The Capacity building for Female Scientists in East Africa (CAFÉ-SEA) is a project funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (PSIA2020-3073) using UK Aid from the UK government to support global health research, as part of the EDCTP2 programme supported by the European Union and coordinated under the Eastern Africa Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR), which is an EDCTP-funded network of excellence. The primary goal of CAFÉ-SEA is to build capacity for research among female scientists in infectious diseases in the Eastern Africa region.

Women are under-represented in the academic science careers including health research. Less women win research grants; they tend to have fewer publications than their male counterparts and fewer women are appointed to senior academic positions. In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of women scientists is even smaller than in other parts of the world with a huge disparity between men and women in higher positions in science and education achievements. Family and gender related responsibilities are among factors that hinder most women from undertaking higher education at MSc and PhD levels in Africa. Following the current challenges of increased epidemics of emerging/remerging diseases such as Ebola and COVID-19 among others, there is a high demand for high quality scientists and researchers to be equipped with skills and knowledge in the management of patients and preparedness of epidemic response as well as the required high quality clinical research.

With funding from the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), EACCR CAFÉ-SEA project will conduct a multidisciplinary PhD training programme to equip up to seven female scientists from under-represented countries in the Eastern Africa region with skills and knowledge in infectious diseases research.

This CAFÉ-SEA PhD programme will be delivered by five partners from the EACCR including Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Uganda, National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) in Tanzania, Kenya Medical Research Institute and African Research Collaboration for Health in Kenya and University of Rwanda in Rwanda. This PhD programme has five tracks which include: Implementation Science; Non-Communicable diseases; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Research and Development; and Health Economics.

Café-SEA was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)(PSIA2020-3073) using UK Aid from the UK government to support the global health research, as part of the EDCTP programme supported by the European Union.