The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) was formed in 2008 to support the development of a vibrant African academy able to lead world-class multidisciplinary research that impacts positively on public and population health. The consortium enhances the capacity of African universities to create sustainable multidisciplinary research hubs by supporting junior faculty members to undertake their doctoral training locally and to become internationally recognized research leaders. Ultimately, CARTA strengthens university-wide systems to support research. CARTA offers a well-thought-out approach to rebuild and strengthen the capacity of African universities to produce world-class researchers, research leaders, and scholars.
CARTA is a consortium of eight African partner universities, four research institutions, and eight non-African partner institutions, jointly led by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Kenya, and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa.
As part of its innovations, CARTA offers a collaborative doctoral training program in public and population health. This program was developed in response to the great challenges faced by Africa’s institutions of higher education in training and retaining the next generation of academics in the region. Specifically, CARTA aims to support PhD candidates who will become future research leaders within and beyond their institutions.
In 2026, CARTA will offer 22 awards to successful applicants. The multi-disciplinary CARTA PhD fellowship is open to staff members of CARTA African partner institutions, in any discipline, who are interested in conducting their PhD research on topics relevant to the broad fields of public and population health.
Important: Students and scholars who are not staff members (legally) of one of our partner institutions should refrain from applying. Specifically, registered students, volunteer lecturers, and temporary staff who are not covered by staff development policies are not eligible to participate in this call.
CARTA is committed to gender equity; the fellowship program has implemented a series of interventions to ensure equal access to the training programs and governance structures in the fellowships to support the progress of women in academia. Women are, therefore, strongly encouraged to apply for the fellowship.
The fellowship will offer the following forms of support:
All forms of support are subject to the fellows meeting the expected progress and reporting milestones within the CARTA program and their institutions of registration. This fellowship will NOT support registration fees, subsistence or travel support for fellows registered outside of their home institution. All faculty applying for this fellowship MUST be eligible for a fee waiver to register at their institution of employment (for faculty at partner universities) or at a trusted partner or associate university (for staff members of research institutions).
Training Requirements: Successful applicants are required to attend CARTA’s innovative residential Joint Advanced Seminars (JAS) 1 and 2, and the online inter-JAS academic writing training as part of CARTA’s PhD training program.
The JAS programs are developed and delivered jointly by regional and international experts throughout the consortium. The seminars include didactic sessions, discussions, demonstrations, and experiential learning. These activities collectively serve to:
Each JAS runs for 3-4 weeks. Specific topics covered in each JAS include the following:
Builds critical thinking, technical skills, and other core research competencies and introduces students to the essential concepts and seminal articles of the disciplines brought together under CARTA
Focuses on data management and analysis. Fellows learn to use software packages for qualitative and quantitative data management and analyses. Practice sessions use real research data and current software packages for hands-on training
In addition to the residential JAS, the fellows will undertake a 7-month long digital Inter-JAS (April – October 2026) that continues to build critical thinking through developing academic writing skills.
Important Note: As you may have noticed, this is not the usual 48-month long CARTA fellowship package. The support provided is dependent on the funding being available and CARTA cannot guarantee that any additional support will be available. While we will work with partner institutions to try to enhance the fellowship, there is no guarantee that this will occur.
Applicants from the institutions listed below are eligible to apply:
Applicants for this fellowship must meet the following criteria:
The full application includes:
Applications will be accepted ONLY through the official portal. Nominated candidates need to make sure to receive an official ID to log in and submit within the time stipulated by the system. No late or incomplete application will be considered under any circumstance.
Final fellowship decision, which is independent of the university nomination, will be communicated by the CARTA Secretariat
After the awards are announced, the fellowship will commence on March 1, 2026, with a 3-week-long JAS-1. Several pre-JAS tasks will be due between January and February 2026.
Contact the appropriate focal person at your institution before applying:
Makerere University, Uganda
University of Nairobi, Kenya
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
Moi University, Kenya
University of Rwanda, Rwanda
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi
African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
Ifakara Health Institute
Agincourt Health and Population Unit