The Open Doors Fellowship Program for women researchers in Africa is open for application. The program targets female African researchers with the aim of imparting the necessary hard and soft skills. This will ultimately enhance their leadership ability and visibility within their hosting institutions, thus, avoid the dropout attributed to the leaky STEM pipeline.
The Open Doors program intends to address the needs of early and mid-career women scientists researching at (inter)national research centers and universities in agricultural-related fields in agro-biotechnology, plant breeding, molecular biology & genetics, microbiology, chemical ecology, plant & soil health. Fellows should be in the process of starting up or consolidating their research teams regardless of whether they hold a project-based research position.
The program is expected to enhance leadership and communication skills of the fellows, while expanding their network of colleagues and mentors in Africa and Belgium. Apart from that, fellows will improve their competencies through training opportunities that will increase their chances of leading and participating in new projects, accessing better research resources, and increasing their publication success.
The 24 month program calls for the following eligible applicants:
- Women researchers in post-doc positions (for at least three years) and mid-career positions experiencing challenges to progress in their career path due to limited access to capacity-building opportunities and international networks.
- Women researchers implementing their ongoing research in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania or South Africa.
- Women with an employment contract in an (inter)national research centre or university in any of the countries listed above for the fellowship’s time (2022-2024).
- Women researchers with an active line of research in the following agricultural-related fields: agro-biotechnology, plant breeding, molecular biology and genetics, microbiology, chemical ecology, plant & soil health.
- Women researchers that are supervising MSc or PhD students and supporting staff.
The deadline for applications is January 10, 2022.
Further application information can be obtained here
