Junior Faculty Development programme
The Junior Faculty Development (JFD) programme is the first programme launched within the framework of the “Excellence in Africa” initiative. It is pairing up early-stage professors in Africa with EPFL professors, providing funding for jointly-designed research projects over a period of 4 to 5 years. In the course of their project, the Africa-based professors will complete a secondment of up to one year in the laboratory of their colleague at EPFL.
EXAF JFD tandems
As part of the EPFL–UM6P’s Excellence in Africa initiative, the JFD programme fosters collaborations between Africa-based young professors and EPFL professors on projects addressing African and global challenges.
The research projects will develop and deploy innovative solutions to respond to key priorities in areas such as clean and sustainable energy, global warming, resource efficiency, as well as health and neuroscience. The grants will also support breakthrough science that use the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning and information technology for several applications, such as smart farming and robotics to address critical gaps. More information below:
2022 call for proposals
The Junior Faculty Development programme is designed to bring together talented and highly-educated early-stage professors in Africa with professors at EPFL striving for common goals: scientific excellence, the promotion of knowledge, and the wish to have a positive societal impact in Africa. The Junior Faculty Development programme will thus lay the ground for successful careers in Africa and potentially lasting collaborations with EPFL.
- Must be employed or due to be hired by an African higher education institution.
- Must have earned a PhD degree between 1st January 2011 and 16th November 2022.
- Must have an outstanding research and publication track record.
- Must submit a research project that comprises an activity that that falls in whole or in part of current domains of scientific or technological research activity at EPFL.
Eligible costs include and are limited to:
- Personnel costs at the host institution of the applicant, but not the salary of the Junior Faculty grantee, who must be employed and paid by his/her African host institution.
- Personnel costs for a maximum of CHF 210’000 for the full duration of the project for personnel employed on the research project in the laboratory of the EPFL professor.
- Travel, including participation in conferences and workshops and travel linked to the collaboration.
- Scientific equipment(s) and other infrastructure of durable value.
- Research funds, including consumables, direct costs of infrastructure use, computing time and data access, publication costs, and justified expenses of third parties (subcontracting).
- A living allowance may be approved if there is a written official confirmation from the host institution in Africa that a living allowance for secondment at EPFL cannot be covered by the host institution.
- No overheads are allowed for this programme; instead, an amount of maximum CHF 20’000 per year can be dedicated to a defined project aimed at the betterment of the Junior Faculty grantee’s host institution.
The application and evaluation process includes two stages.
Please read carefully the application guidelines.
All required documents must be submitted on the online submission platform.
Applicants must submit their initial application (Stage 1) via the on-line submission platform before the submission deadline of 16th November 2022 (17:00 CET).
Shortlisted applicants who are successfully matched with an EPFL professor will be notified early 2023 and invited to submit a full proposal for Stage 2.
Final decisions will be announced in summer 2023.
Contact
For more information:
Excellence in Africa
EPFL VPR ENT-R EXAF
Station 16
CH – 1015 Lausanne
Contact: [email protected]