Funders

Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral financial institution, established in 1993 and headquartered in Cairo, that finances and promotes African trade. Alongside its banking work it runs research competitions and prizes on trade, finance and development. Its postgraduate research competition is open to students at African universities, including in Malawi.

The African Research Universities Alliance is a network of leading African research universities, formed in Dakar in 2015 to strengthen research and doctoral training across the continent. It runs Centres of Excellence in priority themes and, with the Mastercard Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, funds early-career fellowships for African researchers. Malawian researchers qualify through ARUA’s pan-African remit.

African Water Facility (AWF)

The African Water Facility is a special water fund established by the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) and hosted and administered by the African Development Bank Group in Abidjan. It mobilises investment for water security and sanitation across Africa by financing the preparation of projects rather than their construction — feasibility studies, engineering design, environmental and social assessment, transaction advisory and institutional strengthening — so that governments, water utilities and basin organisations can bring bankable operations to development finance institutions and private investors. Its 2026–2030 Strategy prioritises investment readiness, catalytic and blended finance, climate resilience, sector governance, innovation, and inclusive service delivery, with a dedicated focus on sanitation.

AWARD is a Nairobi-based career-development organisation, hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre, that builds the leadership of African women in agricultural science. Its fellowships and training help women researchers lead gender-responsive work on crops, livestock and food systems. Women scientists at the University of Malawi qualify.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is a German non-profit that funds international research fellowships and awards, bringing researchers from around the world to work with hosts in Germany. Its schemes cover all disciplines and, through the Georg Forster programmes, give particular attention to researchers from developing countries. Malawian researchers qualify.

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunity, founded in 1934. Through its 90th Anniversary Research Fellowships, run with the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, it supports early-career researchers from countries where it operates. Malawi is eligible.

The Cancer Research Institute is a US non-profit, founded in 1953, devoted to the science of cancer immunology and immunotherapy. Its Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowships support early-career scientists training in leading laboratories. Applications are open internationally.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa is a pan-African research council founded in 1973 and based in Dakar, Senegal. It funds social science and humanities research by African scholars directly, without requiring a partner institution outside Africa. Its programmes include residential institutes on democratic governance, gender and economic policy, comparative research networks, small grants for thesis writing, and support for meetings and publication. Institutes combine funding with structured mentoring by senior resource persons and a route to publication through CODESRIA's own press. Applications are made through the council's online portal and are open to academics and researchers at African universities and research centres.

CARN seeks to advance evidence-based conservation efforts that conserve biodiversity and ecosystem health, protect threatened wildlife species and habitats, and promote environmental sustainability.

The German Academic Exchange Service is the joint organisation of German universities for international academic exchange, founded in 1925. It funds scholarships and fellowships, including fully funded Master’s study in Germany for future leaders from developing countries. Malawian graduates qualify.

EMBO is a membership organisation of life scientists, founded in 1964 and based in Heidelberg. It funds internationally portable postdoctoral fellowships and other support in the molecular life sciences. Its fellowships are open worldwide, subject to mobility rules.

EREF is a US non-profit, active since 1994, and one of North America’s largest funders of research on sustainable waste and materials management. It awards research grants and graduate scholarships on topics such as recycling, emissions and emerging contaminants. Researchers worldwide may apply.

Horizon Europe is the European Union’s main research and innovation programme for 2021 to 2027, managed by the European Commission. It funds collaborative research across almost every field, usually through international consortia. Malawi counts as a low-income partner country, so University of Malawi teams can join Horizon Europe consortia as funded partners.

The European Hematology Association is a non-profit membership organisation, founded in Brussels in 1992, dedicated to blood science and blood disorders. It funds research grants, mobility awards and training for haematology researchers. Its mobility grants support early-career researchers, including those based in Malawi.

