The Africa Health Collaborative, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, call for Expressions of Interest: 2026 Research Fund.
The Africa Health Collaborative, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, is calling for Expressions of Interest for the 2026 Research Fund.
This year’s fund targets primary health care research in:
- Health Human Resources Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Health Financing Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa
The key aim of the AHC Research Fund 2026 (the Fund) is to encourage and provide initial support for the development/expansion of high-quality research activities for Early Career Researchers (ECR) enabling principal investigators to subsequently apply for funding to support the next phase of their joint research that will result in greater impact.This funding opportunity is open to Early Career Researchers from AHC member institutions.
Eligibility:
- All proposals must be led by an Early Career Researcher from an AHC member institution (See Appendix 1 for definition of ECR by institution) and be bilateral (2 ECRs between two AHC member partners) or multilateral (three ECRs between three or more AHC member partners). Proposals must also include participation of masters, doctoral or post-doctoral trainees. Eligible applicants may only lead one application (Further application requirements for applicants at each institution can be found in Appendix 2).
- One may apply without a co-applicant. If approved by their home institution, the proposal will be shared publicly in a repository to identify a potential co-applicant(s) to apply for the Fund. External collaborators (including researchers from other universities internationally, or those working in non-academic contexts such as community organizations, government, NGOs) cannot lead an application but can be involved in the proposed activities, where the benefit of their involvement to the collaboration is justified in the proposal.
- Only ECRs from the following Health Collaborative institutions may apply: “Addis Ababa University, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, African Leadership University, Amref International University, Ashesi University, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Moi University, University of Cape Town, University of Toronto”
Funding:
- Bilateral projects are eligible to receive up to $22,000 USD – with each institution awarding up to $11,000USD to investigators at their home institution.
- Multilateral proposals will be scaled up to $11,000USD per institution.
- Joint projects will commence from January 1, 2027 for a maximum of 18 months.
Click here for more information.
Expression of Interest submission deadline, 15 August 2026.
