France’s Agence Nationale de Recherche sur le Sida | Maladies Infectieuses Emergentes (ANRS MIE – National Agency for AIDS Research – Emerging Infectious Diseases) was founded in 1988 by the Ministry of Research and Technology as part of the government’s plan to combat the AIDS epidemic. Its mission is to evaluate, promote, coordinate and fund research on AIDS and human retroviral infections, in collaboration with other French institutions conducting biological and medical research.

ANRS MIE has announced the awardees for three fellowship calls launched earlier in 2024.

The International Network Master’s Fellowship will fund young researchers in the ANRS MIE international network. The fellowships will enable candidates to complete a Master’s 2 or a Mastère Spécialisé (MS), opening up possibilities for them to pursue a career in research on a topic relevant to the Agency. The call was targeted at researchers in LMICd residing in an ANRS MIE partner country.  Fellows will receive up to €20,000 (excluding management costs). In 2024, three fellowships were awarded:

• Heloisa Ferreira Pinto Santos (Brazil) was awarded the fellowship to complete a Master’s course in Molecular and Cell Biology (One Health Emerging Infectious Diseases).
• Diadji Diop (Senegal) was awarded the fellowship to complete a Master’s course on the methodology of public health interventions (Université Paris Saclay, France).
• Guindo Oumoul Nadine Etoundi Mballa (Cameroon) was awarded the fellowship (but has since withdrawn the application) for a public health Master’s focused on epidemiology, clinical research and evaluation (Université de Lorraine, France).

The ANRS MIE AC 49 Fellowships: Modelling human infectious diseases is intended to fund projects that focus on the modelling of human infectious diseases that are relevant to ANRS MIE in all its aspects. Eligible applicants are researchers affiliated with a French public or private research organisation who are applying to a French doctoral school. They must hold or be in the process of obtaining their Master’s 2. The doctoral funding will have a duration of 36 months and covers the salary of the researcher plus operating costs. In 2024, two candidates were awarded funding:

• Bastien Brebel (Institut Pasteur, Paris): ‘A strategy based on AI and interactomics to bolster preparedness against emerging viruses’.
• David Nahmani (Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Villetaneuse): ‘Mathematical modeling and analysis of heterogeneities in arboviroses control techniques’.

The ANRS MIE Arbo-France Network Fellowships: Arboviruses call supports research on all arbovirology topics and disciplines relevant to emerging and re-emerging viruses. Eligible applicants are researchers affiliated with a French public or private research organisation who are applying to a French doctoral school. They must hold or be in the process of obtaining their Master’s 2. The doctoral funding will have a duration of 36 months and covers the salary of the researcher plus operating costs. In 2024, two candidates were awarded funding:

• Dominique Valtain (Institut Pasteur de Nouvelle Calédonie): ‘Multitrophic interactions in Wolbachia-based strategy against dengue virus: a focus on insect-specific viruses (MintS)’.
• Djara Konate (Université de Montpellier/Inserm, Montpellier): ‘Avian and equine surveillance for two flaviviruses in Burkina Faso: Usutu virus and West Nile virus’.

The 2024 call was the first edition of the fellowship programme in its current format. It is not yet confirmed when the next call will take place.

(This Bulletin article was the subject of a ResearchConnect news alert.)