The European University Institute is an intergovernmental organisation with its own legal personality, created by a convention signed in 1972 by six states and opened to its first researchers in 1976. It sits at the Badia Fiesolana in San Domenico di Fiesole outside Florence, across a campus of Renaissance villas, with the Florence School of Transnational Governance in the city centre. There are 24 contracting states and a reported annual budget of around €93.7 million. The EUI's position is unusual among the funders on this platform: it is host, employer and funder at once; it makes no grants to external institutions, and money reaches a Malawian academic only by that academic moving to Florence. Its disciplines are historical, humanities and social sciences only — economics, history, law, political and social sciences, the Robert Schuman Centre and the School of Transnational Governance. The Max Weber Programme is the largest international postdoctoral programme in the social sciences and humanities in Europe, taking roughly 65 fellows a year.

FCI4Africa is a Horizon Europe-funded project working to make African food systems fairer, more inclusive and more resilient. Through its open calls it passes on cascade funding to innovators, researchers and start-ups across Africa. University of Malawi teams working with smallholders are eligible.

The Fogarty International Center is the global-health arm of the US National Institutes of Health, established in 1968. It funds research training and career-development awards that build health-research capacity in low- and middle-income countries, usually in partnership with US institutions. Malawian institutions and scientists are eligible.

For Women in Science is a long-running partnership between the Fondation L’Oréal and UNESCO that recognises and supports women scientists. Its International Awards honour five eminent researchers each year, one per world region. Africa and the Arab States form one region, so Malawian women scientists are eligible through nomination.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations is the UN specialised agency leading international efforts to defeat hunger and achieve food security. It has 194 members — 193 countries and the European Union — and operates in more than 130 countries across agriculture, fisheries, forestry and agrifood systems. FAO is not a conventional research council: rather than a standing grants programme, it funds research and innovation through technical cooperation with member governments, competitive calls for analytical and assessment work in which universities and research institutes are eligible applicants, and innovation challenges run with partners such as the Smart Africa Secretariat. Opportunities are published on FAO's website and on its Science, Technology and Innovation Portal. Remit: 194 members — 193 countries and the European Union — operating in more than 130 countries · food security, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and agrifood systems

The Gerda Henkel Foundation is a private German foundation established in 1976 in Dusseldorf, funding research in the historical humanities — history, archaeology, art history, legal history, prehistory and early history, the history of science, and historical Islamic studies. It awards research scholarships to postdoctoral and post-habilitation scholars and grants for research projects, with monthly stipend rates, family allowances, travel and material costs. Its eligibility rules are unusually open: applications are accepted regardless of the applicant's nationality or place of work, with no requirement for a German or European host institution. Committees meet twice yearly, and smaller project grants are assessed on a rolling basis.

The American Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have established the Global Disaster Preparedness Centre (GDPC) as a reference centre to support innovation and learning in disaster preparedness. As one of 12 reference centres in the international Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) network, the GDPC aims to enhance disaster management–namely preparedness–capacities of Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies through a service-oriented and demand-driven approach to building community resilience.

The Africa Fellows in Education Program is run by the Global Education Analytics Institute, a US non-profit founded by economist Eric Hanushek, with the Partnership for Economic Policy, a research-capacity network active in developing countries since 2002. Together they fund a two-year fellowship that builds a network of education-policy researchers across sub-Saharan Africa. Early-career researchers at the University of Malawi qualify.

Global Health EDCTP3 is a partnership between the European Union and African and European countries that funds research on infectious diseases affecting sub-Saharan Africa. It supports clinical research, trials and capacity building delivered by international consortia. Sub-Saharan African institutions, including Malawi’s, are central partners.

Halton Foundation provides research grants focused on indoor air quality, thermal conditions, breathable particulates, and illnesses that may result from sub-standard indoor environmental quality. Grants are awarded to non-profit organisations that research improvements in human wellbeing in indoor environments or develop solutions for enhanced indoor environmental quality.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation is a US foundation, created in 1929, that funds research on violence, aggression and dominance, and how to reduce them. It supports distinguished and emerging scholars across the social and natural sciences and the humanities. Its awards are open to researchers worldwide.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation is a German political foundation affiliated with the Green party. Among its activities it offers fully funded doctoral and postgraduate scholarships for international students, including those from developing countries, to study in Germany. Priority goes to applicants not yet resident in Germany, so Malawian students qualify.

