COVID-19 AFRICA RAPID GRANT FUND - THIS GRANT IS TAILORED FOR US!! I

University of Nairobi is a member of the African Research Universities
Network (ARUA) for which this call is directed. For all those who
submitted a proposal to the Kenya NRF call, please  retool your
proposal and submit one to this call as well (Of course recognising
that if funded in both, you will have to decline one  ).

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa requires
coordinated, responsive research as well as effective, evidence-based
communication and science engagement.

The approximately USD4.75million COVID-19 Africa Rapid Grant Fund is a
collaboration that aims to address research questions and support
communities of science journalists and communicators on the African
continent, in efforts to produce and disseminate coordinated science
communication outputs that will allow readers access to factual
information and analysis to inform their actions and challenge
misinformation. The partnership, under the auspices of the Science
Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI) includes the
National Research Foundation (NRF) South Africa, South Africa’s
Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), Canada’s International
Development Research Centre (IDRC), Fonds de Recherche du Québec
(FRQ), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
(Sida), United Kingdom’s Department for International Development
(DFID), the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the
Newton Fund, and the SGCI participating councils.

Scope of the COVID-19 Africa Rapid Grant Fund

The Rapid Grant Fund supports three strands in respect of research and
science engagement:

Research – covering a list of research areas on: the COVID-19 virus,
prevention and control, the African health governance system,
socio-cultural dynamics of transmission, science engagement, mental
health, and vulnerability.

Science engagement: Science and health journalists and communicators –
covering a list of topics to support efforts to produce and
disseminate coordinated science communication outputs that will allow
readers access to factual information and analysis to inform their
actions and challenge misinformation.

Science engagement: Science advisers – a strand to support national
African academies of science, African national Young Academies of
Science and the INGSA Africa chapter to provide rapid science advice
in support of regional and continental responses to COVID-19.


Eligibility Criteria

Researchers and science engagement practitioners from the following
countries are eligible to apply: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Côte
d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, KENYA, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda,
Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and, in the context of
the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), Nigeria and South
Africa.

In the context of implementing the SGCI and to build on existing
continental networks, this call is focused on ARUA universities who,
through the ARUA Centres of Excellence Initiative and additional
collaborative research initiatives, have collectively been working
together with counterparts in the ARUA network to respond to COVID-19.

For the two Strands on Science Engagement [(2) and (3)], practitioners
across all the 17 countries, including from Nigeria and South Africa
may apply.

Applications

Applications must be submitted on the South African NRF Online
Submission System at https://nrfsubmission.nrf.ac.za.

The framework and application guidelines, application templates, and
additional call documents are here
https://www.nrf.ac.za/division/funding/covid-19-africa-rapid-grant-fund

Peer review (research strand) and evaluation (science engagement
strands) will be conducted in accordance with South African NRF
policy.

Closing Date17 June 2020 

Contacts

For programme/content related queries:
Thabo Dikgale
Email: thabo.dikgale@nrf.ac.za


Kholofelo Mampeule

Email: kholofelo.mampeule@nrf.ac.za


For technical and granting queries:
Mr Jan Phalane
Email: jan.phalane@nrf.ac.za


Mpho Baloyi

Email: mpho.baloyi@nrf.ac.za

Colleagues from science granting councils across the 15 SGCI
participating countries can be contacted as per the list on Table 1 in
the framework and application guidelines found here:
https://www.nrf.ac.za/division/funding/covid-19-africa-rapid-grant-fund