Through an open call and external review process, seven universities in low- and middle-income countries have been selected to implement the second phase of TDR’s Postgraduate Training Scheme (2022-2026).
TDR’s Postgraduate Training Scheme provides a full academic scholarship through participating universities located in low- and middle-income countries. Students obtain master’s degrees focused on implementation research (IR) on malaria, TB and neglected tropical diseases. Fellows typically go on to establish careers in research or public health in LMICs.
Since the inception of the scheme in 2015, the universities have awarded a cumulative total of 394 master’s scholarships and eight PhD fellowships. Among the 394 master’s students, an almost equal number are men and women, and one is transgender. Of the eight PhD students, one is a woman.
As the first phase (2015-2021) of the scheme comes to an end, the process of selecting universities to participate in the second phase (2022-2026) started with a call for applications in March 2021. A total of 20 applications were submitted, among which 19 were eligible. Each application was reviewed by one member of TDR’s scientific working group for research capacity strengthening and one external reviewer. Each application was evaluated according to the following criteria: university’s profile; implementation research expertise; staff experience in teaching IR; sustainability and proposal relevance and feasibility.
Based on this evaluation, the following universities have been selected for the second phase of the scheme:
- Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
- University of Ghana, Ghana
- Indian Institute of Health Management Research, India
- Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal
- University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
- BRAC University, Bangladesh
- University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Additionally, University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies
of Bamako in Mali has been recommended by the reviewers for
consideration as an additional French-language university if further funding
becomes available.
“We have seen with the first phase of this training programme that participating universities have strengthened their capacities to train the next generation of public health leaders, and they have become vital partners in disseminating some of our flagship implementation research training courses,” said Dr Mahnaz Vahedi, who manages the Postgraduate Training Scheme at TDR. “We look forward to the next phase and working with our new partners.”
Figure 1: Implementation research themes explored by students participating in the Postgraduate Training Scheme (as of September 2020).
For more information, please contact Dr Mahnaz Vahedi.