UK Government REACH Postdoctoral African Fellowship in Groundwater Management 2019

REACH is launching a call for proposals for an African postdoctoral fellowship in Groundwater Management. Up to £60,000 of funding will be available until December 2019 for a researcher to help deliver improved water security in Sub-Saharan Africa by investigating what evidence exists for water-related economic drag in Ethiopia’s highly significant Awash basin. 

Application Deadline: 20th July 2018, 17:00 UCT

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: The REACH Programme is a 7-year, £15m programme funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID). This project, led by the University of Oxford, involves a research consortium of global leaders in water science, policy and practice.

The REACH programme aims to make five million poor people ‘water secure’ by 2022.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: These Fellowships are intended for early to mid-career academics and researchers. Applicants must

• be nationals of a Sub-Sahara African country and should hold a PhD at the time of application.
• The Fellowship must be undertaken on a fulltime basis. A limit of 1 hour teaching per week is allowed. The funding arrangement can be designed as a teaching buy-out in agreement with your University or research organisation.
• Applications from PhD candidates will not be considered. ‘Early to mid-career’ is defined as within 10 years of completion of a PhD at the time of application; however career breaks can be taken into account and should be made clear in the CV.

Number of Awards: 1

Value of Award: 

• Funding available for this project is subject to a maximum £60,000 for the entire period. Funding requests cannot exceed this amount.
• All budgets must not allocate more than 20% of direct costs to overheads. Per diems will not be permitted under the REACH funding agreement but travel costs will be covered such as accommodation, food and others as per REACH guideline.

Duration of Program: Projects are expected to begin as soon as possible after award. All projects should be finalised by December 2019.

How to Apply: Please read carefully the Guidance Notes which include information on the Fellowship, on the application process, and on the evaluation criteria.

The following documents will be required as part of your proposal:

• Description of proposed research (up to 4 A4 pages)
• Career development plan (up to 1 A4 page)
• Research into action (up to 1 A4 page)
• Budget / Justification of resources requested
• CVs (maximum two pages) for the Fellow and host institution supervisor
• Letter of support from host institution/s expressing its intention to collaborate and endorsement of the proposed Fellowship, and the value of the proposed Fellowship. This should also include a declaration from host institution (see declaration at the end of this guidance note) with the letter of support.
• Letter of support from your nominated supervisor outlining their relationship to you, the role they have had in developing the proposal and their agreement to supervising you.

Proposals must be submitted to reachfunding@ouce.ox.ac.uk by 17:00 UCT, 20 July 2018.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers:  UK Department for International Development