This document gives a brief report on activities funded by the EMS-Simons for Africa programme in 2017 – 18. More details on the scheme, including information about how to apply can be found here.

Brief overview of the scheme

The program directed to fellows based in Africa, consists in providing different grants for research visit to foster research opportunities both for young and established researchers working on all areas of pure and applied mathematics and statistics.

The aim is to promote individual career possibilities with the consequence of an improved global capacity in African academic institutions.

We allocated several grants during the 4 deadlines (February 15th, May 15th, September 15th, November 15th).

  • A1 research stays for experienced researchers, from postdocs onward (continuation in research)
  • A2 research stays for young researchers, PhD level

We have two additional types of top-up grants in combination with A1 and A2, namely :

  • B for women
  • C for conference participation during a long research stay

The yearly scientific budget is USD 41660

The following tables summarise the applications and grants that have been awarded in the different categories

2018

At the four deadlines of 2018, we have evaluated 44 applications.

Type No. of applications (f/m) No. of applications approved (f/m) No. of approved months
A1 3/12 2/7 14
A2 4/11 3/5 31
B 4/0 0/0 n/a
C 7/3 0/1 n/a

2017

At the four deadlines of 2017, we have evaluated 42 applications.

Type No. of applications (f/m) No. of applications approved (f/m) No. of approved months
A1 1/17 0/11 18.5
A2 5/6 4/5 27
B 11/0 0/0 n/a
C 0/2 0/0 n/a

Please note: the poor update of B and C type funding can be attributed to the fact that a number of applicants did not appreciate that these schemes were designed to top up funding from schemes A1 and A2. Future applicants are advised to bear this in mind!