GeMVi Research Fellowships

The University of Warwick in collaboration with KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and partner institutes in East Africa are conducting an NIHR Global Health Research Group project on the Application of Genomics and Modelling to the Control of Virus Pathogens (GeMVi) in East Africa.

GeMVi is looking to recruit high calibre East African Research Fellows to undertake short term public health oriented projects of relevance to the East African setting. The fellowships will present an excellent opportunity for the Fellows to enhance their skills and work with leading experts in the fields of pathogen sequencing, bioinformatics, predictive modelling and health economics.

Funds are available for 20 Fellowships each for a maximum duration of 9 months. There will be 3 rounds of recruitment, the first call went out from 25th January 2019 and was for 6 awards. The second call is now out (deadline 30th September, 2019) and will be for up to 8 more awards. During this call the priority area is mathematical and statistical modelling, but we will also consider projects in sequencing, bioinformatics and temporal-spatial analyses. The third call will occur mid 2020.

Examples of previously successful projects outlines exist for reference (see list below). Fellows can modify and adapt these to suit their setting and priorities. If the Fellow is aware of a specific problem the solution to which would have potential public health implications, then there is an option to develop the proposal with GeMVi technical support.

Fellows will develop project outlines in relation to the following viruses and their control in countries in East Africa with public health justification and impact:

• Measles and Rubella
• Influenza
• HPV (Human papillomavirus)
• HIV
• RSV
• Outbreak Dynamics and Control

The Fellowships may be undertaken at the Fellow’s home institution with short periods at one of the GeMVi Partner institutions or as a placement away from the home institution at a GeMVi Partner or collaborating institution.

Research fellows will be provided with a budget of between 10,000 to 20,000 GBP. The funding level will depend upon duration of project, placement (home or overseas), travel and laboratory, computing or bioinformatics requirements. We will work with the successful applicants to develop the final detail of the award.

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for the fellowships applicants should:

• Have a PhD in the biological sciences, mathematics, computing science or statistics, where the project they undertook had a significant component of computational biology or infectious disease modelling or a Master’s degree with strong track record in genomic, informatics, or disease transmission and intervention modelling research.
• Hold a research position in an East African research organisation or university. If on contract-based funding, they should have at least 6 months remaining beyond the proposed end of the fellowship.
• Be able to provide a letter of support and release from the Head of their contracting institution. The institution should also confirm continued salary support for the fellow during the course of the fellowship.
• Applicants without current institutional affiliation may be considered and a placement at a GeMVi Partner institution arranged. Decisions will be based on career track of the candidate and capacity benefits for East Africa.
• Hold a valid passport (or adequate travel ID) and be ready to travel at relatively short-notice (without this the applicant recognizes they will be based entirely in their home country).

Examples of Project Outlines:

• Viral metagenomics of mosquitoes for outbreak surveillance and monitoring
• Modelling the cost-effectiveness of different HPV vaccination strategies in Kenya
• Modelling the impact of influenza vaccination in Kenya
• Modelling the spatio-temporal risk of measles outbreaks and options for their control in Kenya
• Characterising the virus composition of outbreaks of non-malaria acute febrile illness (NM-AFI)
• Establishing rabies genomic sequencing capacity and reference repository for East Africa