IBRO is a global federation of neuroscience societies, founded in 1961, that supports brain research and training around the world. Among its grants, the Parenthood Grants help early-career neuroscientists whose research has been interrupted by childcare. They are open internationally.

The International Development Research Centre is a Canadian federal Crown corporation, created by an Act of Parliament in 1970 as the world’s first agency dedicated to funding research led from low- and middle-income countries. As part of Canada’s foreign affairs and development work, it funds high-quality research in developing regions and helps move the findings into the hands of researchers and policymakers. IDRC works closely with African institutions through its regional offices in Nairobi and Dakar and regularly funds African-led research teams, so a number of its calls are open to University of Malawi staff.

IFAD describes itself as the world's fund for transforming agriculture, rural economies and food systems. It was established in the 1970s in response to the global food crisis, is headquartered in Rome, has 180 member states and works across five regions and 92 countries. Unlike most development banks, it funds research directly: its regular grants are non-repayable, and its published list of eligible recipients explicitly includes research and academic institutions alongside member states, intergovernmental organisations, civil society, producer organisations, foundations and private companies. Grants fall into two categories — country-specific and global or regional. The research IFAD funds is applied and policy-facing: evidence for scale-up, policy assessment, value-chain analysis, rather than curiosity-driven science. Malawi joined IFAD in 1977 and sits in List C1. IFAD reports supporting 12 programmes in Malawi worth US$224.9 million since 1981, benefiting close to 1.5 million rural households, with four large programmes currently running: Sustainable Agricultural Production Phase II, the Transforming Agriculture through Diversification and Entrepreneurship Programme, the Financial Access for Rural Markets, Smallholders and Enterprise Programme, and the Programme for Rural Irrigation Development.

SATREPS is a Japanese government programme, running since 2008, that funds three- to five-year joint research projects between Japanese research institutions and those in developing countries. It pairs a competitive research grant with Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA), so that each project advances science and builds research capacity in the partner country simultaneously. The programme is run jointly by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), which fund the Japanese researchers, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which delivers the ODA side, under the Ministry of Education (MEXT) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

The Leakey Foundation is a US non-profit, founded in 1968, that funds research into human origins, evolution and behaviour. It is one of the few funders focused specifically on understanding what makes us human, supporting fieldwork and laboratory studies. Its grants are open to researchers and doctoral students worldwide.

The LEO Foundation is a Danish commercial foundation that owns the pharmaceutical company LEO Pharma and funds research into skin and skin diseases worldwide. Its grants support investigator-led dermatology research from basic science to clinical work. Researchers internationally may apply.

The Leverhulme Trust is a UK research funder established in 1925 from the will of William Hesketh Lever. It supports research and scholarship across all disciplines, often backing curiosity-driven and cross-disciplinary work. Its Visiting Professorships are awarded to UK institutions to host an eminent overseas academic, so a Malawian professor would take part as the invited visitor.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are the European Union’s main scheme for researcher training and mobility, part of Horizon Europe. The Postdoctoral Fellowships support researchers of any nationality to work at a host institution and develop their careers. Global Fellowships can include time at institutions outside Europe.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions COFUND is the European Union's mechanism for co-funding doctoral and postdoctoral training programmes run by host organisations, under Horizon Europe. Programmes recruit internationally, apply the MSCA mobility rule, and offer employment contracts with salary and research costs rather than stipends. AMBER, Advanced Multiscale Biological Imaging with European Research Infrastructures, is one such programme, offering postdoctoral positions across host institutions in Sweden, France, Poland and the United Kingdom with access to synchrotron, neutron and structural biology facilities. Applications are open to researchers of any nationality with no requirement for a prior European appointment.

Medicines for Malaria Venture is a non-profit product-development partnership, based in Geneva and founded in 1999, that develops new antimalarial medicines. Its African calls fund scientists and institutions on the continent to work on malaria drug discovery. University of Malawi researchers are squarely in scope.

