FMxA Science by Women 2023

The Women for Africa Foundation (FMxA), in line with its mission of contributing to the development of Africa through the drive of its women, is launching the 9th Edition of the SCIENCE BY WOMEN program, with the aim to promote African women’s leadership in scientific research and technology transfer and to foster the capacity of the research centers in their home countries. The main goal is to enable African women researchers and scientists to tackle the great challenges faced by Africa through research in health and biomedicine, sustainable agriculture and food security, water, energy, and climate change.

Women’s lives are significantly affected by the repercussions of uncontrolled development; however, social, structural, and economic barriers limit their capacity to tackle the great challenges faced by the continent. The gender disparities in science and technology in both the public and private spheres affect Africa’s population as a whole. Narrowing this gap, which has severe consequences for the balanced and sustainable development of African countries, is vital to achieving long-term progress and equal growth.

The program´s ultimate goal is to enable African women researchers to play a leading role in the transition of Africa to a knowledge-based and innovation-led economy through research that can be transferred into products, processes, services, and technologies having an impact on people´s lives.

To achieve this ambitious goal, FMxA collaborates with the Spanish Centres of Excellence, whose prestige is unanimously recognized throughout Spain and internationally, thereby ensuring excellence in scientific research in various fields. In this 9th edition, our associated research centers are:

• BioCruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute (BC)
• Deusto Institute of Technology (DeustoTech)
• The Basque Center for Climate Change (BC3)
• Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)
• Vall d´Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR)
• Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
• Basque Center for Macromolecular Design and Engineering (POLYMAT Fundazioa)
• The Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM)
• Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN)
• Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC)
• Biomedical and Health Research Institute (IUIBS)
• Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB)
• Spanish National Center of Biotechnology (CNB)
• Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII)
• Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)
• Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT)
• Centre for Genomics Regulation (CRG)
• The Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA – UAB)
• Institute for Neuroscience (IN)
• Material Physics Center (MPC – CFM)
• Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (IAS)
• The “Fundación para la Investigación del Hospital Clínico de la Comunidad Valenciana” (INCLIVA)
• Campus of International Excellence in Agrifood (CEIA3) & Cordoba University
• Barcelona School of Economics (BSE)
• Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Valdecilla (IDIVAL)
• Castilla-La Mancha Health Research Institute (IDISCAM)

Each of these centers will host 1 senior woman researcher for a six-month fellowship. ISCIII and BC3 will host 2 fellows.

The preferred areas of research include:

• Health and Bio-medicine
• Energy, Water, and Climate Change
• Sustainable Agriculture and Food Safety

Mathematics, information and communication technologies, as well as physics, astrophysics, materials physics, and all STEM disciplines, are instrumental to research in the above areas.