African Space Leaders Award 2025

The African Space Leaders Award aims to recognize SGAC members for their contributions to the space field in the SGAC region of Africa as well as to provide opportunities for talented individuals to attend the 9th African Space Generation Workshop (AF-SGW) that will take place at Nairobi, Kenya on the 11th – 12th December 2025.

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 9th AF-SGW.

Award

A total of 2000 USD will be distributed among 2 winners to support them in order to attend the 9th African Space Generation Workshop. This award will aim to partially cover the round trip travel costs via economy airfare, accommodation and visa costs.

The awardees will be presented with a certificate of award during the 9th AF-SGW.

How to Apply

Applicants will submit their application for the scholarship on the form below. Please note, that in addition to the scholarship form, you must also complete an application to the 9th AF-SGW.  You can find more information about the 9th AF-SGW here.

Guidelines

Eligibility

1. The scholarship is open to all students and young professionals whose nationality and/or country of residence is in the region of Africa. Participants must be SGAC members (registered on the SGAC website) between the age of 18 and 35 years as of the 30th of December, 2025.
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: AFSGW Organising team member, SGAC events attendees, 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.

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 31st October, 2025, 23:59 GMT. Any submissions after the deadline will not be considered.

Responsibilities of Winners

The winner shall:

• • Attend the 9th AF-SGW in its entirety in person
  • Support the running of the 9th AF-SGW (as moderator or rapporteur)
  • Contribute to finalising the 9th AF-SGW report
  • Submit a short report (1 page excluding pictures) and a short video (1 minute) describing his or her experience at the 9th AF-SGW for inclusion on the SGAC 

Reimbursement

1. The award will be paid out after the 9th 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 9th AF-SGW from any other organisation, the Scholarships Coordinators shall be informed. If the applicants don’t inform the scholarship 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

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

Liability

1. Organisers shall not be responsible in the event the 9th 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 9th AF-SGW and 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 and Scholarship Team Members.

Schedule

Contact

For any questions, please refer to SGAC Scholarships Team ([email protected]).

Applications to AF-SLA are now closed.