Ans: Membership is by application by individual Agricultural universities vice chancellor, who should have in place on-going Post-graduate (M.Sc. & PhD) training programmes. However, RUFORUM will consider requests for initiating post-graduate training progress at agricultural universities.
Qn: Is RUFORUM a Rockefeller Foundation Programme?
Ans: No! While it is true that RUFORUM evolved from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Programme Forum on Agricultural Resource Husbandry (FORUM) it is not a Rockefeller Foundation Programme. RUFORUM applies for grants from the Foundation just like other organizations or institutions do.
Qn: Who is eligible for RUFORUM grant application?
Ans: RUFORUM operates two grants systems a) Nurturing Institutional Grants to respond to specific institutional needs or gap areas. The applicants are usually institutional leaders, such as Heads of Departments or Deans, b) Competitive Grant System (CGS): The lead applicants (Principle Investigators-PIs) must be PhD holders (or Professors without PhD) working in one of the RUFORUM member universities. But they must have partner from outside the applicant’s universities who may not have a PhD and not necessarily from the country or region.
Ans: The RUFORUM grants awarded under especially the CGS are to support M.Sc. and PhD training. It is now a basic requirement in most universities in the region that for one to supervise M.Sc. or for that matter PhD candidates, he/she must have a PhD. However, Masters degree holders can be partners in a project where the Principle Investigator is a PhD holder.
Qn: Are RUFORUM activities only limited to Eastern, Central and Southern Africa?
Ans: While it is true that as of now, RUFORUM member universities are primarily from the Eastern, Central and Southern Africa region, some RUFORUM activities span beyond the region. For example, RUFORUM has projects in Benin and Ghana (West Africa).
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Ans: No: the grants are awarded to the universities who then award scholarships to the students. However, the Secretariat periodically posts scholarship announcements on its website (www.ruforum.org )
Ans: Proposals are received throughout the year, but are considered usually twice, February-March and August-September, depending on availability of funding. However, special grant announcements may have specific deadlines: please periodically check the RUFORUM Website
Qn: What are the basic requirements for a RUFORUM grant?
Ans: The Principle Investigator must meet the eligibility criteria; the proposal must comply with the proposal submission guidelines; the proposal must involve training of at least 2 Masters students; andthere must be a partner from outside the University team. The grant ceilings are variable, depending on the call, but usually $60,000 to support research and training of at least 2 Masters Students.
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