Merck Foundation Calls for Applications for Merck Africa Research Summit–MARS Awards

Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck Germany plans to conduct the New Edition of their “UNESCO – Merck Africa Research Summit (MARS) 2020” with the aim to Empower Women & Youth in Research on the 13th of October in Lusaka, Zambia on the side of their annual conference Merck Africa Asia Luminary.

Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and Chairperson of UNESCO-MARS explained “The summit aims to contribute to building research capacity in the African research community, with special focus on ‘The Role of Scientific Research in responding to Cancer and Vaccines Development – Two emerging challenges in
Africa’. The end objective is to empower African young researchers & women researchers, advancing their research capacity and promote their contribution to STEM”.

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UNESCO-Merck Africa Research Summit – MARS 2020 will have scientific support from UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, African Union Scientific, Technical and Research Commission (AU-STRC), Infectious Diseases Institute, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Graduate School, Tata Memorial Centre, India, and Merck Foundation.

“We will present the ‘Best Young African Researcher Award’ and the ‘Best African Woman Researcher Award’ to recognize the outstanding contribution of African Female Scientists with the aim to promote women in research and advance their contribution to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)”, added Dr.
Rasha Kelej.

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The summit will be a unique opportunity for the winners of a MARS Research Awards to share their research output and findings. It is also an opportunity for networking and career development. The Summit will provide a platform where they will be able to discuss and enable a conducive environment for better research.

Abstracts are invited from final year African Ph.D. students and young investigators involved in research related to either of the following topics: 1) Cancer (specially in women) & 2) Vaccines Development. The applicants should be primarily based at African Research Institutes and Universities, although collaboration within Africa as well
as outside is encouraged.