Universitas 21 (U21) and the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) are pleased to announce the results of the Early Career Researcher Collaborative Awards. The five new awards for Early Career Researcher-led projects mark the first joint initiative of the network-to-network partnership.
Researchers were encouraged to submit proposals in the areas of Food Security, Climate and Development, and Water, leveraging the research strengths of both networks. Projects were required to be led by early career researchers and build collaboration by involving at least one university from each network.
The funding round offered up to $15,000 USD per project, and attracted a high number of highly competitive and interdisciplinary applications.
Speaking about the importance of encouraging this collaboration between the two networks, U21 Provost, Jenny Dixon, commented: "As a network, U21 strives to increase the diversity of our global perspectives to bring benefits to our members, and to the wider world of higher education. Through our first network-to-network partnership with ARUA, we aim to support research collaboration and knowledge exchange between researchers in both networks. We were delighted with the number and high quality of applications submitted to the funding round. We congratulate the successful research groups, and look forward to following their progress over the next 18 months."
ARUA-ECR Collaborative Awards 2023
Research projects awarded are (lead university in bold):
Facilitating early adoption of Blue-Green Infrastructure for urban water system adaptation in Eastern Africa – Lund University, Makerere University, University of Rwanda
Improving process representation in a hydrological model for enhancing water users benefit in the Koue Bokkeveld farming region, South Africa - Rhodes University, University College Dublin
Towards Reduced Emissions through the Productive Use of Renewable Energies for Domestic and Agricultural Value Chain Applications - Makerere University, University of Ghana, University of Johannesburg
Dynamic Coasts and Landscapes of Resilience (CALOR): Exploring Historical Adaptations to Climatic and Environmental Extremes in Tropical East Africa - University of Arkansas, The University of Sydney, University of Dar Es Salaam
Getting African Businesses up to Speed with the Paris Climate Goals: A Collaborative Action Research Program - Addis Ababa University, McMaster University, University of Cape Town
Ernest Aryeetey, Secretary-General of the African Research Universities Alliance, said: "Encouraging researchers in the early stages of their career path is essential for the vitality and growth of our research and innovation ecosystems. The ARUA U21 ECR Collaborative Awards are designed to build the capacity of early career researchers, foster new connections across both our networks and build a pool of researchers to tackle the global challenges we face. We celebrate the success of this first joint initiative from the ARUA-U21 partnership.”
Find out more about the U21-ARUA ECR Collaborative Awards
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