The Open Doors Fellowship is a holistic program that targets women researchers in Africa to help them acquire the necessary hard and soft skills to strengthen their placements within their hosting institutions and, ultimately, avoid dropping out before their consolidation stage.
The ODFP targets post-doctoral and mid-career women researchers conducting agricultural research in African (inter)national research centres. Their program aims to contribute to the consolidation of mid-career researchers and avoid them leaking from the scientific pipeline. Therefore, through its unique conceptualization and implementation, the program is tailored to their participants’ training needs to provide a fulfilling, nurturing and empowering learning experience.
The program is structured in two phases. In Phase 1 (1-4 months), fellows expand their research horizons and scientific network in Belgium through a fully-funded short research stage of three months. This stage occurs in a laboratory where fellows can use equipment not accessible in Africa and learn new techniques and skills relevant to fast-track their research