APMEN Fellowship Program 2012 Guidelines

Introduction


As the first major effort of its kind, the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) was established in 2009 to bring attention and support to the under-appreciated and little-known work of malaria elimination in Asia Pacific, with a particular focus on Plasmodium vivax (P.vivax).

APMEN is composed of twelve Asia Pacific Country Partners (Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vanuatu) that are pursuing malaria elimination, as well as regional partners from the academic, development, non-governmental and private sectors and global agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO). The mission of this diverse but cohesive Network is to collaboratively address the unique challenges of malaria elimination in the region through leadership, advocacy, capacity building, knowledge exchange, and building the evidence base.

The APMEN Fellowship Program was launched on World Malaria Day in April 2010. The aim of the Fellowship Program is to equip the next generation of leaders and health workers from low and middle-income malaria-endemic regions with the tools and training to guide malaria elimination in the critical coming decades. The Fellowship Program is also designed to strengthen the exchanges and lesson sharing among Country Partners and Partner Institutions in the region.


Objectives

APMEN Fellowships provide capacity building opportunities for short-term field work, professional development and advanced training in issues and techniques that are important to malaria elimination but not customarily available in the recipient’s home country. The skills and knowledge acquired by the Fellow through the program will benefit the National Malaria Control Program of the Fellow’s home country through the sharing of their learning’s and newfound expertise. Fellowships are also aimed to help promote cooperation and exchange of scientific knowledge relating to malaria elimination between APMEN Country Partners. Fellows are expected to meet a high standard of performance and take independent initiative to engage with the resources available in the site of their Fellowship and with their host mentor.


About the APMEN Fellowships

Up to 5 Fellowships will be awarded each year. Fellows must be from an APMEN Country Partner and endorsed by their National Malaria Control Program. Fellowships must be completed within a 1-3 month period.

The budget for each APMEN Fellowship recipient should not exceed AUD$17,000. The APMEN Secretariat will source and directly cover travel, accommodation and visa costs, including the provision of a daily living allowance, based on WHO rates, for the duration of your APMEN Fellowship. If the proposed Fellowship requires any additional funding for equipment/resources, this must be outlined in the application form. A further $2,000 AUD is available to the host institutions for expenses incurred in relation to the Fellowship. The Fellowship must be completed within one year of receiving the award.

The Fellowship topic must be relevant to the needs of the National Malaria Control Program of the applicant. All Fellow’s are required to have a home mentor and a host mentor for the duration of their Fellowship.

APMEN encourages Fellows to produce a manuscript to be submitted for publication and/or give a scientific poster or presentation at an international meeting.



Role of the Home Mentor

Applicants are required to nominate a home mentor in their application. The home mentor should provide guidance and supervision to the Fellow during the proposal development and at regular intervals throughout the duration of the Fellowship. Towards the conclusion of the Fellowship, the home mentor should help to ensure a quality report. They should also help the Fellow apply lessons learned to the benefit of the National Malaria Control Program.


Role of Host Mentor

The host mentor will provide similar support to that of the home mentor, but will focus particularly on facilitating the completion of training in the host country. Host mentors should be knowledgeable about the area of study, accessible, engaged and helpful in connecting Fellow’s with relevant resources and contacts in the host country. The host mentors work should correspond with the proposed study and training of the Fellow.

Host mentors should be from an APMEN Country Partner or Partner Institution. However, in situations where the appropriate training opportunity is at an institution not affiliated with APMEN, the applicant is required to provide a detailed explanation in their application which will be considered by the APMEN Fellowship Committee.

It is ideal that a host mentor is identified in the application stage. However, if no host mentor can be identified by the applicant, the APMEN secretariat can assist in linking the applicant with a suitable host mentor. Please contact the APMEN secretariat at apmen@sph.uq.edu.au prior to submitting your application so we can facilitate linking you to a suitable host mentor.


