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This notice invites applications from high-achieving Malaria researchers to be considered by their institution for nomination to the Excell Malaria Programme.
Opportunity Details
This notice invites applications from high-achieving Malaria researchers to be considered by their institution for nomination to the Excell Malaria Programme.
AREF’s mission is to support a community of health researchers across Africa in cultivating their knowledge and skills to become research leaders who can tackle African and global health challenges. For the AREF Excell programme, they will provide capacity building needed to equip African post-doctoral malaria researchers with the research leadership skills they need to progress and lead malaria research throughout their careers.
AREF’s Excell malaria programme will enable 18 individual researchers from three participating institutions to build strong research careers, empower excellent teams, win research funds, work collaboratively, engage with research users – and so make an even bigger impact on improving health and saving lives. They will support partner institutions to embed structural changes that will enhance their long-term ability to support emerging health research leaders, with up to 50,000 USD over two years available to support proposed capacity-building projects.
The Excell Programme comprises the following five learning themes:
1. The Researcher as Leader
2. The Effective Researcher
3. The Compelling Applicant
4. The Researcher as Manager
5. The Responsible Researcher
In the two years from January 2026 to January 2028, the programme will include:
The Excell Malaria programme aims to provide your institution with the following opportunities and benefits:
• Intensive developmental support for five nominated “rising stars” from your institution
• The opportunity to cascade their learning through your other institutional programmes.
• Cooperation and networking between participating institutions, sharing your experience and best practice – and engaging with other networks.
• An Excell enabled capacity strengthening project involving your institutional lead and Excell nominees (researchers), focused on an aspect of local transformation within your bigger set of plans, supported by AREF funding up to 50,000 USD per institution.
• Feed-through into greater success at winning funds and to research with greater impact.
If you apply for an award, you will need to describe how your institution would make these opportunities happen – and how the Excell programme would advance your institution’s researcher and malaria research capacity strengthening strategy.
Each application will be led by an Institutional Lead (IL), who will ideally be a mid to senior level malaria researcher. Within the institution, the IL will coordinate the competitive selection of five talented early career malaria researchers (the nominees) to participate in the AREF Excell malaria programme. They estimate that the entire application process, including the competitive nomination of ECRs, will take about 6 to 8 weeks. They therefore encourage interested applicants to start the process early.
For further information on how to apply, check here
Apply for AREF Excell Malaria Researcher & Leadership Development Programme