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Deadline for proposals submission July 20, 2016 Following the success of 1st Edition, the Women for Africa Foundation (FMxA), in line with its mission of contributing to the development of Africa through its women, is launching the 2nd Edition of SCIENCE BY WOMEN programme, with the aim to promote African women’s leadership in scientific research and technology transfer and to foster the capacity of the research centres in their home countries. The main goal is to enable African women researchers and scientists to tackle the great challenges faced by Africa through research in health, agriculture and food security, water, energy and climate change, as well as mathematics and economic science. Women’s lives are significantly affected by the repercussions of uncontrolled development; however, social, structural and economic barriers limit their capacity to tackle the great challenges faced by the continent. The gender disparities in science and technology in both the public and private spheres affect Africa’s population as a whole. Narrowing this gap, which has severe consequences on the balanced and sustainable development of African countries, is vital to achieve long-term progress and equal growing. The programme´s ultimate goal is to enable African women researchers to play a leading role in the transition of Africa to a knowledge-based and innovation- led economy through research that can be transferred into products and technologies having impact on people´s lives To achieve this ambitious goal, FMxA collaborates with the Spanish ‘Severo Ochoa’ Centres of Excellence, whose prestige is unanimously recognized throughout Spain and internationally, thereby ensuring excellence in scientific research in various fields. Our associated research centres are: the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO, www.cnio.es), the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO, www.icfo.eu), the Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB, www.cnb.csic.es) and the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII, www.isciii.es), the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT, www.icmat.es ), the Centre for Genomic Regulation (www.crg.es), the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (www.barcelonagse.eu). Each of the seven centres will host 1 senior women researcher for a six-month fellowship. Applications will be subjected to a rigorous selection process, evaluating the academic merits and leadership of the applicants as well as the scientific quality and expected impact of their research projects. Selected candidates will receive training and integration in a dynamic, multidisciplinary and highly competitive working team, where they will be able to develop their research projects and acquire complementary skills, empowering them to transfer their research results into tangible economic and social benefits. |
