This Capacity Development Programme is a partnership between the CSSFF and the SAMRC with the objective of training and building an Africa-based workforce and innovation pipeline for vaccine development, testing and manufacturing in Africa. The programme is geared to enhance Africa’s health and biotechnology human capital and to grow Africa’s workforce in vaccine manufacturing.

Applications are sought from promising masters and doctoral candidates for the CSSFF-SAMRC Scholarship awards in disciplines related to vaccine research and development. This includes, for example, but is not limited to, chemical and process engineering, molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, virology, structural biology, bioinformatics, immunology, synthetic/analytical chemistry, and industrial pharmacy. The scholarship awards will include a stipend and some funds to cover research costs.

Preference will be given to candidates who have graduated with a degree in health sciences, life sciences, chemistry (including process chemistry), chemical engineering, pharmacy and allied sciences that are relevant for the health and biotechnology sector and, particularly, for vaccine development, testing and/or manufacturing. Applicants for masters scholarships must hold a relevant honours or four year degree, and applicants for doctoral scholarships must hold a relevant masters degree. The research project undertaken for the studies should be directly related to vaccine development, testing or manufacturing.

The maximum scholarship values and funding periods are summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Masters and PhD scholarship values and funding periods

*Project funds will not be awarded in cases where the supervisor or principal investigator is already receiving SAMRC funding for the project.

Requirements for all applications

• Must be South African citizens/South African permanent residents/Africans studying at a South African university.
• Must be full-time registered students, or intend to register, for PhD or masters studies at any South African public university in 2025.
• Prospective PhD candidates should have obtained a masters qualification at the time of application with the intention to pursue doctoral studies. Similarly, prospective masters candidates should have obtained an honours/four year qualification at the time of application with the intention to pursue masters studies.
• Applicants must be registered for the intended masters or doctoral degree at the time of commencement of the award.
• The research project must fall within the vaccine research, development and manufacturing areas. 
• Applications must include a supervisor’s endorsement form supporting the proposed doctoral or masters research to be undertaken by submitting the supervisor’s form and full research proposal via the REDCap application system. The applicant must complete the supervisor’s details on the supervisor information section of the application. An e-mail will then be generated requesting the supervisor to complete the form electronically. The supervisor’s commitment form is an integral part of the application and without this information, the application will not be considered for funding.

How to apply
Opening date: 26 July 2024

Closing date: 18 October 2024, 23:59 SAST

Application process
Application steps 1 to 3 below must be completed before or by 18 October 2024, 23:59 SAST.

Step 1 - Complete the online application form.
Step 2 - Upload all the required supporting documents.
Step 3 - Research supervisor must complete the full research proposal together with the endorsement form and submit the application on behalf of the student.
Attached are two documents to assist you with your application (1) SAMRC-CSSFF Mand D Scholarships-Full Research Proposal Template July 2024 and (2) SAMRC-CSSFF M and D Scholarships RFA guideline which includes the checklist of the required supporting documents.

The South African Medical Research Council reserves the right to disqualify ineligible, incomplete, unresponsive and/or inappropriate applications, change the conditions of the award, extend the closing date, or make no awards at all. Please note that only successful candidates will be contacted after completion of the review, selection, and approval processes. Should you not hear from the SAMRC by 31 December 2024, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful.

For enquiries contact Dr Lindokuhle Ndlandla at Lindokuhle.Ndlandla@mrc.ac.za/Tel. 021 938 0442.