[Updated 3 May 2020. New entries are marked with an asterisk.]
As a complement to my list of scholarships for African students doing MAs and PhDs, here are all the research and travel grants that I could find for African professors. If you come across any others, please send them my way! They’re listed by funding type and by country or region.
I include the link to the current version of the fellowship or grant offered when I found it, so some of the links may now be out of date. I don’t have time to update all the links every year, so if you find an outdated link, just Google the current information on the program.
I’ll note here that I get a lot of requests from people asking me to help them get a scholarship. I’m not affiliated with any of the universities or scholarship providers listed here. I can’t provide individualized recommendations for scholarships. I can review a limited number of social science scholarship applications as my schedule permits.
African Post-Docs
- The Inter-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme supports visiting researchers at a range of African universities
- The African Science Partnership for Intervention Research Excellence (ASPIRE) offers a variety of post-doc opportunities around Africa
- The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program offers fellowships for diaspora academics to return to teach in Africa
- The African Peacebuilding Network has residential post-doc positions in Africa and the US
- CODESRIA also offers post-docs (not clear if they’re residential)
- The World Academy of Sciences offers post-docs at South African universities
- The Colin Murray grant for postdoctoral research in South Africa
- The National Research Foundation of South Africa offers post-docs for researchers from low-income countries other than SA
- The East Africa Social Science Translation Collaborative has a frequently-updated list of research and job opportunities across Africa and the US
European Post-Docs
- The Nordic Africa Institute offers post-docs to African researchers *
- The University of Bayreuth offers fellowships for researchers in African Studies
- The Institute for Advance Studies in Toulouse offers post-docs in the social sciences, with a preference for applicants from low income countries
- The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership offers a post-doc for African scholars in the biomedical and social sciences
- The World Academy of Sciences’ DFG Cooperation Visits Program offers funding for African researchers to pursue short-term stays at German universities
- The AAA Fellowship at the University of Konstanz offers a three- to six-month postdoc for researchers from Africa, Asia and Latin America
- The Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships support PhD and post-doctoral study
- The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships offer research support for early career academics from around the world, primarily for research in the EU
- The WZB Berlin Social Science Center offers a Global Fellowship Programme which allows scholars from low income countries to spend 4 – 6 months in Berlin
- The German Academic Exchange Service has fellowships for PhD studies and post-docs
- Volkswagen Stiftung offers humanities post-docs to African academics who would like to study in Germany
- The Global Challenges Fellowship at Central European University supports scholars from low income countries studying pressing public policy issues
- The Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin and the Central European University in Budapest offer an eight-month fellowship for recent MA or PhD graduates from Nigeria and South Africa
- The University of Pavia has a short-term visiting fellow programme for scholars from low income countries
- The Centre of African Studies at Cambridge is looking for visiting research fellows
- The Oxford Global Leaders Fellowship Programme offers two-year residential fellowships for people from non-OECD countries to study global governance
- The Newton International Fellowships Scheme supports postgraduate study by international researchers in the UK
- The Leventis Research Co-operation Programme at SOAS offers a three-month post-doc to Nigerian scholars
- Durham University offers a one-term residential post-doc for scholars focused on Sudan through the Sir William Luce Fund
- The Commonwealth Rutherford Fellowships support post-doctoral research by students who are citizens of a Commonwealth country
Other Post-Docs
- The Australia Awards provides fellowships for short-term professional education in Australia
- The JNCASR-CICS Fellowship Programme for scientific research at Indian universities
- East African Social Science Translation Collaborative fellowships at UC Berkeley cover one semester’s residence and research support at CEGA
- The Center for Global Development offers year-long IDRC fellowships in Washington, DC for researchers from low income countries (via Marla Spivack)
- The World Bank has a one-year fellowship for researchers focused on child development
- Here’s a list of more than 240 postdocs around the world
- The World Academy of Sciences offers post-docs for researchers from low income countries who’d like to study in Brazil, India, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan and Thailand
- The Wellcome Trust provides a variety of fellowships for early and mid-career researchers in public health and tropical medicine from low income countries
- Scholars4Dev lists post-docs around the world
- The WorldFish Centre and IDRC have a really large (if now slightly outdated) list of scholarships, fellowships and post-docs (via Jon Harle, who also has his own great list of scholarships)
- DocLinks lists European post-docs for African researchers in a variety of fields (via Jon Harle)
Research Funding
- The African Population and Health Research Center provides dissertation funding to African PhD students *
- The British Ecological Society provides research funding for ecologists in Africa *
- USAID’s Partnership for Enhanced Engagement in Research offers research funding to STEM grad students and academics in a range of low income countries *
- The Review of African Political Economy offers the Lionel Cliffe Research Scholarship to African scholars *
- The International Center for Research on Women offers a cash prize to young researchers in the Global South for excellence in field research *
- CIFAR offers a two-year visiting fellow position and research funding to early career researchers from around the world *
