2025 Applied Epi Scholarships
Applied Epi is accepting applications between January 20 and February 10, 2025 for R scholarships. These scholarships support government agencies or operations-oriented NGOs in low- and middle-income countries who work in public health and epidemiology. Eligible teams gain access to free or discounted services, such as the Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course and the Support Desk. This initiative empowers teams to transition to or expand their use of R, enabling them to drive meaningful public health impact in their communities.
Other Available Scholarships
If you work in a low-resource jurisdiction in the United States, then you may be eligible for the US CDC sponsored scholarship.
Eligibility
To be eligible for scholarship consideration, the application must meet all the following criteria:
Apply on behalf of a team of 1-20 people* (e.g. branch, division, etc)
Be located in a low- or middle-income country
Belong to a government agency or an operations-oriented NGO
Perform work in public health or epidemiology that is applied and data-oriented
Have the support of the organisation’s senior leadership
*For small entities, teams of one person will be considered.
Be sure to read the FAQs for more detailed information about the scholarships and eligibility criteria!
Apply here
Applications will be open between January 20 and February 10, 2025.
Before you begin the application process, be sure to gather the following information:
How your team is planning on transitioning to R.
A brief description of each team member’s educational attainment, computer literacy, data management and analysis experience, and how they will be incorporating R into their regular tasks.
What your team has done to look for other funding sources.
Once you have gathered all the above information, click here to start the application process. You will not be able to save and return to the form so be ready to complete the form in-full. Applications could take between 15-60 mins to complete, depending on team size. You can complete an offline version and then copy and paste the prepared responses into the application form.
Next steps
If your team is chosen for the next step of the application process, your team leader will need to attend a 45-minute interview in mid-to-late February 2025. Recipients can enrol in any of the scheduled 2025 Intro to R courses. Larger teams (10 or more) may be able to schedule a private course. After completing the course, recipients will have access to the Support Desk for 1-on-1 video calls for help converting their workflows.
FAQs
About the scholarship
There are two types of Applied Epi scholarships:
A partial scholarship means that the organisation contributes a portion of the costs for the services they receive. During the interview stage, Applied Epi will discuss the organisation’s ability to pay and tailor the scholarship accordingly.
For example, if an organisation can pay for two seats but needs four seats, Applied Epi will take this into account. Partial scholarships allow more organisations to benefit, as funding can be extended to support more teams.
Teams offered a scholarship package can enroll their team members in their choice of Applied Epi’s public cohorts scheduled for 2025. Public cohorts begin approximately each month, running at various times (mornings, afternoons, and evenings in various time zones). The course is ten synchronous sessions of 3.5 hours which run twice per week for five weeks. Support Desk calls can be booked for any time, with 24 hours advance notice. For larger teams, private cohorts may be available with a custom schedule.
No, this is entirely up to you. Consider the benefits of having participants learn together versus the need to maintain your team’s capacity to perform routine activities.
For the January 2025 round of scholarship applications, both applications and courses are only available in English. Teams must be able to complete the course in English to be eligible. However, Applied Epi hopes to expand language options in the future, so be sure to check back during the next round.
Eligibility
These scholarships are specifically designed to benefit Applied Epi’s core audience: teams working in low-resource settings. Supporting teams in low- or middle-income countries is central to Applied Epi’s mission to advance public health and epidemiology where it is needed most.
If you are in a high-income country, check our other sponsored scholarships list to see if any match your situation (e.g. for low-resource jurisdictions in the USA, sponsored by the US CDC).
Applying as a team fosters collaboration and shared learning, making the transition to R smoother and more effective. This approach ensures consistent use of R, builds organisational resilience, and supports achieving public health or epidemiological goals.
If you work for a small organisation and believe that you are the only person who needs to learn R, you can still apply as a team of one! The application process remains the same, requiring leadership support and a clear plan for transitioning to R.
Yes, staff or fellows of Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) may apply either as an FETP team, or as part of another government team they are placed within.
These scholarships are tailored to support Applied Epi’s core audience—teams actively working in public health and applied epidemiology. The goal is to enhance disease control efforts in low-resource settings by equipping practitioners who directly impact applied epidemiology.
As such, scholarships are not likely to be awarded to students, academic teams, or those focused solely on clinical or research activities. An exception may be if either the FETP or a regional disease prevention office (or similar) is placed within a university.
The scholarships are designed for those in applied epidemiology and public health, ensuring stronger in-system disease control in low-resource settings. Practitioners in these fields have the most impact on applied epidemiology, so other disciplines are not eligible.
We would encourage you to apply, and write about why your work has a direct impact on disease control.
If you work in One Health and can demonstrate the impact of your work on human health, we encourage you to apply.
No. We suggest that you encourage your government partners to apply for the scholarships. Please also contact us about enrolling your team in our public or private training courses.
Application
Applications for the Applied Epi scholarship are open from January 20 to February 10, 2025. All applicants will be notified of the screening results. The Point-of-Contact and Team Lead (these can be the same person) for teams advancing to the next stage will be invited to complete a 45-minute interview in mid-to-late February. Final decisions and notifications will be made by early March 2025.
It is recommended to coordinate and submit one consolidated application on behalf of the relevant units within the organisation. Details of your situation can be provided. If further clarification is needed, additional discussion via email is available.
It’s important to understand how R could benefit your team and what conversations have taken place with senior leadership about this transition. Teams that have considered their needs and discussed potential changes with leadership are often better prepared to integrate R into their workflows successfully. For teams without a plan, Applied Epi can help facilitate discussions with leadership to explore next steps, such as creating a detailed transition plan.
Not necessarily. Due to limited availability, the team may be offered fewer seats than requested. In such cases, the team composition will be discussed before finalising the participant list.
Additional team members can be added by purchasing seats through Applied Epi’s private or public courses and Support Desk packages, which are available on our website.