Overview
The Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa programme (CIRCLE) is an initiative of the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom (UK) to develop the skills and research output of early career African researchers in the field of climate change and its local impacts on development. The programme will run from 2014 to 2018.
The three main objectives of the CIRCLE fellowship programme are:
- To strengthen research capacity in Sub-Saharan African research institutions to support early career researchers and develop a coordinated and strategic approach to climate change research;
- To strengthen the capacity of African researchers to undertake research on climate change and its local impacts on development;
- To strengthen the capacity of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) to set and implement research programmes based on credible commissioning and peer-review processes.
Sponser
African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)
Principal Investigator
Abstract
The ICCA is the host institution at which the nominated earlier career African researcher are placed for a maximum period of one year to undertake his/her research. As a Host Institution we are recognised to have expertise in climate impact research and researcher support systems that can offer learning opportunities to the selected fellows.
CIRCLE Visiting Fellow (CVF): the early career African researcher benefiting from funding under the CIRCLE Fellowship programme. An early career researcher under CIRCLE is defined as:
- a member of staff at the Home Institution
- having a Master’s degree or higher
- Doctorate holders must be within 5 years of receiving their doctoral degree not having held an academic post (at lecturer/equivalent level or above) for longer than 7 years not holding a senior position within the university. ICCA has been selected as a Home and Host Institution and has agreed to host five CVFs.
The programme will offer one year Fellowships to support research proposals on the impact of climate change in Africa, with up to 100 fellowships funded over three years. Fellowships will be available for 40 post-Masters researchers and 60 post-Doctoral researchers. The fellowships will be specifically targeted at early career African researchers nominated by their home institutions in Africa and hosted by African universities and research institutions. Both home and host institutions will receive support and training to develop their institutional research capacity, with an emphasis on supporting early career researchers.
CIRCLE is being implemented by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU).