the placement or specific analyses at the host institution.  The Fellowship focuses on your training and development. 

Yes.  However, your application will be stronger if you can show that you will learn new skills and make new contacts.  You need to demonstrate that you will be working on your ideas, and not on a project that belongs to your previous supervisor or boss. There is a section in the application form to input this. Process

No. We can only accept electronic applications.

We can only accept electronic applications completed using a link that published with the launch of any Grant Writing Programme. In a case where an applicant is completely unable to access this platform, the applicant must contact AREF on aref@aref-africa.org.uk to request for the application form which must then be submitted electronically.

No, we will accept only one application to an institution per candidate.

No. Please read the Fellowship Scheme and apply online through the link provided in the document and on our website. . If you experience problems with the form please notify us. We recommend you try to submit your application at least a few days before the deadline in case the platform becomes busy closer to the deadline. We will not accept applications that are late as a result of not being able to submit the application via the online form.

Applicants may take placements at a centre of excellence in their own country, but they will need to make the case that training and collaboration with the institute needs an AREF Fellowship, i.e. that the objectives could not be achieved as part of routine national collaboration.  Be aware that placements are normally taken at institutions outside of the applicant’s own country.  Placements may not be taken at the applicant’s employing organisation. If you are considering taking your placement in your own country please contact AREF For additional information and amendments to the allowable costs.

No, while you may of course continue to publish from your PhD work, it is not the purpose of the Fellowship to support that activity.

 Ideally, your mentor is someone who would provide you professional advice, be impartial and challenge you. This can be your boss, your institution’s director or your former PhD supervisor.

A sponsor will be an individual in the host or employing organisation who agrees with you to accept the specific responsibilities that AREF set out in the accompanying guidance: you must discuss your plans with them and show them the guidance on their role.  We do not expect sponsors to “supervise” your Fellowship; i.e. you should be determining your personal development yourself, of course with the advice of your boss, maybe your past PhD supervisor and mentors

You need to determine what you need to travel to the host country in consultation with your host ( for the UK more information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration). Most fellows do this in their preplacement period.

The scope of disciplines and their associated research methodologies and technologies that we should like expertise in are as follows: 

• advanced medical statistics 
• medical bioinformatics 
• biomedical and computational modelling (applied to health) 
• molecular biology and omics technologies 
• other advanced, laboratory-based 
• pharmacology and physiological systems 
• epidemiology, demography and population health 
• ecological sciences as applied to human health 
• quantitative and qualitative behavioural and social sciences 
• economics applied to health 
• health systems and policy research

No, it is the responsibility of applicants to organise the necessary visa to cover the Placement period. We recommend contacting the appropriate embassy and your host institute to organise your visa. The Fellowship funding will cover the costs of your visa and applicants are encouraged to include the expenses of obtaining the necessary visa into their applications.

Yes, we offer fundamental of peer review training to newly enrolled members of our College of Experts to acquaint them with standard peer review systems, processes and procedures to enable them provide high quality reviews.  

Yes, all applications must be written in English.

Firstly, you must identify the specific workshop and/or conference as part of your application, and justify it in terms of your development.  If details are not yet available of the fees and accommodation costs, make an estimate.  You can do this using the costs charged for a similar event that has already been run by the same organisation.  

All AREF Grant Writing Programmes comprise of eight 3hr sessions, divided by a break of one month or more, into two parts, with five sessions in the first part and three in the second. Attendance to all sessions is mandatory

The outcome of your application will be communicated within 4 weeks upon acknowledgement of receipt of your application. 

AREF Research Development Fellowship is open to applicants without a doctorate who have an MBBS (or equivalent) and either a Master’s degree or a specialist clinical qualification. Examples of specialist clinical qualifications are FRCP, FWACP or equivalent.

If you have any questions about your clinical background, please contact us at Fellowships.AREF@aref-africa.org.uk and we will assess your eligibility on a case-by-case basis.

Yes, the AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme is open to applicants without a doctorate who have a clinical qualification and research relevant master’s degree both awarded in the last 6 years. Applicants need to have at least two but not more than seven years of active research experience. Clinically qualified applicants can include doctors, nurses or veterinarians. If you have any questions about your clinical background, please contact us at aref@aref-africa.org.uk and we will assess your eligibility on a case-by-case basis.

Yes, applicants do not need to be a resident in Africa at the time of applying. However, they are required to have guarantee of employment with an institution in Sub-Saharan Africa; or have guarantee of employment at a centre of research excellence outside Africa and an honorary contract with an institution in Sub-Saharan Africa for the duration of the Fellowship, with at least 70% of their time based in Africa.

No, applicants need to be a resident in Africa at the time of applying and employed by a recognised university and/or specialist research institution located in the Sub-Saharan region.

The AREF Research Development Fellowship is only open to citizens of a Sub-Saharan Africa country.

No, we encourage applications from researchers, who are in their mid/senior-level, with relevant experience to human health challenges.  