- The International Brain Research Association is offering research funding to young scientists based in Africa *
- The Royal Africa Society Prize offers research funding to scientists based in Africa *
- The East Africa Research Fund has regular calls for proposals on various topics *
- The International Foundation for Science offers a basic research grant to researchers from low income countries
- The American Political Science Association offers small research grants to its members
- The Robert Bosch Stiftung Academy Fellowships at Chatham House provide one-year fellowships with research funding to mid-career African professionals
- The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy offers small grants to current PhD students from anywhere in the world
- The Medical Research Council in the UK is offering grants of up to five years of research funding and salary support to African researchers
- The Africa Research Excellence Fund offers training and grants for African researchers in the health sciences
- Eni offers a research prize for African researchers focused on energy issues
- The FLAIR Fellowship provides a substantial amount of funding to early career African scientists
- The Robert S. McNamara Fellowship at the World Bank provides research funding to PhD students from low income countries
- The International Network for Government Science Advice offers research grants to scholars from low and middle-income countries
- The Next Einstein Initiative offers a fellowship for female scientists at African institutions doing work on climate change
- The Independent Social Science Research Foundation offers a variety of grants
- The European Research Council offers starting grants to early-career scientists of any nationality
- The Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund offers academic placements and research funding to scholars who are living in countries affected by civil war
- The International Growth Centre has regular calls for proposals on economic development
- The Mitsubishi Corporation Fund for Europe and Africa offers grants for research on environmental issues and poverty alleviation
- Grand Challenges Africa offers innovation seed grants to African scholars doing work related to the SDGs
- The Africa Science Leadership Programme at the University of Pretoria supports early- to mid-career researchers in all disciplines including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, arts and the humanities
- The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowships support women around the world
- The GIGA Institute of Africa Affairs offer seed funding for PhD students and early-career researchers
- The West Africa Research Association offers doctoral research fellowships to West African scholars
- The Global Development Awards recognize excellence in development research
- USAID’s Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research provides research funding for scientists in low income countries
- The Matasa Fellows Network provides young African scholars with busaries to produce synthesis papers and policy briefs on development-related topics
- The Association of African Universities offers small research grants to post-graduate students and lecturers at AAU-affiliated universities
- The SSRC’s African Peacebuilding Network also provides individual research grants and collaborative working group grants for researchers in Africa
- The Public Affairs Research Institute in South Africa offers funding for short research projects by MA and PhD students
- The African Union Scientific Award Programme offers large grants to top African scientists
- The World Academy of Sciences provides research grants for scientists from low income countries
- Instrumental Access donates high quality scientific equipment to universities in low income countries
Travel, Conference, and Visiting Scholar Funding
- The Philomathia Africa Visiting Research Fellowship offers a residency at Cambridge for mid-career African scholars focused on land use and energy *
- The Commonwealth Medical Scholarships allow mid-career medical staff from low income countries to build their skills *
- The University of Birmingham is looking for Cadbury Fellows for a four-week visiting scholar position in African literature *
- Evidence in Governance and Politics has a visiting researcher position for African scholars at the University of California, Berkeley
- The Amartya Sen Prize offers travel funding to attend the World Congress of the International Economic Association
- The Atlantic Fellows program offers yearlong, non-residential fellowships to scholars and activists focused on health and social equality
- Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarships offer PhD students from low income countries the chance to spend 12 months at a UK university
- The Max Planck Institute in Berlin offers a six-month writing fellowship for PhD students from African, Asian and Latin American countries
- The Women, Peace and Security program at Columbia University offers six-month fellowships to African women doing peacebuilding projects
- The Global Change Leaders program at the Coady Institute runs a seven-week leadership program for women from low income countries
- The African Studies Center Leiden offers visiting fellowships to African researchers
- The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) offers an academic mobility grant for academics to do exchange programs within the Commonwealth
- The ACU also offers a summer school travel grant for students to attend summer schools at universities within the Commonwealth
- The Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study offers research grants, visiting researcher grants, and post-docs for scholars and creative writers
- The Population Reference Bureau offers a policy training program for African PhD students studying public health
- The Rothamsted International – University of Nottingham Fellowships offer visiting researcher positions to scholars from low income countries focused on agriculture
- Chatham House offers the African Public Health Leaders Fellowship
- Iso Lomso fellowships are available for early career African researchers to spend time in residence at Stellenbosch
- The Women for Africa Foundation is funding visiting researcher positions for African women at scientific centers of excellence in Spain
- The African-German Network for Excellence in Sciences offers a mobility grant for junior African researchers
- The Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford offers one-year visiting researcher positions for African economists
