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News & Updates
January 2025 Edition, Issue 85
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Welcome to another edition of the CARTA monthly updates. Read on to keep abreast with what is new. |
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◘ Program News
◘ Partner News
◘ Fellows News
◘ Publications
◘ Reads
◘ Opportunities
◘ Resources
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DELTAS Africa II CPE Inception Meeting | |
CARTA participated in a Community Engagement Seed Funding Grantee inception meeting organized by the Science for Africa Foundation in Nairobi, Kenya on January 20 - 23, 2025. The meeting sought to provide training for grantees on Community and Public Engagement (CPE), and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL); provide expectations, grant terms and conditions; support grantees to refine their engagement projects; and pilot a mentor-mentee initiative for grantees to obtain on-going support during project implementation.
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Advancing Postdoctoral Research in African Universities | |
On January 29, 2025, our co-Director, Sharon Fonn of the University of the Witwatersrand participated in a panel discussion on ‘A case for expanding postdoctoral research opportunities and training models in African Universities’, drawing from the CARTA program. The panel was part of the webinar: ‘Advancing Postdoctoral Research in African Universities’, which brought together university leaders, research-supporting non-profits/funders, policymakers, and postdoctoral researchers in Africa to discuss the state of postdoctoral research and the issues affecting the advancement of postdoctoral research and researchers in Africa.
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CARTA is committed to sharing its experiences and insights. Over the past few years, we have published several papers documenting key outcomes and lessons learned from our work. We look forward to producing more knowledge products as resources allow.
To explore our publications, visit our article list on Semantic Scholar
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Faculty-Based PhD Supervisors Workshops at the University of Nairobi | |
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The University of Nairobi (UoN) held a PhD supervisor workshop on January 14 - 17, 2025 aimed at enhancing supervisory skills for the Faculties of Education and Business Management. The workshop, which benefited 56 participants, marks the start of a series of faculty-based PhD supervision enhancement initiatives organized by UoN with support from CARTA. Upcoming workshops are scheduled for the Faculties of Health Sciences, Law, Built Environment, Design and Engineering, and Arts and Social Sciences.
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Moi University holds a Training of Trainers for the CARTA Supervisors Workshop Intervention | |
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From January 13 - 17, 2025, Moi University hosted a Training of Trainers (ToT) for the 'supervisors workshop' intervention. The workshop was officially opened by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Academics, Research, Extension, and Student Affairs, Prof. Isaac Kimengi, who delivered remarks on behalf of the institution's VC. The training targeted deans, heads of departments, and senior lecturers involved in postgraduate supervision, equipping them with advanced skills and strategies to foster exceptional research mentorship. Since 2016, CARTA has supported its African partners to incorporate the program's interventions into their systems and processes through institutionalization efforts. Part of these efforts is the ToT initiative which seeks to enhance the partners’ facilitation capacity to independently carry out CARTA interventions within their institutions.
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Enhancing Doctoral Supervision at Ifakara Health Institute | |
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From January 21–24, 2025, Ifakara Health Institute, with co-funding from CARTA, hosted a PhD Supervision Training workshop in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. The workshop brought together scientists to enhance their mentorship, grant writing, and research leadership skills. With distinguished facilitators from across Africa and beyond, participants engaged in insightful discussions on scientific integrity, AI in research, and strengthening supervisor-supervisee relationships—key elements in shaping the next generation of researchers.
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Early Career Researchers in Action | |
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Victoria Mwakalinga, cohort 1, Ifakara Health Institute, was awarded an NIH and Botnar Foundation grant for the research titled ‘Spatial Temporal Modelling of Localized Relational Impacts on Youth Livelihoods Under Changing Climate in Informal Peri-urban Settlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’ on December 23, 2024.
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Stephen Wandera, cohort 2, Makerere University, was nominated for the prestigious Vice Chancellor's Research Excellence Award 2025. This nomination recognizes his outstanding contributions to research excellence. The award ceremony took place on January 14, 2025, during the Convocation luncheon, following the 75th graduation ceremony of Makerere. We congratulate Stephen on this significant achievement and commend his dedication to advancing research within his field.
