Dear FHS Colleagues and Students,

I am seeking 100 volunteers for my Master’s research study: "Validating Hair Ethyl Glucuronide (hEtG) as a Biomarker for Chronic Alcohol Misuse."

We are specifically looking for participants who meet the following criteria:

• Hair Type: Untreated (virgin) hair—no chemical relaxers, dyes, or bleach in the last 6 months.
• Hair Length: Minimum of 3 cm.

What is involved?
A brief 30-minute session at the Hair and Skin Research Lab at Groote Schuur Hospital for a small hair sample collection.

How to participate:
If you are interested, please contact hairetgstudy@gmail.com or sign up via the link

Read the Invitation to Participate here.

(https://childmind.org/global/snf-global-center/fellowships/research-fellowship/)

The SNF Global Center Research Fellowship is an extraordinary opportunity for early-career researchers at leading academic institutions in LMICs. This fellowship empowers innovative researchers committed to addressing local needs to advance the field of child and adolescent mental health. Fellows in the program serve as principal investigators of research projects that have the potential to transform mental health outcomes for young people in their countries and beyond.

• Award details:  
  Up to US$550,000 for a four-to-five-year project
   
  Eligibility:  
• Early-career researchers within 10 years of completing a doctoral degree
• Currently employed by an eligible host institution in a LMIC.
• Able to dedicate at least 50% of their full-time work to the Fellowship.
• Applicants must be nominated by an eligible institution in a LMIC.

NB:  Eligible institutions in LMICs may nominate up to two candidates for the 2026 cohort.
 
 

Funder webinar for nominating institutions: 12th March 2026, register here.    

Download the PDF outlining UCT’s deadlines for internal approval   

Funder deadline:  
The application for the 2026 SNF Global Center Research Fellowship will open in April 2026, with a deadline to apply of June 15, 2026

(https://wellcome.org/research-funding/schemes/mental-health-award-using-physical-activity-and-circadian-based)

Wellcome is soliciting applications for the Mental Health Award: Using physical activity and circadian-based interventions to reduce anxiety and depression in young people. This award will fund mechanistically informed trials of interventions for anxiety and depression in young people aged 10-18 years. Successful teams will build on existing mechanistic evidence to develop more precise and effective early interventions that have the potential to scale.

Eligibility 

Established researchers with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Principal Investigator.

Award details 

£1-4 million per grant, for 3-4 years

Download the PDF outlining UCT’s deadlines for internal approval

Funder deadline:

14 July 2026

(https://www.nihr.ac.uk/career-development/research-career-funding-programmes/postdoctoral/global-advanced-fellowship)

The UK-based National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is accepting applications from postdoctoral researchers at all levels to the Global Advanced Fellowship scheme.  The scheme aims to create a sustainable pathway to research leadership for global health researchers working in Low- and Middle-income countries (LMIC) and the UK. The Global Advanced Fellowship scheme will support any field of applied global health research for the direct and primary benefit of people living in LMICs.

Eligibility 

To be eligible for an NIHR Global Advanced Fellowship you must:

• Have recently completed or are soon to be awarded a PhD but are not established as an independent researcher.

• For clinical applications: have completed relevant pre-registration training.

• Be employed by a Higher Education Institution (HEI) or Research Institute in a LMIC or a HEI in the UK

• Be conducting research that directly and primarily benefit patients and the public in countries on the OECD DAC list.

Award details

• Up to £750,000 funding towards the salary costs of the individual, and the costs of an appropriate research project and training and development programme.

• Project duration of 2 to 5 years Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) in duration and may be taken up on a part-time basis between 50% and 100% WTE.

