Call for applications for female PhD training

WANETAM through its TALENT programme is inviting applications for PhD Fellowships supported by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) with funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in the United Kingdom. The purpose of this fellowship programme is to contribute to the reduction of the gender and diversity gaps by training female PhD candidates from participating WANETAM member institutions in African countries, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, in collaboration with 5 European country partner institutions from France, Germany, UK and Portugal.
If not already based at a WANETAM member institution, selected candidates will be affiliated to a WANETAM member institution before commencement.
Applications from Master’s students who have successfully completed their training under the EDCTP and Africa CDC EPI-Biostat projects awarded through the DHSC-funded 2020 call for Capacity Development for Disease Outbreak and EpidemicResponse in Sub-Saharan Africa, are strongly encouraged.

Successful PhD candidates will receive a monthly stipend of €800. Research costs, travel allowance, essential equipment such as laptops, maternity cover and other justifiable eligible expenditures will be included in the grant up to €20k.

This is a 48-month PhD programme. Candidates are expected to commence their programme in early 2025.

The programme is managed by the TALENT Programme Steering Committee. It is coordinated by Professor Dorothy Yeboah of Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research, University of Ghana. The overall Coordinator of WANETAM is Professor Souleymane Mboup, RARS/IRESSEF in Senegal, deputised by Professor Assan Jaye who leads WANETAM’s Researcher Development Programming.

Scope of the Programme

The training program is designed to address existing gender imbalance within clinical research in Africa. Using established internal and external WANETAM partnerships, the TALENT Fellowship program will award up to four PhD fellowships to female applicants based on merit following an established and transparent selection process. Successful female candidates will carry out their studies after registering with any of the following universities within the network or any other university if justified.

1. University of Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
2. University of Bambey, Senegal
3. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
4. University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
5. University of Abomey Calavi, Benin

The final scholarship award to selected candidates will be subject to successful university registration for the PhD. Therefore, applicants who have already registered for a PhD program with an academic institution and received institutional ethics approval for their proposed research are strongly encouraged to apply. Female MSc or MPhil candidates from countries with limited research capacity such as Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Togo, Benin, Guinea Conakry are specially encouraged to apply.
Programme Focus Area

1. Established risk factors for TB include the HIV pandemic and the occurrence of strains resistant to anti-TB drugs. Overall, DR-TB is responsible for one-third of the world’s deaths due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The double burdenof disease, manifested in prevalence of both communicable and non-communicable diseases, currently characterizes many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In an on-going prospective longitudinal study, it was discovered that the bacterial load in the TB-non diabetes (DM) group decreased significantly during treatment however the TB-DM group experienced delayed clearance even at day 56 (P=0.029), When analyzed for mycobacterial RNA. Of concern was that some of the TB-DM cases remained positive even by culture at 6 months, although the cases were initially diagnosed by Xpert MTB-RIF as sensitive. To look further into this issue this project will study the immunological and pharmacological mechanisms that affect the evolution of DR strains in Ghana especially during case management. This student will be supervised by Professor Dorothy Yeboah Manu of the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research, University of Ghana. Email: Dyeboah-manu@noguchi.ug.edu.gh
2. Multimorbidity is defined as the “existence of multiple chronic medicalconditions in a single individual.” It is now recognized as an increasing problemin low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the already fragile healthcare systems are further stretched by the dual burden of infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The interplay between TB and related co-morbidities, including post-TB lung disease (PTLD), particularly in TB endemic settings, necessitates the need for a paradigm shift toward syndromic management of TB. In this PhD research, we aim to start generating unique data on the prevalence, pattern, and impact of multimorbidity in TB patients across the life course in West Africa. We will also begin advocacy initiatives that will increase awareness of multimorbidity in TB patients. The proposal will leverage the existing multi-country TB research platform established by WANETAM. The PhD Student will be supervised by Dr Toyin Togun of the MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Email: Toyin.Togun@lshtm.ac.uk
3. Genetic factors of resistance or susceptibility to COVID-19 of different populations – During the past couple of decades, genomics has taken an increasingly important role in the public health sector. This has led to the generation of enormous biomedical data of hosts as well as pathogens and has helped control and manage epidemics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many efforts were made around the globe to standardize sequencing protocols, produce high quality genomes and therefore characterize the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, the efforts made did not focus on sequencing patients in order to study the impact of host-pathogen genetic interaction on the disease outcome. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that some populations were more resistant towards SARS-CoV-2 infection than others. For example, the mortality rate inEuropean countries was higher than in African countries. This suggests that there may be human genetic factors involved in making difference in COVID-19 severity and death risk between populations with different ethnic backgrounds. This PhD seeks to combine bioinformatics, biostatistics, and machine learning methods using sequenced data of diverse humanpopulations and pathogen strains in order to decipher potential susceptibility/resistance genes to SARS-CoV-2 infection. This student will be supervised by Dr Cheikh LOUCOUBAR, Head, Epidemiology, Clinical research and Data Science., Institute Pasteur, Dakar, Senegal. Email: Cheikh.LOUCOUBAR@pasteur.sn and Dr Bubacarr Bah, Head of Data Science, MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM. Email: Bubacarr.bah@lshtm.ac.uk