No, non-clinical researchers who will not have received their PhD/DPh by September will not be eligible to apply for the that year-based eligibility

No, non-clinical researchers who will not have received their PhD/DPh by the application deadline will not be eligible to apply. However, please be aware that this Programme will run again in subsequent years, and we encourage you start making the arrangements necessary to apply next year.

No, the dates for any Grant Writing Programme cannot be changed and applicants must ensure that they are able to attend all 8 sessions of the Programme before applying. They must also indicate their intention and ability (barring unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances) to attend all sessions in the application form. Full attendance is required to receive the certificate of completion at the end of the programme.

Yes, all applications must be written in comprehensible, good English but complete fluency is not required.

Yes you can apply. The RDF scheme focuses on Early-Career health Researchers (ECR) from Africa who plan to develop their research career in Africa and have the potential to become research leaders. We expect most ECRs will be within six years of their research (normally PhD) qualification. However, we recognize that career pathways differ, and your research career may have been interrupted, for example, you may have taken time off for caring responsibilities. Although, we expect you will have some research experience between three-ten years and have started making significant contributions to health research in Africa (most successful applicants have at least three first author publications) but have not made the transition to research independence

In your application, you will need to explain why you consider yourself an early career researcher Your suitability for the scheme will be considered during the first part of the review process.

The AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Programme is aimed at early-career health researchers who have not yet been awarded a combined research-grant portfolio of 250,000GBP or more.

Researchers who have not yet received their PhD by the application deadline are not usually eligible to apply. However, if you can provide evidence that

• You have submitted your thesis and;
• The University has held over a scheduled examination (due to be held before the application deadline),

Please email us at aref@aref-africa.org.uk and we will assess your eligibility on a case-by-case basis given the above evidence. It is important that any newly qualified PhD-graduate can demonstrate additional research experience and that they are ready to start applying for their own grants. We appreciate that in some settings, individuals have been able to acquire valuable research experience on their (extended) academic journey.

The AREF Research Development Fellowship is aimed at early-career health researchers who have not yet been awarded a substantial research grant of up to GBP £300,000 or more.

No, you should have between 5 – 10 years postdoctoral research experience as a mid/senior-level researcher relevant to Africa’s human health challenges. 

We do not accept applications that are resubmissions of previously unsuccessful proposals that have not been substantially improved and do not address the reviewers’ comments.

Please contact AREF before applying if you have previously submitted an application. Please also take care to check the eligibility criteria for that particular fellowship period to ensure you are still eligible to apply.

The maximum funding that an applicant may seek for a Fellowship that includes a 9-month placement is £40,000. Further details of the maximum costs for varying lengths of placements are provided in the guidance documents.

Applications are now open throughout the year. We welcome applications from qualified candidates at any given point in time. 

Letters can be addressed to “The AREF Research Development Fellowship 2022 Panel”.  They must be submitted with your application form.

If you have any questions or queries about applying for our fellowship, please contact Alberta Davis via Fellowships.AREF@aref-africa.org.uk. As we expect to have numerous enquires near the deadline please try to submit questions by 12 September.

If you have any questions or queries about applying for this Programme, please contact the team via aref@aref-africa.org.uk

The College of Experts is a group of scientists and health researchers who support our
fellowships and programmes by providing advice based on their relevant research
experience.

The main role of the College of Experts is to act as peer-reviewers for applications to AREF. They also participate in other activities such as training workshops, speaking at seminars or mentoring programmes from time to time.

Members of our College of experts are also offered the opportunity to take up additional roles as facilitators and/or mentors to support other AREF programmes. 

Mid/senior-level of your career, between 5 – 10 years postdoctoral research experience. 

Applicants should begin their Fellowship between June  and December of the particular fellowship year.

Applicants will be notified of the final decision around February/March of the year of their fellowships i.e if you applied in September 2022 for the 2022/23 RDF, you will be notified in February or March 2023. 

Applications are welcomed from mid/senior-level researchers with approximately 5 -10 years postdoctoral research experience relevant to Africa’s human health challenges.

Please send an email to aref@aref-africa.org.uk if you have any questions, concerns, or need additional information.

Yes, it is the responsibility of applicants to identify and engage with the host institution of their choice. The host institution should be a centre of research excellence in Europe (including UK) or Africa (all subregions, including North Africa).

We will aim to provide feedback where possible for unsuccessful applications so that candidates can articulate their ideas and plans as best as possible in future proposals, but it may not always be possible. You can request feedback on your application after the application process is complete and the outcome has been communicated to you, please email Fellowships.AREF@aref-africa.org.uk.

We will aim to provide feedback for applications that are shortlisted and considered at the final Panel meeting but are ultimately unsuccessful, so that candidates can articulate their ideas and plans as best as possible in future proposals. If you do not receive feedback on your application but you would like to request it, please email aref@aref-africa.org.uk.