Stanford - South Africa Biomedical Informatics Program: Scholarships and Financial Support for Graduate Education

Graduate (MSc/PhD) Traineeships in Biomedical Informatics

Call for applications for Stanford-South Africa Biomedical Informatics Studentships

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SSABMI was established to broaden bioinformatics education in South Africa and to provide postgraduate students of bioinformatics with the opportunity to obtain training or to specialize in biomedical informatics. The program supports only postgraduate students whose primary research focus is on the development of novel informatics tools and methodologies with application to biomedical science. The SSABMI graduate student program is designed to contribute to the development of capacity in biomedical informatics in South  Africa by providing bursary support to future leaders in this field engaged in full-time MSc or PhD research at a tertiary education institution in the Cape Town area. Applicants for bursary support should be embarking on research that will lead to a career in biomedical informatics. The program does not provide support for students whose research includes a significant component of laboratory based experimentation or involves exclusively the application of pre-existing informatics tools to biological data.

The scope of the SSABMI program includes bioinformatics, clinical informatics, and public health informatics. Bioinformatics focuses on computational methods relevant to basic biology. Clinical informatics focuses on methods relevant to patient care. Public health informatics focuses on methods relevant to entire health systems.

SSABMI MSc

Program Students who are accepted on the program will be expected to participate fully in all short courses, seminars and other relevant activities organised through the SSABMI program. Successful applicants will receive an annual bursary of R45,000 (forty-five thousand Rand) to cover tuition and living expenses. Bursaries will be awarded for a period of one year but may be renewable annually, although this is contingent upon satisfactory progress. Completed applications should include:

  1. Current academic CV, including contact details as well as names and contact details of three referees who can comment on the research aptitude of the candidate.
  2. Copies of all academic transcripts.
  3. Personal Statement addressing research interests, longer term research and career objectives, relevant personal characteristics and the applicant's understanding of the field of Biomedical Informatics, the objectives of the Stanford-South Africa and the potential role of this scholarship in the applicant’s development as a researcher (3 page maximum).

SSABMI PhD

Program Students who are accepted on the program will be expected to participate fully in all short courses, seminars and other relevant activities organised through the SSABMI program. These PhD students are provided with excellent hardware resources on which to carry out their research for the duration of their participation in the program and will also have the opportunity to apply for a 3-month research visit to Stanford. Successful applicants will receive an annual bursary of R80,000 (Eighty thousand Rand) to cover tuition and living expenses. Bursaries will be awarded for a period of one year but may be renewable annually for an additional two years although this is contingent upon satisfactory progress. Completed applications should include:

  1. Current academic CV, including contact details as well as names and contact details of three references who can comment on the research aptitude of the candidate.
  2. Copies of all academic transcripts.
  3. A Personal Statement addressing research interests, longer term research and career objectives, relevant personal characteristics and the applicant's understanding of the field of Biomedical Informatics, the objectives of the Stanford-South Africa and the potential role of this scholarship in the applicant’s development as a researcher (3 page maximum).
  4. A brief synthesis of research carried out as part of an MSc or preliminary work carried out towards the PhD degree. This research summary should consist of the following sections: Abstract, Introduction and Background, Methods, Results, Discussion. The Discussion section should attempt to address the context of the research and the expected benefits of the research to the wider community, if any.

In the case of applications for PhD or MSc bursaries, applicants must have gained acceptance, in principal, to study for the relevant degree at one of the SSABMI participating institutions. Applications will be reviewed continuously until all slots are allocated. Preliminary enquiries about the participating institutions and faculty, and the current availability of bursaries, should be made to Patricia Josias (patricia <_AT_> sanbi.ac.za)

This work supported by the NIH/Fogarty International Center under grant D43 TW00699