TIBA’s Work Package 4 on Capacity Building will run throughout the programme's lifetime. This is developed through technology transfer, study visits and workshops, together with masters, doctoral and postdoctoral training. Individual projects will complement our Tool Kit projects. TIBA’s training and capacity building plans are aligned and integrated with ongoing initiatives by African partners such as the WHO-TDR and DELTAS Africa (Developing Excellence in Leadership Training and Science, funded by AESA and Wellcome to 2020) and hosted by 4 partners (Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe).

TIBA is supporting at least one postgraduate studentship in each African partner country, with the opportunity for research visits to the University of Edinburgh or any other partner institute. There are also at least nine 1-year ‘Out of Africa’ postdoctoral fellowships for African scientists to visit Edinburgh to acquire specific skills. African partners are equally contributing 13 Masters, 8 PhDs, and 3 research fellowships. The University of Edinburgh will contribute at least 2 PhDs and will offer at least one technical training workshop in each Africa partner country, modelled on our successful short courses on 'Faeces to Phylogeny' in Kenya and on ‘Planetary Health’ in Rwanda and Uganda. Topics covered will include: infection biology and immunology; synthetic biology; applied genomics and bioinformatics; innovation for health; health systems.

TIBA will also contribute to Edinburgh’s massive online open course (MOOC) programme. All capacity building activities will adhere to the ‘7 principles for strengthening research capacity in LMICs’. In Edinburgh TIBA will link with four initiatives that support African students: Wellcome Trust PhD programme in Host, Pathogens and Global Health, the MasterCard Foundation Scholars programme, the Darwin Trust, and the Oak Foundation Africa Training Fund (collective value over £10M).

Here is a link to our postgraduate fellows from all 9 partner countries http://tiba-partnership.org/postgraduate-fellows.

TIBA Out of Africa Postdoctoral fellowship projects are designed to address one or more of the diverse challenges of health care systems in Africa. Each Postdoctoral project will address a current knowledge gap that is resulting in either non-deployment of diagnostics or interventions or a lack of operational knowledge to improve the health of affected populations. Each project has a total budget of £85,000; has a specific outcome/impact that is relevant to the populations affected by the infection; and  must last for one year and be completed by the end of May 2020. The projects involve work at the University of Edinburgh (or another TIBA partner institution), although this does not need to be for the full 12 months of the fellowship.