The Simons Foundation is pleased to offer IMU-Simons African Fellowship Program for the year 2019. The African applicant must be based (place of work) in an African developing country.

The Simons Foundation’s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.

The grant under this scheme will cover:

• Travel costs from the place of work of the applicant to that of the host to the extent of economy class airfare (Public) transport (surface transport by rail or bus between the nearest city where the airport is located and the headquarters of the candidate or the city/town where the host institution is located, if necessary)
• Visa fees
• Travel insurance charges
• Basic living costs
• Accommodation cost (guest house of the institution or rented flat if possible).
• Maximum four (4) Taxi fares (on submission of receipts) may be allowed to travel between the residence and the airport/railway station (upon arrival and departure).

Maximum support per grantee is USD 5,000 (the money is transferred in EURO).

All invoices including all boarding tickets have to be kept by the grantee and be sent (original) to the CDC/ IMU Secretariat by regular mail. Unspent funds have to be returned to CDC.

Application Deadline:

• July 15th, 2019 for research visits starting between November 1st, 2019 and November 1st, 2020
• October 1st, 2019 for research visits between January 15th, 2020 and January 15th, 2020

Ensure that you carefully go through all the requirements listed below before sending your application.

• The applicant has to hold a valid doctoral degree (PhD) in mathematics.
• The African applicant must be based (place of work) in an African developing country for the list of eligible countries please clicks here.
• Countries whose Gross National Income per Capita (GNI) is less than 11000 USD are classified by IMU as “Developing Country”.
• The applicant has to be employed as a mathematician in a faculty of a university or an equivalent higher education institution.
• The applicant should already have established contact with a mathematician in the host institution in mathematical centre of excellence worldwide and should have a definite research plan together with the host, which must be submitted along with the curriculum vitae of both mathematicians at the time of applying for this grant. This plan should be approved by the host as well.
• The applicant should have been granted appropriate leave of absence from his/her home institution which will cover the period of the visit.
• The application must also be accompanied by a formal letter of invitation from the host institution, which clearly specifies the period of the (short) research visit as well as the extent of its financial commitment and support. It is expected that the host institution would at least offer office space, free Internet access and other basic amenities. The invitation has to come from the dean of the faculty for the host institution.
• The minimal length of a visit that could be favorably considered would be one month. There is no maximal length but it has to be a sabbatical/ research visit not a fellowship position in the host institution (e.g. doing a post-doctoral).

Nationality: For the IMU Simons African Fellowship Program mathematicians from the following countries can apply: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Ivory Coast, Congo (D.R. of the), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia, U.R. of Tanzania: Mainland, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe.

Study Subject: The primary focus of the foundation’s Mathematics and Physical Sciences division is the theoretical sciences radiating from mathematics: in particular, the fields of mathematics, theoretical computer science, and theoretical physics.

In order to apply take the following steps:

• Fill out and submit the online application form for the IMU-Simons Programs.
• Then send the application with all requested documents (two CVs: of the host and the applicant, detailed Research plan, invitation letter by the host institution, letter by the home institution, budget details (in EURO)) as one joint PDF document to CDC Grants via email <cdc.grants-at-mathunion.org>.

Application Form