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 the University of Cambridge (or an affiliated institution such as the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, NIAB and British Antarctic Survey) and African institutions, across all disciplines, to initiate and/or strengthen research collaborations.
To date, 332 awards have been made, to enable Cambridge researchers to engage with African colleagues from 35 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.).
Funding
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
conducting research training activities in Africa (e.g. setting up courses/workshops).
Eligibility
Open to applicants from Cambridge and applicants from universities/institutes in Africa;
Both applicants must be at post-doctoral level or above, and by completing an application, it is understood that they are both doing so with support from their Head of Department or equivalent. Both applicants should have a formal link to a research group/department/faculty in their home institution. It is also expected that both applicants remain employed beyond the end date of their ALBORADA awards.
The awards are not intended to support post-graduate students, however, limited support for students (e.g. as part of a research project or training visit) will be considered when there is a clear demonstration that this will enhance the relationship between the Cambridge and African Principal Investigators (PIs)
The Cambridge applicant must be either working at the University of Cambridge or at a Research Institute affiliated with the University. Previous successful Cambridge applicants have included those from the Wellcome-Trust Sanger Institute, the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) and the British Antarctic Survey. The Cambridge applicants will act as the lead applicants, for administrative purposes, as the awards have to be paid to their Cambridge Departments/Faculties/Institutes.
The African applicant must be based in an African Research Institution or University.
Application Process
Final submissions should include the following documents:
The case for support and a lay summary.
An itemized budget (template provided).
A letter of support from the department/faculty of the Cambridge. (For the Department of Engineering, a letter of support from the Head of Division is needed). An email from an institutional email account is also acceptable.
A letter of support from the department/institution of the African PI.
CVs (maximum 2 pages) for both the Cambridge and Africa PI.
The details of two suggested referees are also required; these should be individuals who have no conflicts of interest with the project or investigators (e.g. they should not be from the same Department).
The online application form has been designed to allow both applicants (Cambridge- and Africa-based) to log in, update, save and eventually submit electronically.
To access the form, the Cambridge-based applicant must Register here. Only applicants with @cam.ac.uk, @sanger.ac.uk, @babraham.ac.uk, @bas.ac.uk and @niab.com email addresses can register.
