About the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE-PP)
The African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence – Pilot Programme (ARISE-PP) targets 40 young and emerging African early career research scientists across 40 African countries. The objective of ARISE-PP is to:
- Enhance the capabilities of emerging African early career research leaders committed to a research and teaching career in Africa
- Strengthen institutional research management and support systems to enable pan-African research to thrive
- To support the generation of cutting-edge research in contribution to the transformation of African into a knowledge-based and innovation led continent.
The ARISE-PP will aim to distribute one grant per country following a robust candidate selection and rigorous grant award process where successful grantees with be selected through the application of scientific excellence criteria and based on a continental bottom-up open competition. The main features of this pilot programme include:
- A call for proposals is open to African researchers, in all areas of scientific endeavour. The proposals should take into the current African Union (AU) – European Union (EU), regional or national research priority areas, but most importantly must demonstrate the capacity to deliver cutting-edge research in the chosen field of endeavour.
- The call for applications will target African researchers with 2 to 7 years of experience after obtaining their PhD but with considerable and demonstrable research leadership experience. The ARISE grantees are awarded grants of up to EUR 500 000 over a period of up to 5 years to start their own independent research team and project
- The ARISE grantees and their research teams are hosted in African higher education or research institutions from 40 African countries
- A Scientific Advisory Committee composed of eminent African and European scientists and research leaders will provide scientific guidance on the implementation of the ARISE-PP to ensure the scientific independence and provide scientific leadership of the initiative.
- The ARISE-PP is implemented by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) through the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) – a platform of the AAS and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD). AESA’s mission is to shift the centre of gravity for African science to Africa through agenda setting, mobilising Research & Development (R&D) funding, and managing continent-wide Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) programmes. The AAS is a non-aligned, non-political, not-for-profit pan-African organisation whose vision is transformed lives in Africa through science.
AESA mission is to shift the centre of gravity for African science to Africa through agenda setting and scientific prioritization, mobilizing R&D funding, and managing continent-wide Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) programmes.
