The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), with support from the Mastercard Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, is launching this Early-Career Research Fellowship program. The initiative will fund up to forty-two (42) early-career researchers to conduct globally competitive research at the host and affiliated institutions of ARUA’s thirteen (13) Centres of Excellence (CoEs) and the twenty-one (21) Africa-Europe Clusters of Excellence (CoREs).
Each fellowship will last six months, between July 2025 and June 2026. A maximum of four fellows will be assigned to each CoE or CoRE, with all positions filled by December 2025. At least 70% of the fellowships are reserved for female candidates, and applicants must be no older than 35 years at the time of application.
About the Fellowship
The program aims to enhance the capacity of early-career researchers at African universities by providing them with time away from teaching duties at their home institutions to collaborate with highly experienced and distinguished researchers at ARUA’s CoEs or the Africa-Europe CoREs hosted by ARUA Universities. Each CoE or CoRE is expected to host research fellows from countries other than its own.
About ARUA
The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) is a network of leading universities from different African countries with different historical backgrounds but with a common vision. This vision is to make African researchers and institutions globally competitive while contributing significantly to the generation of knowledge for the socio-economic transformation of the continent. The network, right from inception, was intended to be different from any other regional university network in Africa. The difference was to come largely from the approach to be employed, namely bringing together a number of peer African institutions that were willing to work together by pooling their limited resources to generate a critical mass that could more effectively support their limited but growing numbers of researchers. Underlying the approach was the conviction that they could leverage their resources effectively for additional resources from outside. ARUA is currently pursuing this vision through its CoEs and CoREs that vary across various science and non-science disciplines.
About the Mastercard Foundation
The Mastercard Foundation is a registered Canadian charity and one of the largest foundations in the world. It works with visionary organizations to advance education and financial inclusion to enable young people in Africa and Indigenous youth in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. Established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company, the Foundation is an independent organization separate from the company, with offices in Toronto, Kigali, Accra, Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Dakar, and Addis Ababa. Its policies, operations, and program decisions are determined by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and leadership. For more information on the Foundation, please visit www.mastercardfdn.org.
About the Carnegie Corporation of New York
The Carnegie Corporation of New York is one of the United States of America’s oldest grant-making foundations, established by Andrew Carnegie to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of democracy. The Corporation supports four key program areas, including education, democracy, international peace and security, and higher education and research in Africa.