Merck KGaA is a German science and technology company, based in Darmstadt and founded in 1668. Through its open-innovation Research Grants it supports academic work in areas such as chemical synthesis, drug discovery and sustainability. The grants are open to academic researchers worldwide.

The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund is a philanthropic fund based in Abu Dhabi, established in 2008. It makes small grants of up to US$25,000 for hands-on conservation of threatened species, especially those that are Endangered, Critically Endangered or poorly known. Conservationists worldwide, including in Malawi, may apply.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research is the United Kingdom’s largest funder of health and care research, established in 2006. Its global-health programmes fund research and fellowships led from low- and middle-income countries, often with UK partners. Malawian institutions and researchers are eligible, and are given priority in some calls.

The Global Grants for Gut Health are funded through a partnership between Nature Portfolio, the publisher of the journal Nature, and Yakult, the Japanese probiotics company. The programme funds research on the gut microbiome and health. It is open to researchers internationally, including those in low- and middle-income countries.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is a Danish foundation that funds research in health, the life sciences and sustainability, alongside social and humanitarian purposes. Its research programmes span basic biomedical science, health promotion and disease prevention, and environmental and climate research, and are delivered through both open calls and partnerships with host institutions. The NNF-IAS Fellowships in Health and Sustainability are delivered jointly with four Nordic institutes for advanced study, in Aarhus, Oslo, Helsinki and Uppsala, and fund 23-month salaried postdoctoral fellowships on the theme of inequity in health, open to researchers of any nationality between two and ten years past the doctorate.

The Rosetrees Trust is a UK medical-research charity, founded in 1987, that backs pioneering research aimed at better diagnosis and treatment. It funds projects from early ideas to larger awards, often alongside other funders. Its NEXT Award supports translation of laboratory science into practical medical advances, and is open worldwide.

The Royal Academy of Engineering is the United Kingdom's national academy for engineering, founded in 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering and granted a Royal Charter in 1983. It is a registered charity based at Prince Philip House in London, with HM King Charles III as patron, and marks its fiftieth anniversary in 2026. UK government and official development assistance funding is channelled into international programmes, which is why the Academy is a significant funder in Africa despite being a national body. Its flagship African programme is the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, established in 2014, which supports sub-Saharan African engineers commercialising an innovation. Africa Prize businesses have been supported across 22 countries; the Academy reports that 71% of graduates now generate revenue and that alumni have collectively raised US$34 million.

The Society was founded in 1830 to advance geographical science through supporting geographical research, education, and fieldwork and expeditions, as well as by advocating on behalf of the discipline, supporting geographers in professional practice, and promoting geography to public audiences. RGS is a registered charity in the UK (no 208791) and a membership organisation and the UK's learned society and professional body for geography. It exists to champion and advance the discipline of geography.

The Royal Society is the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences, founded in 1660 and one of the oldest scientific institutions in the world. It funds fellowships, grants and international collaboration across the natural sciences. Its Wolfson Visiting Fellowships bring overseas researchers to UK hosts, with the UK institution making the application.

The Royal Society of Chemistry is the United Kingdom’s professional body for the chemical sciences, supporting chemists and chemistry worldwide. It offers grants that help members build research collaborations, including travel and collaboration funding. These are open to RSC members, including those based in Malawi.

The Russell Sage Foundation is a US foundation, established in 1907, devoted to research in the social sciences. Its Core Research Grants fund work on social and economic questions such as inequality, immigration and behavioural science. Researchers internationally may apply, usually through a letter of inquiry.

Schmidt Sciences is a non-profit organisation established in 2024 by Eric and Wendy Schmidt as a spin-off of Schmidt Futures, and now carries the science portfolio of the Schmidt philanthropies. Its programmes include the AI2050 fellowships (US$125 million over five years), an AI science safety programme, the Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute run with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, and a substantial astronomy portfolio. It should not be confused with the Schmidt Family Foundation, a separate environment and energy funder. For UNIMA's purposes, the important structural point is that Schmidt Sciences does not run this fellowship itself. It funds the University of Michigan, and the Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS) runs the competition, selects the fellows and administers the awards. The African Faculty Fellows Program supports African university faculty and research-organisation scientists who want to embed artificial intelligence in their own science; it funds twelve months of residency and advanced AI training at Michigan, then funds a second year implementing that work at the home institution. The wider Schmidt AI in Science postdoctoral network runs at Michigan, Oxford, Imperial College London, Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore, and AIMS South Africa appears as an African linked-fellowship partner through Imperial.

