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Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund

About the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund

The Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund aims to catalyse new and strengthen existing collaborations between researchers in Africa and Cambridge and support high quality training activities. Awards are made to pairs of researchers, one from an African university or research institution and one from the University of Cambridge or allied research institutes (including Sanger Institute, NIAB and Babraham Institute). Please note that the African applicant can be based in any African country and the awards are no longer restricted to African researchers from sub-Saharan Africa. We encourage applications across all academic subject areas.

The fund was established in 2012, with a generous £1million donation from The ALBORADA Trust, a UK charity, to the Cambridge-Africa Programme. This was followed by a further £4million donation for the period 2016-2026 to support further engagement between Cambridge and Africa (see https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-engagement-with-africa-will-expand-following-major-gift). 

To date, 332 awards have been made, to enable Cambridge researchers to engage with African colleagues from 35 African countries.

Some awardees have been able to use the preliminary results from their seed fund / research collaboration to apply for and win significant funding (e.g. Royal Society/Leverhulme Awards, FLAIR fellowships, Global Challenges Research Fund, etc.).

For examples of ALBORADA Research Fund projects see:

• Testing approaches and building capacity for fall armyworm control in Nigeria
• Palm Oil Cultivation - a West African Story
• Dendrochronology Workshop in Zambia
• Urban densification and low-cost housing in Ethiopia

We are also able to offer mobility grants of up to £10,000 for graduating Cambridge-Africa PhD scholars to help them re-engage with research and researchers on the continent. 

Any enquiries about the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund can be directed to alboradafund@cambridge-africa.cam.ac.uk.  See Terms & Conditions here.

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