Apply now! Call for Mentees: One Health Early Career Champions

The One Health Early Career Champions–program (ECC) offers you the opportunity to become a part of the ECC community at the universities of Nairobi and Helsinki. As a mentee in the program, you will benefit from the personal career advice and guidance of two carefully chosen mentors and one experienced researcher from each university. This opportunity is open to a maximum of twelve doctoral researchers, six from Nairobi and six from Helsinki.

The ECC program covers a range of One Health research areas, including virology, anti-microbial resistance, food and nutrition. It welcomes applicants from all disciplinary backgrounds who can demonstrate an understanding of how their research fits into this theme, with a maximum of twelve mentees accepted into the program (six from each university). The One Health Early Career Champions –program contributes to the strategic partnership between the two universities. It facilitates career advancement and networking of early career researchers from various backgrounds, focusing on One Health. The One Health Early Career Champions–program follows the tradition of the One Health Early Career Champions –pilot, which was successfully implemented in the years 2021-2022.

The term of the program is May 2023 – December 2024, after which you will become a member of the group of ECC alumni. You are expected to participate in monthly seminars, regular mentee–mentor sessions, other possible tasks and events (ECC-kickoff and the grande finale), and four workshops with different themes (such as career planning or stakeholder management) during the program term. All events will be online and on-site in Nairobi and Helsinki. The ECC programme will cover travel & related costs. In addition to these events, you will also work on a yearly challenge with your peers from Nairobi and Helsinki.

By becoming an ECC mentee, you will benefit in many ways, including:

• increasing your network
• finding new opportunities and sharing knowledge
• empowering your career prospects
• enhancing your visibility within and beyond academia

The selection of mentees will consider diversity in research areas and the motivation to participate in the events of the program and the mentoring sessions.

You can find more information about the program on the following websites:

• https://blogs.helsinki.fi/earlycareerchampions

If you're interested in applying, fill out the application form before the closing date of 24.04.2023 (5 pm Kenyan time) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwN6LAZa_zhrocZqk3Ez-Rs3rxYnr2cRf8Y19cyZroRS8mxQ/viewform?usp=sharing

 For more information on this opportunity, contact Dr Marianne Mureithi (marianne@uonbi.ac.ke) or Christine Obare (cobare@kaviuon.org).

Join us on this exciting journey towards becoming a One Health Early Career Champion!