The Uganda AIDS Commission Young Leaders Fellowship, FY 2026/27

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The Uganda AIDS Commission Young Leaders Fellowship, FY 2026/27

August 2026

Background

Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) coordinates the multi-sectoral response to HIV and AIDS in Uganda. UAC and partners therefore developed the National HIV and AIDS Research Agenda to guide HIV and AIDS research activities in the country. However, key priority questions in the research agenda remain unaddressed, in part because of the funding mechanisms and institutional priorities guiding HIV and AIDS research. Social, structural and behavioral research needed to end the AIDS epidemic in Uganda does not usually take center stage. There also is limited emphasis on locally developed interventions and limited meaningful involvement of local governments and communities in research.

UAC established the UAC Young Leaders Fellowship to address these

gaps. The UAC Young Leaders Fellowship aims to build the capacity of junior HIV and AIDS scientists in Uganda to address questions in the national HIV and AIDS research agenda, strengthen local government and community participation in research and improve HIV and AIDS knowledge sharing and knowledge translation.

Fellowship structure

The UAC Young Leaders Fellowship is implemented by UAC in close collaboration with universities. The program targets young people who must be admitted/enrolled in a master’s degree program and intend to do their dissertation on an HIV and AIDS question. No preference is given to specific disciplines. Fellows are selected through a rigorous competitive process. Selected fellows receive enhanced research training and support to conduct HIV and AIDS research drawing their questions from the national HIV and AIDS research agenda, while they continue to progress through their master’s degree programs. The UAC Young Leaders Fellowship is a capacity building program and is neither a scholarship nor a grant. Selected fellows will continuously interact with UAC through its national or regional offices for the duration of their fellowship. Fellows are mentored through attachments to universities, participating institutions including UAC, and host local governments for their research.

Fellows will attend a series of modular, extra-curricular trainings

organized by UAC in collaboration with universities. The modular trainings cover roughly 6 areas:

Communication and Writing; Study Design and Research Theory; Quantitative Data Analysis;

Qualitative Data Analysis; Leadership and Management; and Basics of HIV and AIDS. By the end of their participation in the program, fellows should be able to independently design and implement high-quality studies. Program alumni are expected to become leaders in research, HIV, AIDS and health. For the 2026/27 financial year, UAC will select a maximum of 3 fellows. Fewer individuals may be selected if applications do not meet the required standard.

Goal

The UAC Young Leaders Fellowship is a targeted intervention to increase the number of Ugandan scientists addressing questions in the national HIV and AIDS research agenda. The program enables young people to meaningfully participate in the HIV and AIDS response in Uganda through research

and innovation, contribute to the development and evaluation of locally developed HIV/AIDS interventions and strengthen partnerships among UAC, universities and local governments. The goal is to build a community of high-caliber young scientists that can drive a domestic science agenda for HIV and AIDS and contribute to ending AIDS as a public health threat in Uganda.

Specific objectives

1. To strengthen the capacity of junior scientists in Uganda to conduct high-quality HIV, AIDS and health research by supporting their training, mentorship and professional development
2. To contribute to the development and evaluation of interventions against HIV and AIDS by supporting research conducted by junior scientists in Uganda
3. To improve the communication of HIV, AIDS and health science to the general public, specific communities in Uganda, and central and local government policy makers
4. To strengthen institutional capacity at UAC and other participating institutions to lead and implement HIV and AIDS research under the National HIV and AIDS Research Agenda

Fellowship duration

The duration of the fellowship is 2 years.

Fellowship support

For FY 2026/27, the program will support the following activities as appropriate:

1. Mentorship meetings organized by fellows.
2. Technical assistance and capacity building through modular trainings organized by UAC in collaboration with Universities.
3. Consultative and dissemination meetings organized by fellows at UAC, universities, local governments, and where appropriate, other relevant organizations.
4. Participation in UAC activities for capacity building, advocacy or research.
5. Research Ethics Committee (REC) fees and Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) fees for ethics review and approval of research proposals.
6. Reasonable and appropriate data collection, data management and data analysis costs. Funds for research costs are not disbursed to fellows as lumpsum. Instead, funds are advanced or costs reimbursed based on approved requisitions. Fellows are expected to account for all funds advanced to them. Re-imbursements are based on submitting approved documentation for allocable costs.
   Because of the program’s focus on capacity building, benefits to fellows generally extend beyond research support.
7. Tuition fees and living expenses are not supported. Prospective fellows must show evidence that they have alternative sources of support for these expenses, e.g., a salary or personal funds.