- The Academy Africa fellowships at Chatham House support one visiting researcher each year from Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal or South Africa
- The Africa-Oxford Initiative has annual calls for visiting fellows
- The Structural Transformation of African Agriculture and Rural Spaces project at Cornell University has annual calls for African research fellows
- The Association of Commonwealth Universities offers Early Career Academic Grants for scholars from Commonwealth countries to travel to conferences
- African women in science should apply for the Kwame Nkrumah Regional Scientific Awards for Women
- The American Political Science Association’s Research Development Group is offering travel funding for early-career African scholars to attend their annual meeting
- The African Academy of Sciences is looking for early-career affiliates
- CODESRIA’s African Diaspora Support to African Universities program brings diaspora academics back to the continent as visiting professors
- The Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford offers travel busaries for African academics who have had a paper accepted to their annual conference
- 3ie is offering busaries for nationals of sub-Saharan African countries to attend the African Impact Evaluation conference
- African scholars are eligible for the African Studies Association’s Presidential Fellows program, which covers the cost of attendance at the annual ASA conference in the US
- The Elsevier Foundation funds short exchange programs for faculty members who are focused on sustainability and live in a low income country
- The United Nations University in Helsinki offers three-month residential internships for current PhD students
- The University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars program offers six-month residential fellowships to African professors
- PLOS offers US$500 travel grants for conference presentations by early career science researchers
- African Women in Agricultural Research and Development offers mentoring, travel grants, and short courses on leadership to female scientists
- The German Academic Exchange Service also offers funding for travel, research, and visiting scholar positions
- AuthorAID provides small grants for travel, workshops, or online courses for academics from low income countries
- The Emerging Nations Science Foundation offers travel and conference grants
- The UK Collaborative on Development Sciences lists a number of calls for proposals
Training
- The Swedish Management Institute Program Africa offers a partially-funded business training course for African citizens *
- The European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes offers a mentorship program for academics from low income countries *
- The AquayaLEARN fellowship offers three months of training in data visualization for Kenyan MA and PhD students
- The Mekatilili Fellowship Program offers three days of design training to fellows in Nairobi
- The Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program offers training to young and mid-career professionals from countries around the world
- St Francis Xavier University in Canada runs a Global Change Leaders training program to help women from low income countries build leadership skills
- The Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme offers leadership skills training to young people from across Africa
- The Peace and Security Fellowship for African Women is run by the Africa Leadership Centre
- The UN Fellowship Programme for People of African Descent offers training in human rights
- The British Institute in Eastern Africa runs a summer school in research methods
- The African Studies Review Pipeline for Emerging African Scholars program offers a weeklong workshop on the publication process
- The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences – Women in Innovation (WiIN) program offers a developmental leadership seminar for 15 women from across Africa
- The African Institutions Initiative lists training courses throughout Africa in public health and infectious disease
- Participants in the American Political Science Association’s Africa Workshops have their expenses covered
- The LSE-UCT July School offers bursaries for African nationals
- The Demographic & Health Surveys fellowship program offers training in the use of DHS surveys to university faculty from Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria and Zambia
- The Next Einstein Forum offers fellowships and mentoring to young African scientists
- The African Social Research Initiative at the University of Michigan offers summer research training to African PhD students or academics from Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, South Africa, and Uganda
- The African Studies Association of the UK offers writing workshops where early-career African academics can work on a paper with the editor of a journal
- The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research offers an intensive training course in research methods for African academics (also via Jon Harle)
- SOAS runs a residential school on governance for development in Africa, with all costs covered for accepted applicants
- Thomas Gale scholarships for students from the US and Kenya who would like to attend the SOAS Academic Summer School
- CODESRIA has just launched a College of Mentors, which connects PhD students at African universities to faculty members in Africa and the US for mentorship
- TechWomen is a USAID program which offers training and mentorship to female leaders in STEM fields
- AuthorAID also connects academics from different countries who are looking for mentoring or assistance with specific aspects of the research and publication processes
- Global Colleagues is an initiative from Academics Stand Against Poverty which connects junior scholars from low income countries with senior colleagues around the world
- The Moremi Initiative offers a yearlong training program for African women from 18 – 25
- WOMID is a new initiative which connects women doing PhDs in development-related fields with other women currently working in development
- The World Economic Forum offers a unique three-year professional developent fellowship with academic modules, mentoring and work experience
- Residents of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are eligible for the Eisenhower Fellowship, which offers two months of leadership training in the US for mid-career development professionals