Kick-Off Event for the WKS Bavaria-Africa Mobility Grant 2025
12/05/2025
The kick-off event of the "Mobility Grant for Research Stays in Africa for Early Career Researchers, 2025” took place in Munich on 6 May 2025. With funds from the Bavarian State Chancellery, the WKS Bavaria-Africa supports early-career scientists based at Bavarian Higher Education Institutions to conduct research and strengthen networks between Bavaria and Africa with this grant.
The mobility grant aims to close a funding gap for junior scientists to explore opportunities for new research and cooperation projects and strengthen their networks with African partners. Among many applications, twelve PhD students and postdocs were selected for this year’s grant to realise a research and networking stay of up to one month in an African country.
The kick-off event featured keynote speeches by the Bavarian State Chancellery and the Bavarian Office for Africa in Addis Ababa about Bavaria's Africa strategy and the importance of scientific cooperation with African countries.
The scholars presented their research and networking projects ranging from energy to agriculture, trade, wildlife conflicts, digital health, digital poetry, nutrition, textile production and TVET. They will travel to Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. The event gave them the opportunity to connect with researchers from other disciplines and universities and universities of applied sciences across Bavaria who are also working on Africa. In a closing session, the group discussed necessary preparations for their trips.
We wish all grant recipients the best of luck for their journeys, insightful encounters, new findings and fruitful collaborations!
