Mastercard Foundation & University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund 2025 for African Researchers

Mastercard Foundation & University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund 2025 for African Researchers. Apply below.

When is Application Deadline:

21st March 2025

Tell Me About Award:

The Mastercard Foundation and University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund aims to catalyse new and strengthen existing collaborations between researchers in Africa and Cambridge and support high quality training activities. The focus of the scheme is research on climate resilience and sustainability.  This focus is interpreted broadly so long as the linkage of the research to these areas can be justified in the application for the award.  Awards are made to pairs of researchers (post-doctoral and above although due consideration will be given for equivalent experience), one from an African university or research institution and one from the University of Cambridge.

Type:

Grant

Who can Apply?

• Awards are made to pairs of researchers (post-doctoral and above although due consideration will be given for equivalent experience), one from an African university or research institution and one from the University of Cambridge. 
• We encourage applications from across the sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts and from all academic subject areas. We particularly encourage innovative research. Multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research proposals and research related training activities are welcomed.

Which Countries are Eligible?

Institutions in African countries AND University of Cambridge

How Many Awards?

Not specified

What is the Benefit of Award?

The research fund is supported by a generous £7.7million investment by the Mastercard Foundation and will run from 2025 to 2030. The Mastercard Foundation and University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund will follow an annual cycle of awards until 2029 when the award will support activities for the year 2029-30. It is anticipated that most awards will be made for activities that will take place over a 12-month period.

In this round, applications can be made for a Research Catalyst Grant for up to £20,000 or a Workshop Grant for up to £50,000. It is anticipated that many awardees will be able to use the preliminary results from their research catalyst grant to apply for and win significant funding from other funding bodies. 

How to Apply:

The Cambridge-based Principal Investigator must register and complete a saveable online application form, available on the Cambridge-Africa website. Final submissions should include the following documents:

• Case for support
• An itemised budget (template provided)
• A lay summary
• A letter ofsupport from the department/faculty of the Cambridge-based PI. (For the Department
  of Engineering, a letter of support from the Head of Division is needed). An email from an
  institutional email account is also acceptable.
• A letter of support from the department/institution of the Africa-based PI. An email from an
  institutional email account is also acceptable.
• CVs (maximum 2 pages) for both the Cambridge-based and Africa-based PI
  The details of two suggested referees are also required; these should be individuals who have no
  conflicts of interest with the applicants (e.g. they should not be from the same Department).

The deadline for submission is 21st March 2025 and applications can be submitted at any time before this. Any queries should be sent to cresusrf@cambridge-africa.cam.ac.uk

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