Overview
South African stream of the SGCI multilateral research call supporting African-led, multi-country consortia aligned with the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2034.
Complete grant details
The SGCI–STISA 2034 call supports multi-country African research consortia in areas including agriculture, health, artificial intelligence and digital technologies, energy, and environment/climate resilience. The Africa-wide call has US$12 million in research grants, requires at least three institutions from at least three SGCI countries, allows up to five co-applicant institutions from five countries, and supports projects of up to 36 months. For the South African stream, the NRF states that successful consortium members may receive up to R1,500,000 over three years, subject to evaluation and approval under NRF and SGCI rules.
Eligibility requirements
For South Africa, principal investigators must be South African citizens or permanent residents, reside in South Africa, and be affiliated with a recognized South African public higher-education or research institution. Researchers from SMEs, private companies, industry and NGOs may participate but cannot serve as the South African PI and are expected to meet their own participation costs. A historically disadvantaged South African institution must form part of the project consortium. The consortium must also satisfy the Africa-wide multi-country requirements.
Tips for this grant
Practical Job and Scholarship guidance. These tips do not replace official rules or create new eligibility requirements.
- Check eligibility, funding coverage, study/project level and every required document before investing time in the application.
- Prepare transcripts, references, language tests, proposal/motivation statement and proof documents early.
- Separate the scholarship deadline from any university/program admission deadline; they may be different.
- Treat “fully funded” as a source fact only when the official provider explicitly confirms the covered costs.
Verification notes
Verified against the current official South African NRF call and the SGCI call portal. Both give the EOI deadline as 25 September 2026 at 23:59 EDT (26 September 2026 03:59 UTC). The R1,500,000 cap applies specifically to successful South African consortium members, while US$12 million is the overall Africa-wide call envelope.
Job and Scholarship is the discovery and verification layer. Confirm eligibility, dates, salary/funding and application instructions on the original source before submitting anything.
National Research Foundation of South Africa / SGCI ↗