2024 ESA/African Union Commission/ARF Program

2023 ESA/African Union Commission/ARF Program

Two African fellows were chosen to conduct their research in ESA in 2022 as part of the African Research Fellowship (ARF) program, which was successfully launched in 2021 and is jointly run by ESA(European Space Agency) and the African Union Commission.

It therefore intends to equip African researchers with advanced degrees in research—PhDs or Masters—to conduct EO activities pertinent to the EO AFRICA Initiative.

In order to address the issues the African continent is facing with regard to managing its water resources and ensuring food security, the African Research Fellows will make the best use possible of EO data in conjunction with in-site and cutting-edge modeling techniques, all within a cloud environment.

Objectives Of The ESA/African Union Commission (AUC) African Research Fellowship (ARF) Program

African Structure for Research, Innovation, Communities, and Applications is the name of this project. Establishing an African-European alliance. In complete collaboration with the operational GMES Africa effort sponsored by the AUC, it seeks to establish an African-European partnership to promote the use of Earth Observation and related space technology in Africa. The program is motivated by user demands in Africa and follows a long-term vision (10 years) for the continent’s emerging digital era. The new generation of African scholars will flourish in Africa as a result of this appeal. This will enable them to create creative, trustworthy, evidence-based solutions that utilize EO data for social, environmental, and economic issues.

Research Areas

Applicants of the 2023 ESA/African Union Commission/ARF Program must submit a one-year plan that addresses concerns with food security or water resource management.

We especially encourage submissions that addresses the needs of smallholders (such as agriculture, irrigated agriculture use, regenerative agriculture, water productivity, irrigation systems, nutrient management, infestations, etc.) or that addresses coastal processes (such as ecological systems, coastal regions, coastal geomorphology and change, coastal urbanization, tourism, etc.) and fisheries (such as aquaculture, habitat suitability, blooms, implications of climate change, etc.).

The work will be certainly organized and in line with the EO AFRICA Initiative. This gives the chosen African research fellows training opportunities and access to scientific resources. Research fellows will have access to a broad variety of experience and knowledge, thanks to the EO AFRICA Space Academy and its Digital Campus. Whilst the EO AFRICA Innovation Lab, will enable direct collaboration between African research fellows and European experts and the implementation of their research ideas.

Required Documents

1. Research Proposal
2. CV with most recent publication list.(This document, should include a CV and a list of publications, and should not be longer than three pages.)
3. Copy of ID
4. Scan of PhD or Master Diploma
5. Lastly, two letters of recommendation

Application Deadline:

March 31st, 2023

Open call

1 February 2023

Submission of Proposals

31 March 2023

Communication of Results (tentative)

Mid May 2023

Beginning of Activities (tentative)

4th quarter 2023

For More Information: Visit the Official Webpage