4. Improving analytics tools for epidemics – The experience from the COVID-19 pandemic, has highlighted the need to prepare for future pandemics. At the heart of preparedness is analytics. With good analytics we can detect, forecast (nowcast) to inform response, assess interventions, and evaluate impact. Some initiatives to build ecosystems which foster the development of analytic tools for the next epidemic are already underway (e.g., https://epiverse-trace.github.io/). However, there is still more work to be done. It is typical to make a trade-off between accuracy and speed, at least, for some of the existing tools. Further investigations into the theory underpinning these tools and innovative numerical/computational implementation are required to improv the performance of available analytical tools in terms of both accuracy and speed is required. This PhD will focus on surveillance and excess mortality estimation tools. Furthermore, in surveillance, there are resource constraints particularly in LMIC settings. It will also be interesting to investigate the use of pooling strategies to minimize the cost of surveillance. In addition to modeling and where necessary, we will develop software packages from the resulting models and make them available to the wider community of users following open-source models. This student will be supervised by Dr Bubacarr Bah of the Head of Data Science, MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM. Email: Bubacarr.bah1@lshtm.ac.uk and Dr Nuredin Muhammed, Principal Statistician and Epidemiologist, MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM. Email: Nuredin.Mohammed@lshtm.ac.uk

Eligibility – Eligible candidates must meet the following criteria

1. Be female
2. Be in possession of an MSc or MPhil degree in a relevant field from a recognised university. Clinically qualified applicants with a Membership or Fellowship of a relevant postgraduate medical college are also eligible to apply
3. Must have at least one published manuscript

Application and review Process
a) Applications will be taken in relation to the areas identified above by sponsoring PIs.
b) Candidates should discuss their proposals with the sponsoring PIs. Where project funds are inadequate candidates will be supported by sponsoring PI or home institution.
c) Candidates should present the following requirements:

• Motivation letter detailing why they want to undertake the PhD.
• Research proposal
• A comprehensive recent CV including relevant research and work experience (max 3 pages)
• Certified copies of academic transcripts and post-high school qualifications submitted as ONE PDF file.
• Supporting letters from two professional referees (one must be an academic referee), together with their telephone numbers, institutional addresses and e-mail addresses. Evidencing your suitability and academic ability to undertake a PhD programme.
• Certified Copy of National ID or Passport
• Supporting letters from the institution where the applicant is affiliated.
• Proof of registration (if available)
• Ethical and /or regulatory approval for your project/study (if applicable or
  available)

d) Received applications will be reviewed for completion and eligibility by the TALENT Project Management Team
e) A Special Selection Panel will be composed for each topic noting the expertise required for a decision. Each selection panel shall have at least 2 independent members.
f) Short-listed applications will be invited for a virtual selection interview.
g) All candidates who score well shall be invited for a selection interview
h) The Selection Committee shall make recommendations to the TALENT Programme Steering Committee that shall make the final selection
i) Selected candidates will be informed of the decision of the Committee by 1st March 2025. Successful candidates will be required to sign a TALENT Fellowship Agreement expressing commitment to undertake and complete the training.

Applications from Master’s students who have successfully completed their training under the EDCTP and Africa CDC EPI-Biostat projects awarded through the DHSC-funded 2020 call for Capacity Development for Disease Outbreak and Epidemic Response in Sub-Saharan Africa, https://www.edctp.org/our-work/edctp-and-africa-cdc-epi-biostat-fellows are strongly encouraged.

Final award of scholarships to the selected candidates will be subject to successful registration for the PhD

Applications should be sent to Fadinding Darboe Fadinding.darboe@lshtm.ac.uk with Cc to Mr Jean Pierre Nguessan Jeanpierre.nguessan@iressef.org

Communications: Intending applicants can discuss their plans with the lead sponsors with the emails indicated. Any other clarifications can be sent to dkanteh@mrc.gm

Deadline for applications is 30 November 2024.

This project (IKAA2024AGDG-3317) is supported by the EDCTP Association with funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in the United Kingdom where NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care). The NIHR Global Health Research portfolio supports high-quality applied health research for the direct and primary benefit of people in low- and middle-
income countries, using international development funding aid from the Government of the United Kingdom, to support global health research.