The Science for Africa Foundation is a Nairobi-based African grant-making organisation supporting research and innovation across the continent. It runs Grand Challenges Africa and DELTAS Africa and is the active successor to the science-funding programmes formerly administered by the African Academy of Sciences. Its portfolio spans health, climate and environment, food systems, genomics and population cohort science, alongside research management and capacity strengthening for African institutions. Several programmes are co-delivered with international partners including Grand Challenges Canada. Applications are made through the Foundation's own grants management system, and calls are published on its funding pages.

The Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) is a multilateral programme, established in 2015, that strengthens the national science granting councils of sub-Saharan Africa so they can fund, manage and translate research more effectively. Now in its third phase (2026–2030) with about CAD 50 million from IDRC, Norad, the UK FCDO and Wellcome Trust, it works with councils in 20 countries, including Malawi's National Commission for Science and Technology. SGCI supports Africa-led research aligned with the African Union's STISA-2034 priorities - health, agriculture, artificial intelligence and digital technologies, energy, and environment- alongside council capacity strengthening, gender-responsive funding practice and research uptake into policy.

The Scottish Government operates a devolved international development programme distinct from the United Kingdom's, working with four partner countries — Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia and Pakistan. It funds, through the International Development Fund, established in 2005, the Climate Justice Fund, launched in 2012 and rising to 36 million pounds by mid-2026, and a Humanitarian Emergency Fund, under a stated human-rights-based approach. Priorities include sustainable development, climate justice, global health, inclusive education, gender equality and humanitarian response. Programmes are implemented through civil society organisations and universities rather than by funding partner governments directly, and applications are normally led by Scottish-based organisations working with partners in the partner countries. Remit: Four partner countries — Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia and Pakistan · development, climate justice and humanitarian response · delivered through civil society and universities

Smart Africa is an alliance of African governments, international organisations and private-sector partners working to accelerate digital transformation across the continent, with a secretariat based in Kigali, Rwanda, and 39 member countries. It sets continental direction on digital policy, connectivity and artificial intelligence, and delivers programmes jointly with development partners. Among these are innovation challenges such as the Innovate Africa Challenge, run with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, which identify digital and AI solutions for deployment and validation in selected member countries. Support to winners typically takes the form of deployment assistance, technical expertise and government access rather than research grants.

The Social Science Research Council is an independent non-profit research council founded in 1923 in the United States, which has awarded more than twenty thousand fellowships and grants to researchers worldwide. It designs and administers fellowship and grant programmes on behalf of foundations and other funding partners, managing recruitment, peer review, award administration and reporting, alongside programmes of its own. Its portfolio spans doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, research grants and network-building across the social sciences and humanities, and includes programmes designed for African scholars such as the African Peacebuilding Network. Applications are made directly through the Council's online portal. Remit: Worldwide · social sciences and humanities · fellowships and grants administered for funding partners (e.g. Lego Foundation) · 20,000+ awards since 1923

The Society for Experimental Biology is a learned society founded in 1923 in London, with members in animal, cell and plant biology around the world. Among its activities it offers small grants for biology education research and teaching resources. Membership and its grants are open internationally.

The Spencer Foundation is a US foundation, founded in 1962, that funds research to improve education. It supports field-initiated studies through grants of varying size, from smaller projects to large programmes. Its grants are open to scholars internationally.

