ARUA Early-Career Research Fellowships 2025

If you're an emerging African researcher looking to deepen your expertise, collaborate across borders, and produce high-impact scientific work, the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Early-Career Research Fellowship 2025 is a golden opportunity. Backed by the Mastercard Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York, this prestigious program is designed to support and elevate Africa’s brightest young research minds across multiple disciplines. Details in this article.

---

🗒️ ARUA Early-Career Research Fellowship Summary

• Location: Africa (at ARUA Centres of Excellence in host institutions across the continent)

• Host Institutions: ARUA Centres of Excellence (13 universities in Africa)

• Academic Level: Postdoctoral/Early-career researchers (within 5 years of PhD completion)

• Target Group: African nationals under 35 years

• Funding: Fully Funded

• Duration: 6 months

• Application Deadline: Rolling until December 2025 (priority deadline: May 15, 2025)

• Start Date: From July 1, 2025

• Eligible To: African nationals with a PhD and a research affiliation with an ARUA university

---

🎓 Fellowship Overview

This fellowship aims to strengthen Africa’s research landscape by giving early-career academics a dedicated six-month period to focus on impactful research. Fellows will be embedded at one of ARUA's 13 Centres of Excellence (CoEs), working with top scholars in their chosen discipline. Each CoE will host up to four fellows, preferably from countries other than the host nation, and at least 70% of selected candidates will be women.

Fellows will collaborate on current research projects at the CoEs while also having the opportunity to pursue their own independent lines of inquiry aligned with the Centre’s goals.

📚 Areas of Research

• Energy

• Skills Development & Unemployment

• Non-Communicable Diseases

• Inequality Research

• Identity in Africa

• Migration & Mobility

• Sustainable Food Systems

• Urbanization & Habitable Cities

• Climate & Development

• Good Governance

• Post-Conflict Societies

• Water

• Materials, Energy & Nanotechnology (MEN)

---

🕵🏻 Researchers’ Roles and Responsibilities

Selected fellows are expected to engage in the following:

• Conduct collaborative research under the guidance of a mentor at the host CoE

• Publish at least one high-impact, peer-reviewed academic paper (Scopus or Web of Science indexed) where the fellow is the lead author

• Produce an accompanying policy brief or blog post to disseminate research findings

• Deliver at least two research presentations and participate in workshops at the host CoE

• Support partnerships between the CoE and relevant research or policy institutions

• Contribute to the wider visibility and impact of the Centre’s work

---

✅ Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for(ARUA) Early-Career Research Fellowships, applicants must:

1. Be African nationals under the age of 35 as of application date

2. Hold a PhD in a relevant field within the last 5 years

3. Be a young faculty or research staff at an ARUA member university (female postdocs may be considered exceptionally)

4. Be available for a 6-month full-time residential fellowship

5. Have a proven research track record and an ongoing project aligned with the CoE’s thematic focus

6. Possess existing data to facilitate timely publication and policy output

---

📝 Application Procedure

Interested candidates must submit the following documents via the [ARUA Fellowship Portal

1. Cover Letter detailing motivations, qualifications, proposed CoE, prior links (if any), and visa requirements

2. Full CV with personal details, research output, and two referees

3. Letter of Support from applicant’s home institution, confirming return post-fellowship

4. PhD Certificate

5. Concept Note (max 1,500 words) outlining the proposed research, its relevance, and data availability

6. Two Academic Writing Samples (not thesis chapters; must clarify individual contribution if co-authored)

Selection Process

• Applications will be reviewed by the Director of the targeted Centre of Excellence and host university leadership

• Fellows will be selected based on academic merit, publication history, and alignment of research interests with the CoE’s mandate

• First-round applicants (by May 15, 2025) will receive decisions by June 1, 2025, with fellowships starting July 1

• Applications remain open until all 42 fellowships are filled (final deadline: December 2025)

🔗 OFFICIAL LINK & APPLY

ARUA Early-Career Research Fellowships 2025

---