H3Africa CEBioGen MSc and PhD Scholarships 2019/2020 at the University of Ghana

The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and the University of Ghana School of Public Health (UGSPH) are inviting suitable candidates from Africa for MSc and PhD scholarships at the University of Ghana School of Public Health, Accra Ghana for the 2019/2020 academic year.

H3Africa CEBioGen MSc and PhD Scholarships

The Noguchi Memorial Institute and the University of Ghana School of Public Health (UGSPH), in collaboration with six other institutions, have secured funding to train one-off 2 PhDs and 2 MSc students per year until 2022 under the H3Africa CEBioGen ELSI Collaborative Centre.

The overall aims of the CEBioGen are to identify best practices for community engagement in genomics and biobanking in Africa and to strengthen the capacity of a critical cadre of ethics and community engagement practitioners who can support the implementation of genomic and biobanking projects in Africa. The research projects will be conducted under the auspices of two funded H3Africa projects; the Africa-Wits INDEPTH Collaborative Centre for Genomics of cardiometabolic diseases (AWI-Gen) and the Kidney Disease Research Network (KDRN). These projects will elicit key stakeholders’ views on the value of community engagement in genomics, examine the key ways in which local communities should be involved in genomics and biobanking in Africa, how community engagement should support feedback of research findings and what African moral theory should underpin CE in Africa.

The selected candidates will carry out a research project on an ethics and/or community
engagement related topic which is relevant to the aims of H3Africa and CEBioGen. The
following topics will be desirable

• Perspectives of key stakeholders on the concept of broad consent for reuse of
  archived samples
• Best practices for engaging communities in genomics and biobanking
• Stakeholders’ views on sharing aggregate data in genomics research
• Ethical considerations in sample and data sharing
• The concept of benefit-sharing in international collaborative research

Further information on H3Africa projects is available on the H3Africa website at the following link: www.h3africa.org

Eligibility

Applicants should

• meet the standard University of Ghana admission requirements for both local and
  international graduate students, and have gained admission to the University of Ghana.
  (for postgraduate admission requirements at University of Ghana, visit the how to apply to postgraduate programmes page).
• Have a minimum qualification: Bachelor of Arts degree in social science related subjects if applying for the Master’s program
• Have a minimum qualification: Masters degree in social science related subjects if applying for the PhD program. Masters in an ethics-related programme is an added advantage
• Training/experience in ethics, community engagement and/or other social science related research activities
• be nationals of, and resident in Africa

❖ The candidate’s involvement in an H3Africa funded research project is an added
advantage. We are looking for candidates who are interested in pursuing a career in
Bioethics.

Worth of Scholarship

The scholarship is tenable at the University of Ghana, School of Public Health and covers the following:
• Full Tuition, research and learning costs
The scholarship will cover the official fees for MSc students (12 months) and PhD students (4 years) at the University of Ghana School of Public Health. This will include tuition,
registration, examination, library. This will be paid directly to the University of Ghana upon receipt of an invoice.

• Monthly Stipend
The scholarship includes a monthly stipend to cover lodging, living expenses, health insurance and other personal incidentals.

• Research Costs
This research cost will cover transport, data collection, qualitative data analysis software,
transcription and other project related costs

• Travel Costs
The scholarship will cover the cost of a return economy class ticket between the candidate’s home country and Ghana for international students.

How to Apply for H3Africa CEBioGen MSc and PhD Scholarships

The application must be submitted electronically to Dr. Paulina Tindana: [email protected] with the subject title “H3Africa CEBioGen MSc and PhD Scholarships”.

Applicants must simultaneously submit applications for admission into the relevant programme at University of Ghana: http://admission.ug.edu.gh/freshstudents/index.php/graduate-admissions/applynow.html.

Please take note that this is a requirement and the deadline for UG admission is 31 May 2019.

Candidates must provide the following supporting documentation as part of their application

1. A letter of motivation
2. Two letters of recommendation from academic referees.
3. A two-page concept note on a proposed project
4. A certified copy of full academic transcript (s) and certificate (s)
5. A copy of ID/passport
6. The most current CV (maximum 2 pages)

An application which does not comply with the above requirements will be regarded as
incomplete and will not be considered.

Application Deadline: The deadline for submission of scholarship applications is 9th May 2019.

For more information, visit the University of Ghana.