STISA-2034: One month left: Is your consortium ready?

With less than one month until the deadline, African researchers interested in the SGCI–STISA 2034 Multilateral Research Call should be moving from partnership-building to proposal preparation.

The countdown has begun. Researchers and institutions have until 25 September 2026 at 23:59 EDT to submit expressions of interest for the Call, an opportunity that supports Africa-led research and innovation aligned with the continent’s Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2034).

The call is built around multi-country African research consortia, bringing together institutions from across Africa to address shared development challenges.

The campaign guidance specifies consortia of three to five institutions from at least three different SGCI countries, with participation open to African universities, public research organisations and government research institutions.

With four weeks remaining, researchers who have identified potential partners should now be asking whether their consortium is sufficiently defined. Partners need to understand their respective roles, expertise and contribution to the proposed research, while the overall team should have the capacity to manage the funding and deliver impact at scale.

The proposed research must also connect clearly to the call’s five priority areas: health; agriculture and food systems; artificial intelligence and digital technologies; energy and environment; and climate resilience. The call places particular emphasis on Africa-led research, evidence for vulnerable and underserved populations, and strong links between research, policy and development impact.

For researchers still looking for collaborators, there is still time to act. The STISA-2034 Research Matchmaking component of the call’s landing page is designed to help researchers and institutions identify potential partners and build or join multi-country consortia.

But with the deadline approaching, waiting until the final days could leave little time to resolve partnership, eligibility or proposal issues.

The next four weeks should therefore be about turning partnerships into a coherent research proposition that aligns with STISA 2034 and demonstrates how research can contribute to meaningful policy and development impact.

Is your consortium ready?

Full eligibility requirements, participating countries, and consortium-building resources are available on the call’s official landing page. Applicants are encouraged to review these details closely before beginning a proposal, and to use the matchmaking platform to confirm potential partners meet the call’s country and institutional criteria.

The call is supported through a partnership of African Science Granting Councils, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Government of Norway, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and Wellcome.

Explore the full eligibility requirements and access the application portal at https://call.sgci.africa/. Expressions of interest are due September 25, 2026.

Please check out the stories and let us know what you think. We would love to hear from you!

Let’s continue the conversation on our social media

Follow us on LinkedIn and X

Published on 31 August 2026

By Jackie Opara-Fatoye