DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development

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Grants & Bursaries

The DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development facilitates the awarding of bursaries in response to proposals that fall into the thematic areas of the Centre.

Apply for a postgraduate bursary for 2025

The CoE-HUMAN awards bursaries to deserving Master’s and Doctoral students and Post-Doctoral Fellows:

  • Master’s students are funded for two years at R175 795 a year (dependent on Full Cost of Study (FCS) or Partial Cost of Study (PCS))
  • Doctoral students are funded for three years at R182 318 a year (dependent on FCS or PCS).
  • Post-Doctoral Fellows are funded for two years at R200 000 a year.

Grant holders on PCS or FCS funding may receive supplementary funding from another private-sector source, another South African government source, the NRF supervisor’s running expenses (SARChI, CoEs, etc.) or any other source (e.g. Merit Awards), provided that the total funding received from the NRF and the other source(s) does not exceed institutional maximum limit for the respective levels of study. The award of bursaries is governed by the Ministerial Guidelines for Improving Equity in the Distribution of DSI-NRF Bursaries and Fellowships (2013). In terms of these guidelines, bursaries are intended primarily for South African citizens and permanent residents; although a small number of foreign and SADC citizens will be considered. South Africans registered at foreign universities are not eligible.

Applicants are requested to submit the following documents

  1. Proof of registration
  2. Certified copy of your South African ID book (for South African citizens and permanent residents) and Passport (for foreign and SADC citizens)
  3. Project proposal and relevance to the topic of Human Development
  4. Certified copies of your qualifications and academic transcript
  5. Supervisor recommendation and letter of support
  6. Application form

Contact details

Only applications that include the above requirements will be considered. Applicants should submit their documents (submission deadline: 8 April 2024) and direct their enquires to Ms Rebecca Mudau; email: COE.Human@wits.ac.za

Please note the age criteria in the year of application is 30 years for a Master’s degree and 32 years for a Doctoral degree.

National Research Foundation Funding

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