AFRICA-ASIA HEALTH RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAMME
HOW TO APPLY
OUR PROGRAMME
OUR PROGRAMME
UK APPLICANTS
Eligibility criteria
The PhD programme is open to all health professionals registered with UK professional governing bodies who want to undertake Discovery Research focused on the major global health challenges in Africa or South Asia.
You must be:
- Eligible to work in the UK, with no restrictions, and qualify for home or UK-level fees
- A health professional with a relevant undergraduate degree
- Have a minimum of two years of clinical practice following qualification as a health care professional
- Nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals (NMAHPs) must have a Master's degree in a relevant field
- Medical graduates must be registered on a UK/RoI post-foundation training programme or be a registered GP. Those who are on a specialty training programme will have a minimum of 12 months left to complete their CCT in their chosen specialty by the time the PhD is awarded
- Willing to be based in one of the programme's African or Asian Partner Institutions (AAPIs) for a minimum of 18 months
- Propose research within the remit of the programme, focusing on Discovery Research
Wellcome’s definition of health professionals include but is not limited to:
Art therapists, chiropodists/podiatrists, chiropractors, clinical psychologists, dental hygienists, dental nurses, dental therapists, dentists, dieticians, drama therapists, health visitors, healthcare scientists (in life sciences, physiological sciences, physical sciences and biomechanical engineering, and bioinformatics), medical graduates, midwives, music therapists, non-medical public health specialists, nurses, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, optometrists and dispensing opticians, orthoptists, osteopaths, paramedics, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physiotherapists, practitioner psychologists, prosthetists and orthotists, radiographers, social workers, speech and language therapists, vets.
Funding
The programme will cover the fellow’s salary (this will be matched as closely as possible to your current salary), research costs, PhD registration fees, and overseas living costs.
Application Process
We have a maximum of 5 PhD fellowships to offer per year. We have one application cycle per year over five years, with each round advertised in the last quarter of the year. Applicants apply via the vacancies section of the LSHTM website.
Our application process is split into two stages:
Stage 1
The application needs to contain the following elements:
1. Application form - completed on the jobs.lshtm.ac.uk website
2. Supporting letter from academic referee
3. Completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form (only used for programme monitoring)
The application form assesses your career history to date, your achievements in research to date, your experience of working in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), your motivation to enrol in this PhD programme, how the fellowship will support your ambitions to develop an academic career an outline of your ideas for a PhD project. It is not expected that you will have identified a definite PhD supervisor and developed a specific project by this stage, although you have broad ideas for your research project, potential supervisory team, UK institution and African/Asian Partner Institution (AAPI). This will enable us to understand the relevance of your proposed research to the CREATE PhD Programme, and to direct you to appropriate supervisors should you be shortlisted.
Applicants will be shortlisted based on this application form by a panel comprising multidisciplinary research experts and health professionals from each of the UK institutions. Due to the high volume of applications, no detailed feedback will be provided to unsuccessful applicants at this stage.
Stage 1 guidance notes can be downloaded here
Stage 2
Shortlisted applicants from Stage 1 will submit an application for one of our five available PhD fellowships. This will include
1) A project details form
2) A detailed budget
3) Endorsement of application and budget from your proposed host UK and African/Asian Institutions.
You will need to identify a UK institution from one of our five UK partner institutions where you will register your PhD and an African/Asian host Institution from one of our African/Asian Partner Institutions (AAPIs) where you will based when you conduct your research. You will also need a UK supervisor from the Institution where you will register your PhD and an African/Asian supervisor based in the country where you will conduct your research. Your supervisors will support you to develop your project proposal, which will specify research aims, hypotheses, approach, impact, and budget. At both UK and African/Asian institutions you need a sponsor. Ensure at an early stage that your supervisors (including any co-supervisors), sponsors and collaborators are able to confirm their contribution to the application.
Each shortlisted applicant will be designated a Programme Director from a UK and African/Asian Partner Institution to signpost them to appropriate supervisors and provide guidance on their application. In addition, all shortlisted applicants will be invited to a pre-application webinar to support them to develop a strong proposal.
The final selection will be made based on both your written submission and interview. We will assess:· The importance of the research question, and the scientific merit, feasibility and the likely impact of your proposed project
· Your plans for research training
· The suitability of your sponsor, supervisory team and training environment
Guidance for Stage 2 applications will be available in due course.
Please see recordings of past webinars for Stage 1 and 2 here
APPLICATION Timelines
Applications for 2025/26
· Stage 1 Applications Open: Monday 28th September 2026 - for more information and to apply
· Stage 1 Webinar and Q&A: Friday 9th October 2026 12:00 BST - Zoom - no need to register
· Deadline for Stage 1 applications: Sunday 8th November 2026 (23.59 GMT)
· Stage 1 outcomes communicated: mid-December 2026
· Deadline for Stage 2 application: Tuesday 16th March 2027 (23.59 GMT)
· Interviews: Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th May 2027
· Stage 2 outcomes communicated: mid-May 2027
OUR PROGRAMME
OUR PROGRAMME
AFRICAN / ASIAN APPLICANTS
CREATE will provide 25 PhD fellowships to African or South Asian nationals, matched to the fellowships awarded to UK health professionals. The African/Asian and UK fellows will be integrated into this unique programme to tackle some of the pressing public health issues affecting Africa and South Asia.
Up to 5 fellowships will be awarded every year over 5 years, starting from 2027. Applicants must have the appropriate level of experience in health for the project they intend to undertake (please note - not necessarily a health professional). Applicants will apply for defined projects spanning a range of disciplines including epidemiology, data science, statistics, social science and anthropology, laboratory science and health economics. Fellows will be part of a close-knit cohort, receiving bespoke research training and professional skills and mentorship to equip them to be future global health leaders.
Successful applicants will be matched to one of the six African or Aisan Partner Institutions in one of the overseas locations (The Gambia, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, Pakistan, or Zimbabwe).
Eligibility Criteria
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African national
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Professional with appropriate experience in health (please note - not necessarily a health professional i.e. doctor, nurse etc)
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Willing to be based in one of the Programme African/Asian Partner Institutions (linked to the PhD) for the duration of their PhD
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Requisite training required to undertake the PhD Project (as specified for each project)
Funding
The programme will provide a stipend, research costs, PhD registration fees, and training costs.
Application Process
Please find more information below for African fellowships available through the CREATE PhD Programme.
See the individual projects listed in the table and links for further information, as well as the application documentation, for each fellowship.
The PhD programme is open to all candidates who want to undertake research focused on the major global health challenges in Africa. This fellowship programme will provide a 3-year research PhD training fellowship. Candidates apply through a localised admissions process at one of the African Partner Institutions (API), but if awarded a fellowship can be registered at either the API or another institution (e.g. a UK institution) dependent on the individual circumstances of the award.
PhD fellowships are to have a duration of up to 36 months. The funding will cover tuition fees (if applicable), a stipend, and project related costs such as travel and training. A full list of the PhD fellowship projects is shown in Table 1. The funding available for specific research projects will be determined by the individual APIs.
Candidates submit an application to their API of choice, for a particular pre-identified project, along with any other required documentation (please consult the local recruitment contact point and/or website for further information).
APPLICATION Timelines
Application Timelines
Advertisements for the upcoming African and Asian fellowships will be published above when available.