Sciences | Scholarship for Nigerians and Africans - Part 38

African Origins Platform Open Call for Funding for 2011: Science and Technology

South Africa recognises special contributions of studies that concentrate on the rich and ancient heritage of the country. Research in the field of palaeo- and archaeosciences has profound relevance to all people, and is central to the recent emphasis on Heritage Development by the South African Government. There is without doubt no other country that has such a complete, endless terrestrial rock record covering the Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic and Jurassic periods documenting a climatic shift from glacial polar conditions to subtropical desert. The Karoo Sequence Studies hold clues to understanding both the end-Jurassic and end-Permian extinctions .
This call document details the three discrete funding categories earmarked for support by the DST interim funding strategy:

• Support for research costs and associated student bursaries;
• Support for research equipment; and
• Support for technical skills

Applicants have the opportunity to apply for funding support in all or one of these three funding categories.

It should, however, be noted that this is a competitive call, and each funding category application will be regarded as a stand-alone application, and will be adjudicated independently of the others. This means that successful appraisal in one funding category will not automatically guarantee success in the others.

Applicants who request support in more than one funding category are thus advised not to structure and submit proposals that are dependent on successful appraisal in another area.

Scholarship Application Deadline: 31 March 2011

Further Scholarship Information and Application

Postdoctoral Position in the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Ghent, Belgium

Our lab is a translational HIV research lab focusing on HIV integration, the HIV viral reservoir and HIV transmission. Our lab described that viruses in different compartments also differ in their predicted tropism preference. Detailed characterisation of the HIV integration step in vivo is performed by cDNA LEDGF SNP analysis, LEDGF mRNA QPCR, Alu PCR of HIV integrated copies, 2LTR QPCR and total DNA QPCR on patient derived PBMC’s.

The general goal of our lab is to support research that improves our knowledge on HIV eradication strategies. Current studies aim to validate new endpoint for HIV therapy and new cellular cofactors for HIV transcription using a primary HIV latency model. Techniques used are flow cytometry, virus co-culture assays, cloning, Q-PCR, High resolution melting, viral gene transfer, Western blot ect…

Profile
Degree obtained in life sciences

A: Experience/profile
Junior post-doc, EU citizenship (to allow funding from Flanders/Belgium and European grant proposals)

B: Skills
Experience in molecular virology is an asset

C: Attitudes
teamspirit recommended

Scholarship Application Deadline:2011-03-31

Further Scholarship Information and Application

Four PhD Positions in Interdisciplinary Mathematics, Sweden

The PhD students will work with an interdisciplinary mathematics research project, supervised by at least two PhD advisors working in different research disciplines. Ideally, at least one of these disciplines should be in the mathematical sciences, which here includes mathematical statistics, computational science and control systems. The second research discipline should have a connection to complex and dynamical systems, such as those found in physics, chemistry, biology, economics, finance etc.

PhD students will be expected to engage actively in the activities of the centre and the graduate school, i.e. seminars, scientific consultation and so on. They will be required to take at least 30hp (6 months full time study) PhD level mathematics and modelling courses offered by the mathematics and scientific computing departments.

Eligibility: The candidates are expected to have an interest in applied mathematics and/or using models in an interdisciplinary context. A PhD student position requires a Master of Science in a field that is relevant for conducting research in applied mathematics, e.g. mathematics, engineering physics or scientific computing. Candidates with a background in another area of science, e.g. chemistry or biology, with a strong competence and interest in mathematical modeling are also encouraged to apply.

Scholarship Application Deadline: 1 April 2011

Further Scholarship Information and Application