Funder Webinar, 16 April 2026 - registration link

Download the PDF outlining UCT’s deadlines for internal approval  

Funder deadline:

30 June 2026

(https://www.nihr.ac.uk/career-development/research-career-funding-programmes/professorships-and-senior-investigators/global-research-professorships)

The Global Research Professorship award is NIHR’s flagship career development award. It aims to fund research leaders to promote effective translation of research The programme funds researchers undertaking research that aims to specifically and primarily benefit people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) eligible for Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Eligibility

To apply for a Global Health Research Professorship, you must:

• Have an outstanding record of public health, health or care research including clinical and non-clinical researchers

• Be on track to become a future global health research leader

• Be based in a LMIC or the UK

• Be nominated by the higher education institution (HEI) or research institute in which they are employed (See eligible host institution list)

NB: Only two submissions per institution are allowed (at least one of which needs to be female).

Award details

up to £2 million of funding over 5 years

Submission process:

• Since the host institution submits two nominees for this award, ONLY candidates who complete the applicant screening questionnaire by 4 May will be considered in UCT’s internal selection process.

• Applicants should submit an intention to submit and complete an MS Teams- based questionnaire by 4 May.

  • The responses provided in the questionnaire will form the basis for the internal shortlisting process.
     
  • The internal selection process will run from 4 to 11 May.

• The International Grants Hub (IGH) is coordinating the internal selection process and aims to notify all candidates of the outcome of their internal application by 12 May 2026.

Funder deadline:

30 June 2026

The Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) is seeking applications for the 2026 Start-up Emerging Researcher Award (SERA). This competitive award is aimed at supporting emerging researchers, recently appointed in the FHS, who want to start their own research at UCT. Support is provided in the form of funding for a research project to be conducted by the applicant. We particularly encourage cancer-related applications as there is ring-fenced funding within FHS Research Committee for cancer-research projects.

Eligibility 

• Permanent UCT staff member or employed on a T2 contract, with a PhD or MBChB/Allied Health Professional degree with some research experience (see call for full details)

  
Award details 

• Up to R100 000

Funder deadline
28 May 2026

Download the full call for more information

(https://www.thrasherresearch.org/early-career-award)

The Thrasher Research Fund is soliciting applications for the Early Career Awards scheme.  The purpose of this program is to encourage the development of researchers in child health by awarding small grants to new researchers, helping them gain a foothold in this important area. The Fund is open to a wide variety of research topics, but all funded projects deal directly with children's health.

In the Early Career Award Program, the Fund is particularly interested in applicants that show great potential to impact that field of children's health through medical research. Both an applicant's aptitude and inclination toward research are considered. The quality of the mentor and the mentoring relationship are also considered to be important predictors of success.
 

Eligibility  

• Clinicians who are in a residency/fellowship training program, or who completed that program no more than one year before the Concept Paper deadline.

• Post-doctoral researchers who received the doctoral level degree no more than three years before the Concept Paper deadline

• Each project needs to be under the guidance of a mentor. The qualifications and experience of the mentor will be considered in the evaluation of the application. A mentor may have only one Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Awardee at a time.
   

Award details    

• The grant amount is based on the actual budgetary needs of the project, with a maximum of $25,000 in direct costs for the entire grant

• The duration of the project can be up to two years

Download the PDF outlining UCT’s deadlines for internal approval

Funder deadline:  

Concept submission deadline: 1 September 2026

(https://www.nihr.ac.uk/global-health/funding-programmes/ghr-themed)

The Global Health Research (GHR) Themed Programme offers annual researcher-led funding opportunities for applied research to prevent, detect and respond to key global health security threats and challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) eligible for Official Development Assistance (ODA) in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The 2026 Global Health Research theme is antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with a focus on bacterial and fungal pathogens on the World Health Organisation (WHO) priority lists.
 

Eligibility 

Bands differ in their leadership requirements
 

Award details

There are 3 bands of funding available:

• Band 1: £3-5 million, up to 5 years

• Band 2: £1.5-3 million, up to 4 years

• Band 3: £0.5-1.5 million, up to 3 years

Download the PDF outlining UCT’s deadlines for internal approval

Funder deadline:

08 July 2026