Massive collaboration aims to train and retain African scientists


  • The STARS Fellowship Programmes was launched by the Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation last week.
  • Together with a number of partners the programme hopes to train and retain over 100 scientific leaders over the next three years.
  • Some believe that these 100 positions could help create as many as 2 000 other jobs.

To address the challenges in Africa’s health sector, a new partnership has been struck up aimed at not only training 100 African scientists and leaders over the next three years, but retaining those leaders as well.

Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation together with the Mastercard Foundation and the Institute Pasteur in Dakar launched the STARS Fellowship Programme last week. The programme aims to nurture healthcare research leaders in the fields of genomics, diagnostics, and vaccine design and production in Africa.

“This programme aims to bridge the gap between science and industry by equipping fellows with the skills to address Africa’s pressing health challenges while fostering biotechnology innovation and job creation, structured training programmes, industry placements and collaborations with organisations like Thermo Fisher Scientific and Afrigen, ensure that fellows are prepared to lead in their field,” Stellenbosch University’s rector and vice-chancellor Prof. Wim de Villiers said in a statement.

The STARS Fellowship Programme will be comprised of structured programmes that will provide up to two years of training while also partnering with big industry and biotechnology firms to create jobs. Importantly, the initiative will also aim to retain and attract talented scientists to the continent.

In its first phase, the STARS Fellowship programme will fund training for 131 fellows over three years. The goal is to insure that 60 percent of these fellows are women in a bid to address the gender disparities present in the science and technology sector.

The programme will also offer two structured master’s programmes of two years, including a master’s in business administration (MBA) on Health Care Leadership and a structured Masters on Pathogen Genomics and Bioinformatics. It will also have two short term fellowships focusing on intense training on advanced genomics for public health analysis, genomic diagnostic design, and aspects around vaccine manufacturing.

Furthermore STARS will offer placement in the Young Professional Program (YPP) which provides 12 months of training focused on biotechnology innovation and entrepreneurship. This includes placement at commercial companies and industry or innovation hubs.

“Unless we link training to some kind of employment and innovation, we won’t change anything on the African continent,” said Dr Richard Gordon, director for International Business Development at the South African Medical Research Council. The South African Medical Research Council endorsed the programme on the basis of the jobs it will create.

“In Africa, for every job created in science, you create 20 other jobs in supply chain or manufacturing, etc. So, if we create 100 posts with this fellowship, we will create 2 000 jobs. This is why we invest in science,” Gordon claimed.

African scientists hoping to join this programme can head to the official website here to read more about the fellowships taking applications.



Leave a Comment