The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) launched the Early Career Research (ECR) Fellowship Programme in March 2025 with support from the Mastercard Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The fellowship is designed to strengthen the research capacity of early-career researchers at African universities by providing six months of protected research time, free from teaching responsibilities at their home institutions.

During the fellowship period, successful applicants collaborate with highly experienced and distinguished researchers based at ARUA Centres of Excellence (CoEs) hosted across ARUA’s 23 member universities https://arua.org/member-universities/and Clusters of Research Excellence (CoREs)

The ECR programme will support 150 early-career researchers over a four-year period (2025–2028). The first cohort of 35 fellows has already commenced their fellowships at various ARUA Centres of Excellence. ARUA has now published the call for applications for the second cohort of 42 Early Career Researchers, whose fellowships will run between March 2026 and February 2027, with two optional fellowship periods. Visit the application portal at
https://arua.org/early-career-research-fellowships/

About the Information Webinar

ARUA will host an Information Webinar, which is aimed at equipping prospective applicants with the knowledge and guidance needed to prepare competitive and successful applications.

The webinar will cover the following aspects:

• The purpose and structure of the ARUA Early Career Research Fellowship
• Eligibility requirements and selection criteria
• Key components of the application process
• Developing targeted research proposals aligned with ARUA’s mission and the research mandates of ARUA Centres of Excellence
• Timelines, expectations, and common application mistakes

Participants will also have the opportunity to engage directly with the ARUA team during an interactive Q&A session. To register for the webinar, kindly click Here.

For more information about ARUA, its partners, and related initiatives, please visit www.arua.org
For inquiries related to the Early Career Research Fellowship, Email: ecr.info@arua.org