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AIMS Visiting Research Fellows

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The AIMS Visiting Research Fellows Program at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences attracts a diverse body of researchers from around the world for research stays of 2 weeks to 12 months at AIMS centres located in AIMS-Cameroon (Limbe), AIMS-Ghana (Biriwa), AIMS-Senegal (Mbour), AIMS-South Africa (Muizenberg), AIMS-Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), and, AIMS-Rwanda (Kigali).

Visiting research fellows are enticed by the ‘tranquil’ environment at AIMS centres and the rapidly evolving academic environment which triggers creativity, builds motivation, and which is designed for excellence and success. The centres provide a gateway for researchers to break away from their routine activities in order to make appreciable progress in their research while leveraging the benefit to connect with a multi-disciplinary body of mathematical scientists in its world-class campuses.

Visiting research fellows find it relatively easy to integrate in the AIMS’s ecosystem, and automatically become active members of the expanding AIMS’s family. They enjoy the pan-African and inter-continental diversity at the centre while interacting with a host of well-renowned and emerging mathematical scientists, comprising of postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, senior researchers and laureates. Knowledge sharing during public lectures, seminars, workshops, conferences; and close engagements during tea and meals are additional exciting activities which visiting research fellows benefit from.

In addition to the progress which they make in their research, their stay culminates in an expansion of their professional networks and the breath-taking memories of the scenic terrains of the host country.

Categories of visiting research fellows at AIMS

Visiting research fellows could be self-sponsored, partially or fully sponsored. The program welcomes:

  • PhD students who have advanced in their research,
  • researchers of at least postdoctoral standing,
  • emerging and senior researchers, and
  • researchers who are interested in working in pairs or groups. Research pairs or groups should include at least one in-country or international senior researcher, or post-doctoral fellow, or PhD student. At least one member of the group should be an expert in the subject area.

Information on how to apply can be accessed in the call for applications.

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Eligibility

  • Applicants can be nationals of any country.
  • Applicants must either hold a PhD degree in the mathematical sciences or should have made significant progress in their PhD research.
  • Applicants must have a strong interest in pursuing research in the mathematical sciences. New exciting research ideas are always welcomed.
  • Researchers who are on annual leave, sabbatical or who are not currently affiliated to an academic institution due to professional or personal reasons are equally encouraged to apply.
  • Applicants must be willing to deliver a scientific talk at the AIMS centre and at a partner university.
  • Fellows must be willing to spend about 80% of their time at the AIMS centre during their tenure.

Additional requirements for ‘research-in-pair’ or research-in-group’ members

  • Researchers are encouraged to collaborate with in-country or international researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and postgraduate students within the framework of the ‘research-in-pair’ or ‘research-in-group’ initiative.
  • The pair or group should comprise of at least one in-country and one international postgraduate student, or postdoctoral fellow or senior researcher.
  • At least one of the researchers in the team should be eligible to apply (see above eligibility criteria).
  • Research pairs or groups should be established prior to applying. AIMS can provide extremely limited support when time and resources allow.

Duration

Each research stay can cover a period of 2 weeks to 12 months, subject to approval by an AIMS Committee. The tenure could be extended upon request, and subject to approval.

Financial Information

Prior to submitting an application, prospective Fellows who do not have confirmed external funding must contact their host at AIMS to explore funding opportunities.

Subject to approval, one or more of the below expenses could be covered by AIMS:

  • a return flight,
  • ground transportation,
  • accommodation,
  • meals at AIMS,
  • living support or honorarium, and
  • health insurance.

How to Apply

Applicants are advised to familiarise themselves with the ‘Terms of Reference’ documents for AIMS Visiting Research Fellows before starting the application process.

Applications should be submitted using the online application form which should contain the following supporting documents:

  • a completed personal details form,
  • a completed research proposal form,
  • a letter of motivation,
  • a current CV (including degrees awards/fellowships received, list of publications),
  • most recent attestation (waived for senior researchers),
  • letter of financial support (either from an external sponsor or from AIMS), and
  • copies of any of your two most relevant publication(s).

Three academic referees from tertiary institutions should email confidential letters of support using the email address mentioned in the ‘contact information’ section below. The subject line: researchprogram_supportletter_AIMSentity/centre_month/year_applicant’s name-surname’ e.g. ‘Visitingfellow__AIMS Tanzania_Jun2018_JohnJake’ should be used when submitting the letter. It is your responsibility to ensure that these letters of support are received before the application deadline. It is your responsibility to also download and send the ’Instructions for Referees’ document to your respective referees along with the applicable email address.

Incomplete applications will not be evaluated.

Application Deadline

Applications are welcomed throughout the year and are reviewed on a monthly basis. In exceptional cases, applications will be reviewed on an ad-hoc basis at the sole discretion of the Committee.

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Applications shall be vetted by a Committee put together by AIMS. Applications will be review based on well-defined criteria that will be agreed upon by the Committee. Consideration will be given to aspects such as the quality of the research proposal, the applicant’s ability to execute the proposed research, relevance of the proposed project to AIMS, available funding, and resources.

Successful candidates will be expected to sign a fellowship agreement letter which will highlight specific conditions of their tenure.

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Finance and Logistics

  • If financial support will be provided by AIMS, this support will be outlined in the agreement letter. The agreement letter will specify the funding source, cost categories to be covered, payment modalities, and how the Fellow should acknowledge the support.
  • Fellows will receive on-boarding and off-boarding logistics and administrative support from AIMS.

Acknowledgements

  • AIMS, donors, and other collaborating institutions must be duly acknowledged in all communications (publications, presentations, etc.) concerning work done by the Fellow.
  • The acknowledgement statement will be specified in the agreement letter.
  • All books and journal articles resulting from work executed by the Fellow during their stay at AIMS must be made freely available to the public in post-print form at most 12 months post the initial publication date. All other project outputs must be sent to AIMS for submission to an appropriate open access repository.
  • Based on the nature of the project and the level of involvement of other AIMS researchers, the Fellow will be required to include AIMS as an affiliation in all written materials in which the project is mentioned.

Reporting

  • Each Fellow must submit to AIMS reports on their progress using this reporting template.
  • The reporting schedule will be outlined in the agreement letter.

The complete Terms or Reference document for Visiting Research Fellows can be accessed using this link.

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