African Space Leader Award

The African Space Leader Award aims to recognise SGAC members for their contributions to the space field in the SGAC region of Africa as well as to provide opportunities to talented individuals to attend the 5th African Space Generation Workshop (AF-SGW) that will take place in a hybrid format with the in-person event taking place in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa from during 26-27 November, 2021.

Description

Embracing diversity is the cornerstone of SGAC’s principles. The goal of the African Space Leaders Award is to provide an opportunity for interaction between members of the space sector with diverse geographic and professional backgrounds. The African Space Leaders Award provides funding support for the attendance of international delegates who bring unique and insightful firsthand perspectives to the 5th AF-SGW.

Award

A total of 2000 USD will be distributed among the winners to support them in order to attend the 5th African Space Generation Workshop. This award will aim to partially cover the round trip travel costs via economy airfare, accommodation, visa costs and possible covid tests.

The awardees will be presented with a certificate of award during the 5th AF-SGW.

How to Apply

Applicants will submit their applications via the scholarship submission form below. Applications are now closed.

Please note, to be eligible for this scholarship, you must have already applied for a delegate position at the 5th AF-SGW.  You can find more information about the 5th AF-SGW here.

Guidelines

Eligibility

1. The scholarship is open to all students and young professionals whose country of residence is in Africa. Participants must be SGAC members (registered on the SGAC website) between the age of 18 and 35 years as of the 26th of November 2021.
2. To be eligible, applicants should have had at least some past contributions to SGAC, as volunteers, or attending SGAC events.
   • Examples of contributions include: attending SGAC events, being a member of an SGAC event team, working with SGAC project groups or being a member of the SGAC team including RCs, NPoCs, Executive Office.
3. Scholarship judges are ineligible for the award.
4. Past winners of the African Space Leaders Award are ineligible for this award.
5. Winners should not receive support from any other source to the event. Should winners receive such support midway through the program, SGAC should be informed and a solution will be sought.
6. Due to the current Covid-19 sanitary crisis, in case the event has to transit to an online version, SGAC reserves the right to withdraw the scholarship.

Submission

1. The language of all submissions must be in English.
2. Applicants will submit their application through the African Space Leaders Award form
3. CVs can be submitted via Word document or pdf file uploaded in the application form.
4. All submissions must be made by the 21st of October 2021, 23:59 GMT. Any submissions after the deadline will not be considered.

Responsibilities of Winners

The winner shall:

• • Attend the 5th AF-SGW in its entirety in-person
  • Support the running of the 5th AF-SGW (as moderator or rapporteur)
  • Contribute to finalising the 5th AF-SGW report
  • Submit a short report (1 page excluding pictures) and a short video (1 minute) describing his or her experience at the 5th AF-SGW for inclusion on the SGAC 

Reimbursement

1. The award will be paid out after the 5th AF-SGW, and upon fulfilment of all requirements in a suitable manner as determined by the scholarship coordinators, including any report submissions and submissions of expense claims. It will be paid out no later than 30 days after fulfilment of all responsibilities.
2. In case applicants receive funding for the 5th AF-SGW by any other organisation, the Scholarships Coordinators shall be informed. If the applicants don’t inform the Scholarships Coordinators, SGAC holds the right to not reimburse the winning author. SGAC aims to reduce the number of double scholarships and will work with the winners to develop a solution in these cases.
3. Applicants are advised to not engage in any expenses until they have formal confirmation that the scholarship has been awarded. The SGAC is not liable for any expenses incurred by applicants in any case where competition is not awarded, or in excess of the value of the awarded grant.
4. Reimbursements will follow the SGAC Scholarships Travel Policy & Reimbursement Guidelines. Please make sure to consult the Guidelines before incurring expenses.
5. Due to the ever-changing nature of international travel and restrictions, SGAC strongly encourages you to purchase insurance coverage to cover your travel expenses.
6. In the interest of spreading opportunities to more members, SGAC reserves the right to prioritise applicants who have not recently received another SGAC scholarship of a similar nature. This is defined as having received a travel grant in the past 2 years, in the same category (either international or regional/national) as this posted award. international awards include scholarships for international events such as SGC/IAC, SGFF and Space Symposium, while regional/national awards refer to events, such as the Space Generation Workshops (SGW), national space generation events (SG[country]) or other regional or national conferences.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

By submitting an entry, applicants agree to permit SGAC to mention their names, affiliations, and headshot picture in connection with the scholarship.

Liability

1. Organisers shall not be responsible in the event the 5th AF-SGW is cancelled. SGAC will not reimburse the award winner, even if he/she has already incurred expenses.
2. Organisers shall not be responsible in the event that the award winner fails to attend the 6th AP-SGW is unable to under extenuating circumstances; in that case the award offer shall become void.
3. Organisers shall not be responsible in the event that the award winner cannot obtain any necessary travel documents; if they are required but not obtained, the award offer shall become void.
4. The award is not transferable to another event or individual.

Evaluation

The assessment of applications for the African Space Leaders Award will be evaluated by a panel of SGAC Chairs, Executive Director, Regional Coordinators, Scholarship Team Members, and the 5th AF-SGW EVent Team representatives.

Schedule