5th Call for Africa-UniNet Research Cooperation Projects
The 5th Africa-UniNet Call for Funding is open from 10 December 2024 until 28 February 2025.
Due to new regulations set by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), only Austrian member institutions are eligible to submit and coordinate a project. However, as in previous years, project consortia must consist of at least one Austrian and at least one African member institution. Therefore African member institutions are eligible as project partners. All participating institutions must be active Africa-UniNet members, i.e. they must have paid the membership fee 2024.
Applications can only be submitted via the StipOnline portal. The basic data for the project must be entered in this portal and the completed application documents uploaded.
You can find the Guidelines for the 5th Call, the Application Templates and the link to the StipOnline portal in the column on the right.
Application Process | December 2024 – February 2025
- Only researchers (post docs) who are affiliated to an Austrian member institution are eligible to apply for, submit and coordinate a project. The project coordinator that submits the project proposal will also assume overall responsibility for coordinating the project and for reporting. The funds are to be handled via a bank account of the institution.
- The project coordinator must hold at least a PhD. All participating researchers must either be PhD students or post docs. Master students are not eligible to participate.
- Researchers from at least one Austrian and one African member institution must be involved in each project. All participating institutions must be active Africa-UniNet members, i.e. they must have paid the membership fee 2024.
- There are no restrictions as to how many applications per institution can be submitted.
- Applications have to be submitted via the StipOnline portal before the deadline.
- Deadline: 28 February 2025, 00:00 CET
Africa-UniNet promotes excellent research based on mutual knowledge exchange. While the thematic scope of the cooperative research projects is not restricted, they set out to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, they enhance the scientific foundation of the involved institutions and reinforce the formation of the network itself by promoting new partnerships between Austrian and African universities and research institutions and by strengthening existing ties.
Research projects must be new. The project may build on previous Africa-UniNet projects if fundamentally new research questions or methodologies are applied. Revised applications of previously rejected Africa-UniNet projects are allowed.
Africa-UniNet aims to contribute to the creation of an environment that fosters international collaboration between researchers and institutions beyond the duration of individual projects. Key indicators and results from the projects are considered to be joint publications, as well as further collaborations and follow-up projects. The project consortia therefore undertake to report publications and projects resulting from the Africa-UniNet grant even after the Africa-UniNet project has been completed.
- Project duration: 24 months
- Maximum funding amount: 40,000 euros per project
- Earliest possible start: 1 September 2025, latest possible start: 1 March 2026.
Only the following expenses can be submitted:
- Incoming mobility | travel from the partner country in Africa to Austria:
1) Travel costs to Austria. The cheapest reasonable means of transport must be chosen. The financing only covers the journey to the partner institution in Austria and back home. No further travel financing is provided. A maximum of 2,000 euros per person per return trip can be reimbursed. This includes only the following:
a. Flight costs including airport taxes: cheapest option, economy class only. Fees for the reservation of certain seats cannot be reimbursed. CO2 compensation cannot be reimbursed. Costs for visa and travel insurance cannot be reimbursed.
b. Travel costs to and from the airport.
- 2) Allowance for the stay: Daily allowance of no more than 180 euros per day spent working on the project during the stay in Austria. The maximum amount is 2,160 euros per month. The maximum duration per person per trip per stay is three months. No further costs can be reimbursed.
- Outgoing mobility | travel from Austria to the partner country in Africa
1) Travel costs to the partner country in Africa. The cheapest reasonable means of transport must be chosen. The financing only covers the journey to the partner institution in Africa and back home. No further travel financing is provided. A maximum of 2,000 euros per person per trip can be reimbursed. This includes only the following:
a. Flight costs including airport taxes: cheapest option, economy class only. Fees for the reservation of certain seats cannot be reimbursed. CO2 compensation cannot be reimbursed. Costs for visa and travel insurance cannot be reimbursed.
b. Travel costs to and from the airport.
- 2) Allowance for the stay: Daily allowance of no more than 180 euros per day spent working on the project during the stay in Africa. The maximum amount is 2,160 euros per month. The maximum duration per person per trip per stay is three months. No further costs can be reimbursed.
- Material costs
Material (consumables), only if they are essential and specifically relevant for the project, can be covered up to a maximum amount of 5,000 euros for the entire project duration. Only consumables can be reimbursed, e.g.: test kits, chemicals, research permit, data acquisition, vehicle rent for field research, publication costs. No infrastructure or basic equipment can be reimbursed, e.g.: no laptops, no telephone or internet costs, no staff costs, no honoraria for participants.
Project funding is only intended as a grant and is not designed to cover the entire costs of the project. Please note: As stipulated in the special directive “Maßnahmen zur Internationalisierung” (GZ: BMBWF-2024-0.205.097) the grant recipient must ensure the implementation of the project through the use of appropriate own funds. This must be clearly presented in the financing plan.
- Applications have to be submitted via the StipOnline portal before the deadline.
- Deadline: 28 February 2025, 00:00 CET.
- Please note that the application must be submitted in English.
The project is applied for via the StipOnline portal. The basic data for the project must be entered in this portal and the application documents uploaded. The documents to be uploaded are:
- Project Proposal (pdf)
- Abstract (pdf)
- Financing Plan (excel file)
- CV of the Project Coordinator (pdf)
- Letters of Endorsement of ALL participating institutions (as one pdf)
Application documents can be downloaded from the Africa-UniNet website. The templates for the project proposal and the financing plan, which can be found on the Africa-UniNet website, must be used. Please copy the abstract from the project proposal and upload it as a separate pdf document. You may use or adapt the templates for the CV of the project coordinator and the letters of endorsement to suit the needs of the respective project coordinator/institution. However, ensure that all relevant content is included as stated in the respective template.
Reviewing and Selection | March - August 2025
The Africa-UniNet Office at OeAD will check whether the formal requirements of the project applications have been met.
Formally correct proposals will be evaluated by independent reviewers between April and July 2025.
The reviews will consist of a scoring matrix (max. 100 points) and narrative assessments. Evaluation criteria will be:
- Project Design and Scientific Quality, Cooperation and Partnership (max. 50 points)
- Contribution to the SDGs and Added Values (max. 20 points)
- Results and Sustainability (max. 20 points)
- Risk Management and Cost-Effectiveness (max. 10 points)
Ranking on the basis of the average score of the reviews (maximum score 100).
The list of selected projects has to be approved by the General Assembly and the BMBWF. This is envisaged to take place in August 2025.
Earliest possible start of the projects: September 2025. Latest possible start of the projects: March 2026.
Reporting and Disbursements of Funds
The project duration is 24 months.
Earliest possible start of the projects: September 2025. Latest possible start of the projects: March 2026.
Disbursement of funding to the institutional account (no disbursement to private accounts).
A disbursement of 50 per cent of the funding per project is made to an account of the coordinating institution after the contract has been signed. Further 25 per cent are disbursed after approval of the mid-term report. The remaining max. 25 per cent of the project budget will be transferred after approval of the final report.
The mid-term as well as the final report must include a scientific and a financial report. The reports have to be in English and have to be submitted by the project coordinator within 2 months after the end of the reporting period. All reports have to be submitted via email to africa-uninet@oead.at. Failure to report will automatically result in the termination of the Africa-UniNet project and the requirement to return undocumented funds to OeAD.
