The GSF application cycle for 2023-2024 is now closed

Winslow Tohoku group photo sHayashi eed

The GSF Application is now closed. Winners will be announced in early May. 

MIT-Africa Seed Fund

Interested Principal Investigators from all schools, departments, labs, and centers across MIT are encouraged to submit proposals in the following categories:

1. Projects in all research areas that will contribute to addressing a specific challenge in Africa or shared by African colleagues. These can be the beginning explorations of larger research projects, they can be entirely self-contained research projects, or they can be planning exercises that result in a more well-articulated and larger-scale research proposal.

2. Other non-research activities that promote engagement and collaboration in topics and activities that may involve Africa, such as developing a course, masterclass, or hackathon, strengthening the innovation/entrepreneurship ecosystem, etc.

Funding may be used for, but is not limited to

  • travel & meeting costs to facilitate collaboration in Africa
  • MIT salaries (e.g. faculty summer months, RAs, postdocs, etc.)
  • materials & supplies
  • services
  • equipment
  • indirect costs

Funding may not be used for salaries for foreign collaborators.

All general Global Seed Funds criteria, application, and evaluation procedures apply.

$35,000

Projects developed in consultation with visitors of the MIT-Africa Distinguished Visitors Program or inspired by these visits are of particular interest to this funding mechanism.

Ari Jacobovits

Ari Cropped Headshot

Managing Director, MIT-Africa Seed Fund