The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to build a pipeline of highly skilled PhD graduates in the health sciences who will drive health research and innovation in South Africa and contribute to global health impact.

The purpose of the RCDI grant is to provide an opportunity for researchers at institutions previously constrained by inadequate access to resources to access funds that will enable the institutions and researchers to improve their contribution to the generation of new knowledge towards addressing priority health challenges in South Africa, and to build overall health research capacity within the institutions. The RCDI aims to support research capacity and scientific leadership in areas that contribute to the mandate of SAMRC and demonstrate potential for public health impact. The RCDI-nested research fellowship/scholarship programme is an intervention to accelerate the building of research capacity and scientific leadership by strengthening the research team and improving the supervision experience of the RCDI-principal investigators. This will be done by creating opportunities to host and retain early career scientists who have demonstrated the potential to become established researchers.

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) invites eligible South African organisations to apply for the Transition-to-Scale (TTS) funding stream under the Nexa: Climate and Health Innovation initiative. The Nexa programme partners have extended the submission deadline for Transition-to-Scale applications to 12 August 2026, providing eligible innovators with additional time to prepare competitive applications.

The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to attract PhD and Master's candidates within the following research fields, which will be given preference: Behavioral Sciences, Biostatistics, Bioethics, Bioinformatics, Data Science, Digital Health, Demography, Epidemiology, Environmental Public Health, Evolutionary Virology, Implementation and Translational Science, Health Economics, Genomics, Immunology, and Structural Biology.

This funding instrument is intended to support individuals employed at public academic institutions, SAMRC intramural and extramural research units, and SAMRC research centres, who are engaged in health, medical or clinical research, to improve their academic qualifications. This once-off award is aimed at emerging researchers in the final 12 months of their PhD studies and is intended to alleviate pressures that may hinder the timely completion of the degree.