Background
The National Research Foundation (NRF) and South African Medical Research Medical (MRC) entered into a partnership in delivering the masters and doctoral scholarships programme in the health, allied sciences and related fields at public higher education institutions in 2014. The programme is intended to contribute to the production of high-quality human resources, generation of high-quality knowledge, as well as the development and transfer of this knowledge to ensure tangible benefits to society especially in the health and allied research. This document outlines the objectives of the programme, the values of the scholarships and criteria for selection.
Objectives
- The programme supports South African citizens and permanent residents registered on a full-time basis at public higher education institutions (HEIs).
The objectives of the NRF-MRC health and allied scholarship programme are: - To contribute towards the increase in the number and quality of South African postgraduate students within health and allied sciences and related fields of study at masters and doctoral levels in South Africa
- To ensure the development of appropriate research capabilities across the full spectrum of health sciences research.
- To build a pipeline of the next generation of health scientists and researchers in South Africa.
Areas of Support
The NRF-MRC health and allied scholarship programme supports the students that wish to pursue masters and doctoral studies in the following specific areas within health and allied sciences:
- Bioinformatics(Molecular modelling)
- Biochemistry,
- Pharmacology,
- Toxicology,
- Immunology, and
- All other disciplines aligned to health and allied sciences in general.
Value of the Scholarships
In line with NRF Innovation Bursary Scheme values, the scholarship amounts for 2015 are as follows
In addition,masters scholarship-holders may apply for a travel grant of up to R 15 000 for local travel and doctoral scholarship-holders may apply for a travel grant of up to R 15 000 (for local travel and up to R 45 000 for international travel. Scholarship-holders who wish to access the travel grant must complete a travel grant application form provided by their university postgraduate office/research office for consideration by the NRF.
Criteria for Selection
The following eligibility criteria applies:
- Scholarships are open to full-time registered South African citizens and permanent residents.
- Scholarships are open only to students who will be pursuing masters and doctoral studies in the specific disciplines
- within health and allied sciences (refer to section 3 above).
- Full- time employees of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are not eligible to apply.
- Scholarship-holders must not hold full-time salaried employment during the tenure of the award.
- Scholarship must not be held simultaneously with a fellowship from any other government or NRF administered source.
- Scholarship-holders are allowed to hold non- binding supplementary grants or emoluments to half the value of the NRF award or should the host university have an institutional capped value, the award can be supplemented to the university capped value for the level of study.
- The scholarship-holder will be allowed to undertake a maximum of 12 hours of teaching, tutorials, assistance or demonstration duties per week on average during the year of study; they may be remunerated for these duties, provided that they are reimbursed at a rate not exceeding the normal institution tariff for services rendered.
Equity
In line with the national imperative of equity and redress, the programme prioritises support for appropriately qualified blacks, women and students with disabilities without sacrificing quality. The programme will strive to meet the set equity targets of 80% Blacks, 55% women and 4% people with disabilities.
Conditions of award for the NRF-MRC health and allied scholarship
The award of an NRF-MRC health and allied scholarship to a student will be based on past, current and potential academic performance. Selection criteria will include academic merit, research ability, leadership qualities and previous awards, including various prizes and honours.
- In addition to the above criteria, the award will be based on the feasibility and merit of the applicant’s research project proposal.
- Successful students who are offered the scholarship by the NRF are required to complete and sign the scholarship agreement which will be communicated at the time of the award.
- A list of successful candidates will be published on the NRF website as soon as the internal NRF approval processes for the award are finalised.
How to apply for funding
Applicants can apply by following the steps below:
- Applications must be submitted through an online application process to the National Research Foundation.
- Applicants can apply for the NRF-MRC Health Scholarships Call for 2015 by accessing the link: https://nrfsubmission.nrf.ac.za/
- Register/ Login using your ID number and password.
- Select create new application from the list of existing calls.
- Select the call for which you are applying to: NRF-MRC Health Scholarships Call for 2015.
- Remember to complete all sections of the application.
- Please attach the necessary documents in one PDF file in the following order: ID document, proof of permanent residence (if applicable) and certified academic transcripts.
- Should you not follow the guidelines for attaching the necessary documents your application will not be considered.
- Remember to submit your application on completion.
Complete applications will go to the host University for verification before being forwarded to the NRF for further processing. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications that do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be considered.Please contact the university post graduate office or research office if you have any queries.
- The closing date for submitting applications is 30 August 2014.
- Please take note of your institutions internal closing dates as these may be set before the actual call closing date.
Contact persons:
Ms Shumani Masia: Professional Officer – Human and Infrastructure Capacity Development
(HICD). Telephone: 012 481 4148. E-mail: [email protected]
Mrs Thashni Maistry-Pillay: Professional Officer – Grants Management and Systems
Administration (GMSA) Telephone: 012 481 4241. E-mail: [email protected]
Apply Online
https://nrfsubmission.nrf.ac.za/nrfmkii/
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