Expected outputs and deliverables

Enrolled fellows are expected to:

1. Select a research question from the national HIV and AIDS research agenda. At the application stage, only a research question is required. A concept note or a proposal are not required at the application stage. Detailed proposals will be developed later by successful applicants.
2. Identify a hosting local government for the study. Hosting local governments will support the fellow in areas such as proposal refinement, data access, and knowledge translation.
3. Identify a mentor from participating institutions, e.g., a university, a relevant Government Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA) or the community (NGO/CSO, private sector organization). Mentors should have appropriate training and experience in research. A letter of support from the mentor is required at the application stage. A second mentor from UAC will be assigned to successful applicants.
4. Develop an appropriate study proposal. Fellows will be supported during proposal development.
5. Be on normal progress in their master’s degree program throughout the fellowship.
6. Organize and attend meetings with mentors to discuss the proposal and other research products.
7. Submit proposal to a research ethics committee (REC) and, subsequently, UNCST, for ethics review and approval
8. Present proposal and results to mentors, UAC, the university, and the hosting local government.

    

9. Submit regular progress reports to UAC.

    

10. Present an abstract at national and regional scientific meetings organized by UAC.
11. Prepare and submit a manuscript to the National HIV and AIDS research database at UAC and, subsequently, to a peer-reviewed journal.

Priority research topics

Prospective fellows may select their research topics from The National HIV and AIDS research agenda for 2025/26-2029/30. For FY 2026/27, UAC will give priority to the following topics:

1. HIV Cure: theoretical framework; systematic literature reviews; social and behavioral factors affecting HIV cure; ethical issues around an HIV cure; assessments of potential HIV cure interventions.
2. Locally developed interventions for HIV and AIDS treatment: expanding options for the care and treatment of HIV/AIDS; adjuncts and alternatives to antiretroviral therapy; assessments of herbal medicines; assessments of natural and traditional remedies.
3. Mortality: common diagnoses at death; systematic analyses of mortality data; predictors of mortality; causes of death among people living with HIV (PLWH); mortality audits.
4. HIV prevention: explanations for differential HIV prevalence across geographies, age groups, and sub-populations; factors influencing mother-to-child HIV transmission.
5. Studies in the social, psychological, and spiritual aspects of HIV and AIDS: efficacy of counseling and other psychological/behavioral interventions; meaning of HIV and/or AIDS; social, ethical and spiritual aspects of HIV/AIDS
6. Innovations in community engagement: improving communication of HIV, AIDS and health information; telling the stories of persons with HIV and AIDS.
7. Innovations in the multi-sectoral coordination of HIV and AIDS programs: assessments and interventions to strengthen HIV response partnerships, e.g., relationships between implementing partners and local governments; restructuring and improving subnational coordination structures.
8. Innovations in data sharing and data use: assessing or developing cloud-based platforms for research collaboration; using program data for implementation research.
9. Health equity: assessments of HIV and AIDS service delivery and access to services for key and priority populations; quality of services and service standards; development of relevant data collection tools; impact of policies on HIV indicators.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible, the applicant should:

1. Be a Ugandan citizen aged ≤35 years.
2. Be admitted or enrolled into a master’s degree program at a university. Persons admitted to foreign universities are eligible if their degree programs are online. Such applicants need to demonstrate that they can attend UAC activities in-person throughout the duration of their fellowship and that they have an appropriate in-country mentor
3. Indicate willingness to undertake research in HIV and AIDS for their dissertation and commit to meeting expected fellowship deliverables.
4. Identify and obtain a letter of support from an appropriate mentor at a domestic participating institution, e.g., university, MDA, NGO, CSO, private sector organization or Local Government.

Scoring criteria

The following criteria are important in the ranking of candidates:

1. Feasibility of the research topic
2. Previous academic performance
3. Relevance of the research topic to the strategic objectives of UAC and the goals of the Government of Uganda
4. Potential of research project to improve health for persons living with HIV