9th Edition – Science by woman – FAQS


Back Science by Women

FAQs – Science by Women

The Women for Africa Foundation (FMxA), in line with its mission of contributing to the development of Africa through the drive of its women, launched the SCIENCE BY WOMEN program, with the aims of promoting African women’s leadership in scientific research and technology transfer and fostering the capacity of the research centres in their home countries. The program’s ultimate goal is to enable African women researchers to play a leading role in the transition of Africa to a knowledge-based and innovation-led economy and thereby in the transformation of people’s daily lives.

What does the Science by Women program consist of?

The Science by Women program will fund six-month visiting senior research fellowships for experienced African women researchers in different international research centres of excellence based in Spain.

The preferred areas of research include:

  1. Health and Bio-medicine
  2. Energy, Water and Climate Change
  3. Sustainable Agriculture and Food Safety

Fellowship duration

In general, the duration of the research stays will be six continuous months. Nevertheless, depending on personal and professional needs, and with approval of the host research centre, the planned research may be split in two stays to be completed within two years after the fellowship has been awarded.

Who can apply for a fellowship? (Eligibility requirements)

Applicants must meets the following requirements:

  • Being a woman
  • Having the nationality of an African country
  • Holding a PhD. Post-doctoral experience is preferred.
  • Current contractual relationship with a university or a public or private non-profit organization based in Africa dedicated to significant scientific research in the areas indicated above
  • Excellent academic record and proven track of relevant research experience
  • Solid working knowledge of English

Beneficiaries of previous editions of this program are not eligible.

When applying, candidates must have already identified research groups in the host centres to confirm that their proposed research can be carried out in collaboration with those research groups and, when needed, in their laboratories.

What are the general benefits and conditions?

Successful candidates will have access to the following benefits:

  • Return flight from their centre of origin to the host institution
  • Living allowance of 2.400 Euros (before 24% taxes)per month to cover accommodation, personal expenses and health and occupational accident insurance coverage.

Beneficiaries must devote themselves entirely to research at the assigned research centre and may not be beneficiaries of any other fellowship, grant, stipend or regular income during their research stay.

Beneficiaries might be asked to formalise their relationship with the research centre in writing. In compliance with local laws, the Woman for Africa Foundation or the research centre (as the case may be) will, if so required in each particular circumstance by the tax and/or social security regime, retain or withhold the compulsory amounts from the living allowances.

Women for Africa Foundation, in collaboration with the research centre, will help beneficiaries with the compulsory formalities in order to obtain the visa with Spanish Embassies and Consulates.

How to apply

The deadline for applications is September 30, 2023. Only applications submitted in English via the Science by Women microsite at www.mujeresporafrica.es will be accepted.

Candidates must submit the following documents:

  • Letter of Interest (max. 1 page)
  • Full curriculum vitae (Europass format is ecommended)
  • Fully filled form
  • Brief but concise description of the project to be developed in the Spanish host centre (max. 2 pages).

Research proposals should fall within the main research strands of the chosen centre, as specified in section 6 of the Rules & Guidelines document.

Selection process and results

Applications will be subjected to a highly competitive selection process by the Women for Africa Foundation’s Scientific Committee. The jury will evaluate the following criteria:

  • The candidate’s research career, curriculum vitae and experience as independent research group leader.
  • The project’s scientific-technical quality and innovative potential.
  • The expected and measurable economic or social impact of the research project.
  • The candidate’s plan to communicate and disseminate the project’s results.
  • The proper consideration of ethical issues where appropriate.

Successful applicants will present innovative research projects that respond to the needs of African populations and that are likely to be transferred into products or patents for commercial exploitation, or services and public policies which have a social impact in terms of people’s welfare and quality of life, as well as an economic impact in terms of companies’ productivity and competitiveness

The jury’s final decision will be published by November 2023.

Successful candidates are expected to start their research projects at the assigned host institutions not earlier than January 2024. Check conditions in the application forme for each associated center.

Fellowship acceptance

Once the list of awarded fellowships has been published, successful applicants will have 10 days to accept. Failure to express acceptance within the established period implies resigning the fellowship and its reassignment to another applicant according to the order established on a reserve list.

What are the beneficiaries’ commitments?

The beneficiaries of the visiting research fellowships agree to respect and comply with the internal academic and legal regulations of the host research centre. The award of fellowships does not generate any statutory or labour relation with FMxA, and candidates commit themselves to return to their places of origin in Africa once they have finalized their research stay.

Fellowship recipients are obliged to submit to the Women for Africa Foundation within 2 months after the finalisation of their research stay a final report containing the results of their research projects as well as propositions to deepen collaboration between the host centre and the one of origin.

The Intellectual and Industrial Property (IP) generated by the Beneficiaries throughout the term of the stay at the Host Entity will be regulated by the same terms and conditions which apply to the IP generated by the research personnel of the Host entity.

Submission of applications implies that the fellowship recipients grant to FMxA and the host centre the right to publish and disseminate the results of the chosen research projects in all forms (including, but not limited in form of working papers, electronic documents and books) and in all territories, with no detriment to the publications in scientific journals chosen by the researchers, which should in any case mention the support received by FMxA and the collaborating research centre.

A few aspects to take into account:

The Women for Africa Foundation strongly discourages final beneficiaries to take along their families, since we cannot assure any financial, logistic or administrative support for families.

We advise applicants to read attentively the complete Rules & Guidelines document before submitting their application.

Contact:

For further information, please contact the Foundation at:

science.by.women@mujeresporafrica.es

Amigos/as de la fundación