Application Deadline: November 30, 2022.
The Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa is made possible by a generous gift from the Motsepe Foundation. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research will administer the Fund together with the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs, in collaboration with the Center for African Studies.
The primary purpose of the Fund is to support faculty-led and student-driven research projects that focus on advancing key challenges and opportunities facing Africa, including, but not limited to, the following areas:
- emerging technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
- climate change and its effect on health, livelihoods, agriculture, water, and/or sanitation
- renewable energy and its benefit to infrastructure and/or society
- health
- aging
- materials science
- governance and policies needed for an entrepreneurial economy
Eligibility Requirements
Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of academic merit, feasibility, and their anticipated advancement of the objectives of the Fund. They must meet at least one of the following three criteria, with priority given to those projects that meet more than one criterion:
• Focus on Africa
• Include meaningful collaboration with Africa-based academics
• Be undertaken in Africa in whole or in part
Applications are invited from individuals who hold a faculty appointment at a Harvard School and who have principal investigator rights at that School. Harvard Medical School faculty must hold a faculty appointment with PI rights in one of HMS’s basic or social science departments. Faculty may request support for Harvard postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates.
Available Funding
Applicants may request a project period of one or two years with a maximum of $150,000 direct costs, as specified by the applicant in the proposal. Grants are non-renewable but may be eligible for a one-time, one-year, no- cost extension, provided the project is continuing, remains in good standing, and has made material progress.
Timeline:
- October 14, 2022: Application portal opens
- November 30, 2022: Application deadline/portal closes
- April 2023: Awardees notified
- May 2023: Funds disbursed (Fund disbursal will occur upon receipt of signed terms and conditions, and provision of any required documentation. Delayed receipt of documentation may delay the disbursal of funds.)
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