The Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund was established in 2012, with generous support from The ALBORADA Trust. The Fund supports pairs of researchers (post-doctoral level and above) from theUniversity of Cambridge (or an affiliated institution such as the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, NIAB and British Antarctic Survey) and sub-Saharan African institutions, across all disciplines, to initiate and/or strengthen research collaborations. To date, more than 260 awards have been made, to enable Cambridge researchers to engage with African colleagues from 31 African countries. Some awardees have been able to use the preliminary results from their seed fund / research collaboration to apply for and win significant funding (e.g. Royal Society/Leverhulme Awards, Global Challenges Research Fund, etc.).
The Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund competitively awards grants of between £1,000 and £20,000, for:
- research costs (such as reagents, fieldwork and equipment)
- research-related travel between Cambridge and Africa (bearing in mind feasibility of travel due to COVID restrictions)
- conducting research training activities in Africa (e.g. setting up courses/workshops).
Should you be successful in receiving a Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund award, then the types of award letters that would need to be signed by the Cambridge and African PI.
Particularly note that the ALBORADA Research Fund cannot pay for overheads, PI salaries, administration costs, bench fees or for researchers to attend conferences.
How to apply
The online application form has been designed to allow both applicants (Cambridge- and Africa-based) to log in, update, save and eventually submit electronically.
The Cambridge-based applicant must then log in to the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund application form, where they will see the words “Invite a 2nd applicant to view/edit this submission”. Click on this link in order to invite the Africa-based applicant to register and edit the forms.
The deadline to submit an application for collaborative research funding is Monday 5th September 2022.
