COVID-19 Africa Rapid Grant Fund

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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

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.

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

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