Scholarships Funding
The SAMRC Research Capacity Development scholarships programmes include:
The aim of the BM-NHSP is to contribute positively to strengthening and accelerating progress towards equity in research in line with the South African National Department of Health (NDoH) human resource for health strategy and the national health research priorities. The purpose is to attract and enable young scientists and professionals to access PhD research opportunities in a university environment and thereby strengthen their research profiles and consequently improve their prospects of permanent employment within the health/clinical research space.
Scholarship Value
There is no set amount of scholarship value. The scholarship value is determined by establishing how much the SA Government would pay the candidate if they were full-time employed with the qualifications they currently hold. Thus, the scholarship value is equivalent to the after-tax take-home pay of the candidate, based on the salary scales of the relevant post (or equivalent) in the National Department of Health. Prospective applicants are to note that once the benchmarking process has been completed (based on the criteria at the time) and a scholarship amount has been awarded, it will remain fixed for the full duration of the degree studies.
General Requirements and Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following requirements and eligibility for the application to be considered by the scholarship selection committee:
- You must be a South African Citizen or permanent resident
- You must be a registered full-time PhD student at a South African University at the commencement of the award.
- You must have research project approval and where applicable ethics approval for PhD study
- You must be a health professional registered with the relevant professional council.
- Your research project must be aligned with the national research priorities or funding call.
The SAMRC is invested in strengthening efforts that take cognizance of the scarcity of Clinician researchers in South Africa. The purpose of the Clinician Researcher Development programme is to develop a cadre of highly trained clinician-scientists who are likely to be attracted to and excel in careers in academic medicine. Through its Division of Research Capacity Development, the SAMRC is committed to encourage and enable Universities to effect a substantial increase in their production of early-career clinician scientists and develop a vibrant and transformed health research academic pipeline in South African medical schools.
General Requirements and Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following requirements and eligibility criteria for the application to considered by the scholarship selection committee.
- You must be a South African Citizen or permanent resident
- You must be a registered full-time PhD student at a South African University
- You must hold one of the following degrees: Medicine (MBChB), Dentistry (BChD), or Nursing (BNurs).
You must have research project approval and where applicable ethics approval for PhD study
- Your research project must be aligned with the National and SAMRC's research priorities
- For equity and redress, preference will be given to scholars from under-represented and or previously underprioritised/funded groups and institutions
Scholarship Value
The scholarships values are as follows:
- PhD full-time candidates (holders of MBChB/BChD): R600,000.00 per annum (tuition fees and stipend)
- PhD part-time candidates (holders of MBChB/BChD/BNurs): Up to R300 000.00 per annum (tuition fees, research cost and funding for protected time)
- PhD full-time (MBChB-PhD intercalated candidates/ holders of BNurs): R250 000.00 per annum (tuition fees and stipend)
The long-term goal of the SAMRC Postgraduate Research Associate Programme is to transform South Africa’s health and clinical research workforce so that it reflects the country’s demographics, by substantially increasing the number of scientists from designated groups in strategic and emerging health and clinical research fields where these groups are underrepresented. Within the SAMRC, the programme aims to support the organisation’s transformation agenda by increasing the representation of high-quality postgraduate scientists from designated groups and growing the number of PhD candidates from Historically Disadvantaged Institutions (HDIs). The programme attracts promising young scientists to work with SAMRC senior researchers and strengthen sustainable, long-term collaboration with national and international institutions through the joint supervision of South African students. Preference will therefore be given to candidates from designated groups who are registered for a doctoral degree or a master’s degree in scarce skills, strategic, or emerging fields within health and clinical research where these groups are underrepresented, including but not limited to biostatistics, demography, data science, genomics, epidemiology, implementation science, and translational science.
Scholarship Value
The value of the scholarships is at least the following:
- PhD: R250 000.00 per annum (tuition fees and stipend)
- Master: R200 000.00 per annum (tuition fees and stipend)
General Requirements and Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following requirements and eligibility criteria for the application to be considered by the scholarship selection committee.
- Applicants must be a South African Citizens or permanent residents
- Applicant must be a registered full-time Master’s or PhD student at a South African University
- Be supervised or co-supervised by a SAMRC intramural unit, extramural unit or SAMRC research centre investigator.
- Applicant must have both project and where applicable ethics approval for your PhD research project
- Applicant’s research project must be aligned with the SAMRC's research priorities
RCD is working with different South African Universities and/Research Centers specializing in Vaccinology to develop the next generation of leaders in the field of Vaccinology. The focus is on early career researchers specializing in the various research areas within the broad field of Vaccinology including but not limited to, Vaccine discovery, Vaccine development and manufacturing, Vaccine implementation, Vaccine Policy and Administration and Clinical Epidemiology of Vaccines. The programme is currently funded through a partnership between the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC).
Scholarship Value
The scholarship values are as follows:
- PhD: R250 000.00 per annum (tuition fees and stipend)
- Master: R200 000.00 per annum (tuition fees and stipend).
- For part-time candidates enrolled in a specialized masters in vaccinology program, the scholarship value may vary depending on the program.
- Plus research costs up to a determined maximum
General Requirements and Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Applicant must be South African citizens or permanent resident. Non-South African, African citizens may be considered, subject to funder requirements.
- Must be registered for a master’s or doctoral degree in a Vaccinology-related field at a South African university.
- Part-time candidates applying for specialised master's programmes in Vaccinology, such as Wits ALIVE or the UWC MSc in Pharmacy Administration and Policy Regulation, must have at least one (1) year of work experience and meet all programme requirements before submitting a funding application
- All master's and doctoral candidates must undertake a research project related to vaccine research and development.
- Eligible research areas include, but are not limited to, chemical and process engineering, molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, virology, structural biology, bioinformatics, immunology, synthetic and analytical chemistry, and industrial pharmacy.