The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences and a registered charity, based in London. Its work and research grants are funded by the UK government, principally the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, together with major benefactors and individual donations, and it distributed over £50 million in 2024 to support UK and international academic research, career development and public engagement. Its schemes run from Postdoctoral and Mid-Career Fellowships to international programmes including Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary Research Projects, Global Professorships, Visiting Fellowships and Writing Workshops. Most awards require a UK-based lead applicant, with overseas researchers taking part as co-applicants. Applications are submitted through the Academy's Flexi-Grant system

The LEGO Foundation is among the world's largest private funders of early childhood development and education, working on children's learning through play, development, and wellbeing. Its grant-making spans programme partnerships with governments and civil society, humanitarian response for children, large open global competitions, and university research. Research funding is typically delivered through administered fellowship programmes run by partner organisations rather than through a standing open call, and the Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals. Remit: Global · early childhood development, learning through play.

The Rufford Foundation is a UK charity that funds practical nature-conservation work in developing countries. Its Small Grants support early-career conservationists through a series of stages as a project grows, covering fieldwork costs. Malawi is on the eligible-country list, and there is no fixed deadline.

The World Academy of Sciences is a global science academy based in Trieste, founded in 1983 and operating under the auspices of UNESCO. It supports research, prizes and fellowships for scientists in developing countries, several reserved for women or early-career researchers. Its SG-NAPI seed grants, funded with Germany’s research ministry, support new principal investigators in science-lagging African countries, including Malawi.

The Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund (TREE Fund) is a US charity, formed in 2002, that funds research and education in arboriculture and urban forestry. Its Jack Kimmel International Grant supports researchers worldwide working on tree care, tree health and risk. Researchers in Malawi are eligible.

The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grant programme, run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and launched at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. It funds projects in developing countries that protect biodiversity while reducing poverty. Eligible countries vary by round, so applicants should check that Malawi is listed.

UNESCO administers the Keizo Obuchi Young Researchers' Fellowships Programme with funding from the Government of Japan through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust. The programme supports researchers aged 40 or under from invited member states, including 47 African countries, to carry out research in Japan for between three and nine months. Awards are up to 10,000 US dollars, covering travel, accommodation, insurance, subsistence and justified research costs, but not tuition, equipment or publication. The 2026 cycle prioritises heritage conservation and artificial intelligence applied to natural resources and climate, ethics and inclusion, cities and infrastructure, and education. Candidates must be nominated by their National Commission for UNESCO.

The Urban Studies Foundation is a registered Scottish charity, established in 2008 and funded by profits from the Urban Studies journal. It supports research and training in urban studies worldwide, with schemes aimed specifically at researchers from the Global South. Malawian urban scholars qualify.

The Volkswagen Foundation is an independent German research funder, established in 1961 and not controlled by the car company of the same name. It backs ambitious and high-risk research across all disciplines. Its Pioneering Research call is led from German institutions, so University of Malawi researchers usually take part through a German partner.

The Volvo Environment Prize is awarded by an independent Swedish foundation set up in 1988 to recognise outstanding contributions to environmental and sustainability science. The prize carries a cash award and is decided by nomination rather than application. Researchers worldwide, including in Malawi, can be nominated.

Wellcome is a global charitable foundation based in London, established in 1936 from the estate of Henry Wellcome, that funds research to improve health. It supports researchers at all career stages across science, medicine, the humanities and social sciences, and funds institutions in Africa directly. University of Malawi, KUHeS and MLW can host Wellcome awards.

The Wenner-Gren Foundation is a US foundation, founded in 1941, dedicated to supporting anthropology worldwide. It funds research grants for anthropologists at various career stages, including community-engaged work. Its grants are open to scholars of any nationality, including those based in Malawi.

The Zentrum fur interdisziplinare Forschung is Bielefeld University's institute for interdisciplinary research, founded in 1968, which hosts residential research groups drawn from all disciplines. Its Visiting Groups format funds teams of two to four convenors to spend one to three months working together at the institute, with up to 50,000 euros covering travel, accommodation, a daily allowance and event costs. Applications are open to post-doctoral scholars based at universities or research institutes in Germany or abroad, with no nationality restriction, and the convening team must be interdisciplinary in composition. Personnel costs, fieldwork and laboratory facilities are not funded.