What International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Research Awards for Africa actually covers.
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Research Awards are prestigious opportunities for Canadian university researchers and their partners in the developing world, including Africa, to conduct collaborative research on development challenges. The IDRC also offers competitive awards for scholars from developing countries to conduct research through its various grant programmes. African doctoral students and researchers at IDRC partner institutions can access funding for research in areas including agriculture, health systems, environment, climate change, information technology, governance, and economic development. IDRC is a Canadian Crown corporation that funds research in developing countries, supporting partnerships between Canadian and African research institutions. Awards provide funding for research activities, data collection, analysis, and knowledge dissemination. Recipients are expected to produce high-quality research outputs that contribute to evidence-based policy-making and sustainable development in Africa. The IDRC also offers its prestigious Doctoral Research Awards for African candidates registered at eligible African universities.
Who can apply.
Open to phd, postdoctoral applicants. Eligible nationalities are listed below.
46 more eligible countries — full list available on the official application page.
Every academic discipline is accepted.
This programme does not restrict by field. Research proposals across humanities, sciences, engineering, agriculture, and medicine are all accepted.
From here to submitted.
Scholar Africa helps you discover, shortlist, and track. The application itself is submitted on the provider's site.
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Save itAdd this to your shortlist so we can recommend similar scholarships and remind you of the deadline.
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Prepare your documentsMost providers ask for the same set — transcripts, references, a personal statement, ID. Use the checklist below to track progress across all your applications.
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Apply on the provider's siteSubmit on the provider's site before June 30, 2026.
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Track the outcomeAdd to your tracker so you can update the status as the provider responds (shortlisted, interview, decision).
Document checklist
Checks are local to this device — they're not stored. Always confirm exact requirements on the provider's official application page.
What we checked, when we checked it.
Scholar Africa runs a link-liveness check on every listing before it goes live and an admin manually reviews every scholarship submitted by providers. International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Research Awards for Africa has been reviewed and verified by our team. Five deeper checks (contact, organisation, winners, third-party, formal audit) are on the roadmap.
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Other scholarships worth a parallel application.
Same eligibility window or destination. Many strong applicants apply to three or four programmes per cycle.