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In our latest ‘Stories of Change’ feature, CARTA graduate, Kato Charles Drago, cohort 3, Makerere University shares his journey from an early-career scientist to a leading expert in infectious disease in Uganda. His work focuses on biomarkers for zoonotic diseases, securing over $5 million in research funding, and establishing a biosafety level 2 lab for high-impact research at Makerere. Beyond his research, Kato is mentoring the next generation of African scientists and strengthening regional collaborations. Read the full story here
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Funding: McCain Global Leaders Program
Applications are open for the McCain Global Leaders Program 2025 cohort. To adopt and meet the needs of an ever-changing and complex global environment, the McCain Institute will determine a global thematic focus area as well as technical areas of focus for each region and recruit participants who work on relevant issues related to each theme. Details
Application Deadline: February 21, 2025
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Funding: Wellcome Early-Career Awards
This scheme provides funding for early-career researchers from any discipline who are ready to develop their research identity. Through innovative projects, they will deliver shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing. Details
Application Deadline: February 25, 2025
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Funding: Wellcome Career Development Awards
This scheme provides funding for mid-career researchers from any discipline who have the potential to be international research leaders. They will develop their research capabilities, drive innovative programmes of work and deliver significant shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing. Details
Application Deadline: April 3, 2025
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Funding: Wellcome Discovery Awards
This scheme provides funding for established researchers and teams from any discipline who want to pursue bold and creative research ideas to deliver significant shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing. Details
Application Deadline: April 8, 2025
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Fellowship: NGO Whisperer Global Fellowship Program
Applications are open for the NGO Whisperer Global Fellowship Program 2025. The program is an accredited seven-month rigorous virtual leadership program for exceptional leaders and founders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social enterprises worldwide especially those from low- and middle-income countries. Details
Application Deadline: March 17, 2025
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Call for proposals: 2025 Research to Advance the Inclusive Digital Transformation of Africa
Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMU-Africa) in support of the African Engineering and Technology Network (Afretec) is launching a call for collaborative seed research proposals to build research capacity in the fields of engineering and technology to accelerate and support the inclusive digital transformation of Africa. This initiative is aligned to the Afretec goal to drive inclusive digital growth on the African continent. The seed grants will support research related to digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, information and communication technology, cyber security and so on. Details
Application Deadline: February 28, 2025
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Call for Abstracts: New Ways of Transcribing, Visualizing, Publishing, and Providing Access to Data on Epidemics and Contagious Diseases
The International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) Scientific Panel on ‘Epidemics and Contagious Diseases: The Legacy of the Past’, will be hosting a one-day online-only workshop on the topic of ‘New ways of transcribing, visualizing, publishing, and providing access to data on epidemics and contagious diseases” at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) on 18 June 2025. The event aims to bring together experts from various disciplines working directly or indirectly on methodological questions of transcribing, visualizing, and publishing tabular or otherwise structured or unstructured data in research with handwritten or printed historical sources as effectively as possible using innovative and modern methods. Abstracts can be submitted here
Application Deadline: March 1, 2025
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Access a wide range of opportunities related to the National Institute for Health and Care Research here:
latest-NIHR-funding-opportunities
Disclaimer:
The opportunities CARTA shares are mostly from external parties. Linking to an external site does not constitute endorsement by CARTA.
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Relaunch of the MRC Board and Panel Observer Scheme
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is offering the opportunity to observe a board or panel funding meeting, providing valuable insight into the decision-making processes at the MRC. The opportunity is aimed at early to mid-career researchers who are transitioning to independence as defined in skills and experience to win support. The initiative aims to demystify our peer review processes, nurture diverse talent, and support the development and retention of researchers. This is the second round of the scheme since revising its eligibility criteria and relaunching in 2024, aimed at researchers transitioning to independence. For more information on this scheme and how to apply, please visit: MRC Board and Panel Observer Scheme – UKRI
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The Source: Advancing the Quality of Open Research Communications
The Source is a researcher-oriented blog from Springer Nature, which provides insights on scholarly publishing, life in academic research, and more. It offers a wide range of resources for authors — and many of them are free. You can use these tools to help plan how to publish your next article, including interviews with Editors and peer reviewers, blog posts that shed light on publishing, and material to help researchers at the start of their careers. Learn more here
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Fundraising Guide for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
The OAK Foundation is pleased to share a Fundraising Guide for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention created by Panorama Strategy on behalf of their Prevent Child Sexual Abuse Programme. The fundraising guide includes an analysis of the funding landscape, concrete suggestions for improving fundraising strategies, and case studies based on the experiences of partners working in the field. The guide also includes links to additional resources such as an example investment case, additional fundraising guides, and online courses and training. You can find the full fundraising guide on To Zero’s website.
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WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU | |
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To be featured in the next CARTA Monthly, share with us your news and updates
via email to cartacomms@cartafrica.org on or before February 24, 2025.
Submissions should include but are not limited to:
Upcoming events, meetings, story ideas, new collaborations, new trials/updates, upcoming and published papers, policy briefs, community engagement activities, scholarships, what you are reading, if you won a grant, attending or about an upcoming conference, a call for applications/funding/papers, etc.
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