The ASFI 5-10 Program 2026 is a research capacity building program targeting African universities. ASFI's core mandate is to support the development of excellent science community in Africa. Since its inception, ASFI has primarily supported individual African researchers. The ASFI 5-10 Program targets institutions as entities rather than individual researchers. The program will create impact at the institutional level.

The overarching aim of the program is to create clusters of next generation research champions across African universities. ASFI will train and mentor 250 candidates across Africa's five regions (50 candidates from 10 institutions in each region) during 2026 in research excellence, integrity, and science patriotism, with expected milestones to be achieved during the program. Candidates will form clusters of inter-regional and inter-institutional multidisciplinary collaborations to achieve set milestones during the program. Candidates who complete the program will receive "ASFI CONSOLIDATED RESEARCH EXCELLENCE CAPACITY BUILDING CERTIFICATE" at the end of the program. Beneficiaries are expected to give back acquired skills and experiences to their university communities.

Five (5) candidates from each of 10 institutions in each of the 5 regions in Africa (Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Africa). Nominated candidates will be trained by ASFI in all its courses offered in 2026 and mentored throughout 2026. Candidates will be required to actively participate in all ASFI programs, including monthly seminars, career development workshops, General Assembly programs, mentoring programs, annual conferences and boot camp, and other programs.

• Data analysis (quantitative and qualitative)
• Scientific communication and publishing
• Grant writing and research funding
• Science leadership and mentoring
• Career development and nurturing
• Research integrity and productivity
• Research networking and collaboration

• Candidates will develop critical skills that cover the whole research process (from question formulation to publishing) during the program
• Candidates will produce tangible outcomes, including scientific papers and presentation of abstracts at scientific meetings
• Candidates will develop other add-on research experiences, including reviewing scientific papers and applying for research grants
• Candidates will establish long-term multidisciplinary collaboration with colleagues across the continent
• Candidates will receive the "ASFI Consolidated Research Excellence Capacity Building Certificate" at the end of the program that certifies the courses and experiences developed from the program
• Candidates are expected to give back acquired skills and experiences to their university communities, thereby creating opportunity for greater impact within their institutions

Please note that only institutional applications are accepted for this program. Individual researchers are not allowed to apply for this program. Each institution must designate a member of its staff to make the application on its behalf.

• Institutional Application: 15th September 2025
• Decision on Institution Application: 15th October 2025
• Institution Nominates Candidates: 15th November 2025
• Program Starts: January 2026

This program will be offered free to participating universities.

All programs – training and mentoring will be conducted virtually. Participants will be organized into multidisciplinary collaborative groups where they will collaborate throughout the program to achieve the program milestones emanating from each course and mentoring sessions, including publication of papers, presentation of abstracts from their work at ASFI annual conference in 2026, identifying and applying for project grants, participating in reviewing manuscripts submitted in their fields during 2026. ASFI will design an evaluation of the program and will keep contact with participating institutions on the progress of their nominated candidates.

Institutions selected to participate in the program must adhere to the following criteria when appointing candidates who will participate in the program. Each institution must nominate only 5 candidates (3 must be women and 2 men) to the program and they must come from different disciplines within the institution.

• Candidates must not have participated in any ASFI courses before.
• Candidates must be among the top ten junior researchers as judged by their local universities.
• Candidates must not be more than 3 years since completing their doctoral degrees.
• Candidates must be less than 40 years of age (men) or 45 years (women).
• Candidates must commit to completing the program throughout the year, including participation in the courses, mentoring sessions, collaborative group activities, and ASFI routine programs.
• Candidates must be members of ASFI General Assembly (GA) during the program and actively participate in the activities of the ASFI GA community.