- Where research funds are required, a full project proposal endorsed by the primary principal investigator must be submitted
The programme provides support to individuals employed in public academic institutions or SAMRC intra-mural and extra-mural research units who are engaged in health/medical/clinical research to improve their academic qualifications. The funds can be used to afford dedicated time to spend on research activities, either as a salary while on unpaid leave or to pay for work relief. The programme targets previously disadvantaged groups and is expected to increase the number of academics with PhD degrees as part of overall research capacity strengthening and transformation.
Scholarship Value
The award is up to a maximum of R250 000.00 per year (once-off funding).
General Requirements and Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following requirements and eligibility criteria for the application to be considered for the award:
- Applicants must be South African Citizens or permanent residents
- Applicants must be individuals employed by public academic institutions or the South African Medical Research Council (intramural research unit/extramural research unit/research centre or platform)
- Applicant must have both project and where applicable ethics approval for a PhD research project
- Applicant’s research project must be aligned with the SAMRC's research priorities
- Funding is for 4th year or final year (last 12 months) of PhD studies. Only final year PhD students will be considered.
- Applicants must have an accepted publication emanating from theirPhD work.
Biostatistics is an emerging and rapidly growing field in sub-Saharan Africa, driven by the increasing availability of biomedical data for population health and research. This surge in data underscores the need for strong quantitative and analytical skills to perform robust, innovative, and efficient analyses of complex datasets. Consequently, there is an urgent need to train local researchers, including biostatisticians, to conduct highquality research and support evidence-based decision-making. The Biostatistics Capacity Development Initiative is designed to support individuals engaged in advanced research degree programs at the intersection of statistics, mathematics, biomedicine, computer science, data science, bioinformatics, epidemiology and health informatics. Scholarship Value
The scholarship values are as follows:
- Master's: R200,000 per annum (tuition fees and stipend)
- PhD: R250,000 per annum (tuition fees and stipend)
General Requirements and Eligibility
- South African citizens or permanent residents.
- Registered for a Master's or PhD degree in biostatistics, applied statistics, bioinformatics, computer science, data science, epidemiology, applied mathematics, health informatics or related quantitative fields. Applicants must be registered at a South African university
- Applicants must demonstrate strong academic performance and commitment to a research career
Supporting documents for an application include the candidate motivation for application indicating suitability of the candidate, Abstract of the MSc/PhD research proposal indicating the quality of the science, the main supervisor’s track record, Letter from the host institution or SAMRC research unit (Head of Department/SAMRC Research Unit Director) confirming availability of appropriate research facilities for the scholar to effectively conduct and complete their research project within the prescribed degree study period, certified copy of candidate’s South African identity document, proof of registration for the current year, official approval letter of the candidate’s final version of their research proposal, evidence of ethics approval where applicable.
PhD candidates will not be able to apply for funding without registration from a South African University.
Masters candidates studying in scarce skills will be able to apply but must indicate that they intent to register in the current academic year. Applicants who have not yet completed registration may submit a provisional or conditional acceptance letter from their institution as proof of admission. Final registration confirmation will be requested at a later stage, in accordance with the programme requirements.
You may seek advice and make use of AI tools, provided that their use is appropriately acknowledged. However, you may not receive direct editing or revision assistance from others.
You may seek advice and make use of AI tools, provided that their use is appropriately acknowledged. However, you may not receive direct editing or revision assistance from others.
The Division of Research Capacity Development offers funding under several other funding mechanisms. Namely the Bongani Mayosi National Health Scholars Programme, the SAMRC Clinician Researcher Programme, the SAMRC Researcher Development Programme and the Chan Soon Shiong Family Foundation Programmes.
Potential supervisors can be identified by visiting the SAMRC website and browsing the various research unit sections. Each unit provides information about its research focus areas and academic staff, which can help you identify a supervisor whose expertise aligns with your field of study and research interests.
SAMRC extramural units are based at various universities in South Africa e.g., University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria, Cape Peninsula University of Technology etc. Further details can be found using the following link: About Extramural Research Units | SAMRC/https://www.samrc.ac.za/research/extramural-research-units/about-extramural-research-units
Ethics approval is required for award approval if your research involves activities that necessitate ethics clearance.
The SAMRC priority research areas are updated periodically and may change from year to year. Applicants should consult the relevant funding call guidelines to confirm the priority research areas applicable to their year of application.
The current SAMRC priority research areas are as follows: Infectious diseases, Non-communicable diseases, Health systems and policy research, Maternal, child and adolescent health, Climate change and health, Digital health and artificial intelligence, Antimicrobial resistance, Genomics and Pandemic preparedness. If you are unsure whether your research falls within the SAMRC priority research areas, you are welcome to send an email to the Scholarships Programme Manager (Dr Lindokuhle Ndlandla: Lindokuhle.Ndlandla@mrc.ac.za) or Scholarships Coordinator (Ms Andiswa Nene: Andiswa.Nene@mrc.ac.za).
This depends on the specific programme. Some programmes allow applicants to hold full-time or part-time employment while receiving a scholarship, while others require applicants to be unemployed for the duration of the award.
Please refer to the guidelines for the specific funding call to confirm the eligibility requirements applicable to that programme.
You may apply if ALL the following conditions apply:
- The additional funding has been declared in your application.
- The funding is not provided by another government entity.
- The combined funding received does not exceed the maximum allowable institutional funding amount for MSc or PhD studies, as specified in the programme guidelines.
Open Requests for Applications (RFAs) can be found on the SAMRC website using the following link: https://www.samrc.ac.za/funding/request-for-applications
For Current Open Request for Applications please view our Funding Page
Contact details: Scholarships Funding Management and Administration