The APARET fellowship programme will catalyse independent research activities of graduates of Field Epidemiology Training Programmes (FETP) and Field Epidemiology Laboratory Training programmes (FELTP) in Africa. APARET fellows will be employed as research associates by African APARET partners for 2 years (salary provided by host institute). During the first year of their contract they will be embedded in the EU-supported APARET programme. A core part of the fellowship will be the application for a major research grant.The APARET programme will consist of:- Workshops: a two-week initiation workshop with face-to face contact between fellow and mentor and workshops on topics such as research funding, project management, ethical issues; a one-week proposal writing and project-planning workshop; a one-week final seminar, where fellows will present their result.- A mentoring programme linking each fellow with a local supervisor and an external mentor providing support for scientific and grant writing activities- Small research grants enabling the fellows to perform independent scientific activities at their host institutes.- Embedding the fellows in a network of African and European epidemiologistsAPARET can be credited towards a PhD degree of the respective university. EU-funding covers 3 successive cohorts of fellows. APARET will support the fellows in meeting the following objectives:I) Main objective: Prepare, write and submit a proposal for a major research grant.II) Additional objectives:1. Plan, develop and conduct an epidemiological research project.2. Perform epidemiological analyses3. Submit a scientific manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal.4. Critically review and provide feedback on a scientific paper.5. Participate in the training of other epidemiologists.APARET supports well-trained epidemiologists in establishing a career in Africa.