Eligibility Requirements
Ensuring selection of the most promising candidates
We seek for promising mid-career researchers from sub-Saharan Africa with strong potential to become future leaders in clinical research and biomedical innovation to tackle infectious diseases.
Who Can Apply?
The SAHRI Fellowship Program is designed for mid-career African researchers. To be eligible, you must:
- Be a citizen of a sub-Saharan African country with plans to return and contribute to your home region
- Hold the necessary qualifications for admission to the Master of Science in Tropical Medicine at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp
- Match one of the 6 specialized internship profiles offered by BioNTech
The program will recruit 12 fellows in total, distributed across two consecutive cohorts, ensuring an open, fair, transparent, and gender-balanced selection process. Read below the detailed eligibility criteria.
Selection Criteria
The SAHRI Fellowship employs a rigorous, fair, and transparent selection process designed to ensure merit-based evaluation of all applicants.
SAHRI applicants will be selected based on the following criteria:
- Academic qualifications: Master’s degree (EU equivalent) in a biomedical or clinical discipline.
- Research experience: prior involvement in biomedical or clinical research, preferably on infectious diseases relevant to Africa.
- Professional profile: clear alignment with one of the two target groups (clinical/biomedical professionals or clinical/biomedical scientists).
- Institutional support: an Institutional endorsement letter from the home institution confirming support during the fellowship and the return home phase.
- Motivation: strong interest in health research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, with a demonstrated commitment to apply skills in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Potential for leadership: ability to contribute to capacity building and sustainable change in health research and innovation.
- Language skills: fluency in English (written and spoken); knowledge of French is considered an asset.
- Diversity: gender balance and regional representation will be taken into account, with women and candidates from underrepresented regions strongly encouraged to apply.
- Appropiate match with one of the internship positions offered by BioNTech
BioNTech Internship Profiles
As the industry partner organization, BioNTech will offer hands-on industry training and R&D experience under the mentorship and supervision of subject matter experts. English proficiency is a must for all profiles.
Clinical Operations
Fellows will gain hands-on experience in planning and executing clinical trials from start-up to close-out. Sahri fellow will develop expertise in accelerating trial delivery, ensuring quality, compliance, and alignment with Good Clinical Practice (GCP) standards.
Global Research and Development Program Management
Fellows will gain experience in supporting the management of R&D projects and programs by overseeing planning, execution, monitoring, and reporting to enable informed decision-making. They will develop skills in managing project and program timelines and budgets while collaborating with cross-functional teams to design strategies and detailed plans that advance research assets through preclinical, translational, and clinical development phases.
Early Clinical Development (Translational Science)
Fellows will gain hands-on experience shaping biomarker and translational strategies that drive early- to late-stage clinical development. Fellows will help define key immunogenicity endpoints, integrate host, biomarker, and efficacy data, and translate insights into strategies that guide both preclinical research and clinical advancement.
Product Supply Chain Management
Fellows will gain hands-on experience supporting end-to-end supply chain operations, from demand planning to logistics, while ensuring compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Distribution Practice (GDP), and global quality standards. Fellows will help align material availability with manufacturing needs, monitor supplier and warehouse performance, and support transportation and customs activities across programs.
Clinical Development
Fellows will gain hands-on experience shaping clinical trial strategies across Phases I–IV, from designing study protocols to supporting regulatory submissions. They will develop skills in designing clinical trial strategies across Phases I–IV, ensuring alignment with regulatory and ethical standards such as International Council for Harmonization – Good Clinical Practice( ICH-GCP), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), EMA ( European Medicines Agency), and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
Technical Quality Assurance (QA) for Good Manufacturing Practices and Quality Control (QC)
Fellows will gain hands-on experience in technical Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) within Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) environments. The fellow will learn how to ensure compliance with global regulations, manage Quality Management Systems (QMS), and support the full lifecycle of GMP activities, from facilities and equipment oversight to process validation, testing, and vendor management.
Selection Process
Applications undergo initial screening for completeness and basic eligibility criteria, followed by administrative compliance verification.
Academic evaluation forms the core of our selection process, where the academic selection committee assesses candidates based on their educational and professional background, motivation, research potential, proposed study plan, and feasibility of their research proposal.
Shortlisted candidates participate in structured online interviews with selection committee members to further assess their motivation and research potential. The selection committee then makes final decisions, considering factors including diversity, gender balance, geographic representation, and overall program fit to ensure a well-rounded cohort of fellows.
Application Timeline
Important dates for the upcoming fellowship cycle
1 October 2025
Applications are open. Specific industry internship tracks to be announced.
1 February 2026
Applications deadline
April 2026
Results announced
31 August 2026
Start of the Fellowship
Disclaimer: The eligibility requirements and dates provided on this webpage are official at the time of publication. Consortium partners will provide updates and clarifications on a continuous basis throughout the application process. Final requirements and the number of available positions per track may be adjusted based on partner capacity and program needs. Please check this page regularly for the latest information.
