Application Deadline: 7 January 2019, 18:00 CET

Growing the Leaders of Tomorrow Fellowship Programme

Mentors: have you identified a young investigator with immense potential?
Junior investigators: are you the next young leader in paediatric and adolescent HIV clinical science?

CIPHER launched its Growing the Leaders of Tomorrow Fellowship Programme in 2017 to build and support clinical research leadership in paediatric and adolescent HIV in low- and middle-income countries, particularly high-burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

CIPHER Fellows are medical practitioners from sub-Saharan Africa with clinical research experience and the potential to become the next generation of leaders in paediatric and adolescent HIV clinical science. Each fellow receives $70,000 over two years, and has already linked with a potential mentor. The mentor is an internationally renowned researcher in paediatric and adolescent HIV with an established clinical research collaboration based at an institute of excellence in sub-Saharan Africa.

By supporting this link, the programme strengthens each fellow’s research skills, facilitates their integration into international clinical research networks, and enables them to compete more effectively for international research funding. At the same time, it helps address priority research gaps in paediatric and adolescent HIV clinical science and contributes to building institutional capacity in sub-Saharan Africa.

The programme has four key outcomes:
1. Fellows have increased knowledge and skills in HIV clinical research;
2. Fellows can compete more effectively for international research funding opportunities;
3. Fellows have strengthened relationships with a leading clinical scientist in paediatric HIV and with an institution of excellence in SSA;
4. Priority research gaps in paediatric and adolescent HIV clinical science are addressed

Fellow’s eligibility criteria:

•The fellow must be a junior investigator with a doctoral degree (PhD) or a doctor of medicine degree (e.g., MD, MBBS or equivalent) obtained no more than ten years before the application deadline and who has less than five years of relevant research experience.
•The fellow must hold a passport from a country in SSA1.
•The fellow must fulfil one of the following criteria prior to the application submission deadline:o He/she is a clinical/research trainee (e.g., research or clinical fellow, senior medical resident/Registrar) at an SSA academic institute or an SSA institute whose primary mission is research.o He/she has a faculty or comparable position (e.g., assistant professor, lecturer, research officer) at an SSA academic institute or an SSA institute whose primary mission is research.o He/she is working at an SSA organization with adequate research infrastructure to undertake the proposed research activities.
•The fellow (and mentor) must demonstrate that funding to support the direct costs of the proposed research is available.

Benefits:

Fellow/mentor pairs submit an applications to the Growing the Leaders of Tomorrow Fellowship Programme. Awardees will be selected to receive a two-year fellowship of up to US$ 70,000 (US$ 35,000 per year).

Application Procedure:

Applications must be submitted no later than 7 January 2019, 18:00 CET. Applications for the programme must be submitted by the fellow through the online application form that will be available on the CIPHER website from 12 November 2019 until 7 January 2019 18:00 CET.

Applicants will be asked to detail past achievements of the fellow and mentor, their research goals, provide an abstract of their proposed project, and write a research plan and mentorship plan for the duration of the fellowship.Documents to be uploaded:

•Mentor’s curriculum vitae, including publication record in paediatric HIV clinical research;•Fellow’s degree(s);
•Fellow’s passport; •Letter of support from Mentor’s and Fellow’s institution (unless the institution is the same);
Research plan, including funding and timeline; IRB approval if available (included in the form);
•Mentorship plan (included in the form).Selection is based on past achievements of the fellow and mentor; support by the host institution; the quality of the research proposed and the mentorship plan; and the potential of the overall proposal to forward the professional development of the fellow.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Growing the Leaders of Tomorrow Fellowship Programme