Conditions of Fellowship

§ Candidates must return to their country of origin and apply their newly acquired skills and services in the year following their Fellowship


§ Fellowships cannot be undertaken in the candidates home country


§ APMEN Fellowships will not provide or aim to provide a direct commercial benefit to any company or consortium


§ APMEN Fellowships will not fund activities that have already commenced


§ In situations where an applicant, incurs a serious illness/medical condition or another issue arises which prevents further participation in the APMEN Fellowship program and wishes to withdraw, a request for withdrawal must be sent via email to apmen@sph.uq.edu.au



Eligibility Criteria

Candidates must be from an APMEN Country Partner and endorsed by their National Malaria Control Program
Candidates must have a home mentor
Candidates must be currently engaged in medical or health work in their national health organization or at a research or educational institution
Candidates must demonstrate that they have completed at least undergraduate training and have at least one year of professional experience in working with malaria
Candidates must comply with the host country’s regulations and licenses to practice relating to any proposed clinical placements during their Fellowship
Candidates must be able to understand, speak and write the proposed language of training sufficiently to pursue their studies successfully
Candidates must note their eligibility to satisfy nominated host country visa requirements



Application Process
Candidates must ensure that the Selection Criteria listed below is addressed in their application and that they meet all the requirements outlined in the Eligibility Criteria. Statements from both the applicant’s home mentor and host mentor must be provided with the application.

Please refer to the checklist at the end of the application form to ensure all of the required documentation and criteria are included and addressed.

Applications must be received by Friday, 24 August, 2012.

Applications are to be emailed to: apmen@sph.uq.edu.au with the subject “APMEN Fellowship application”.


Selection Criteria

Proposed topic of study is malaria elimination focused Strength and feasibility of mentoring relationship
Clear learning objectives are identified and feasibility that these goals can be achieved within the scope of the Fellowship experience
Consistency of the proposal with nationally approved priorities in the context of malaria elimination
Learnings can be translated into clear deliverables that will facilitate elimination in the home country program
Candidate has a strong educational background as well as experiences and accomplishments that reflect a commitment to malaria elimination in their country
Candidate demonstrates commitment to a future career in malaria in their home country



Selection and Award Process
Fellows will be selected based on the merit of their written application and against the aboveSelection Criteria by the APMEN Fellowship Program Committee. The Fellowship Committee is composed of 3 Country Partner representatives, 1 Partner Institution representative and 1 APMEN Secretariat representative. The Fellowship Program Committee will nominate successful applicants by consensus, who will then be forwarded to the APMEN Advisory Board for confirmation and final approval.

All applicants (successful and non-successful) will be notified in writing by the APMEN Secretariat of the outcome of their application. The successful applicants will also be advertised on the APMEN website. Non-successful applicants are encouraged to contact the APMEN Secretariat to request feedback from the Fellowship Program Committee on their application.

Selection and Award process timeline:


APMEN Fellowship Program 2012 applications open 16 July 2012


APMEN Fellowship Program 2012 application deadline 24 August 2012


Fellowship Program Committee application review period August 2012


APMEN Fellowship Program 2012 awards granted September 2012


Reporting Requirements
Upon completion of the Fellowship, Fellows will be required to prepare a written report (outline will be provided by the APMEN Secretariat) to share with the APMEN Fellowship Program Committee. This report will describe the Fellow’s experiences and will demonstrate how, upon return to their home country, they will apply lessons learned to the benefit of the National Malaria Control Program. Fellows may also be required to provide a complete financial acquittal on completion of their Fellowship which will include an itemised list of their expenditures.

Fellows may be invited to present their Fellowship experience in person or via poster presentation during the APMEN annual meeting.


Alumni
Upon completion of the APMEN Fellowship Program, Fellow’s will automatically become members of the APMEN Fellowship Alumni. The aim of the Alumni is to promote sustained information sharing and collaboration on malaria elimination related work and to encourage continued engagement with APMEN.