The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) has opened its 2026 call for nominations for AAS Fellowship, inviting current Fellows and Associate Fellows to nominate outstanding scientists and scholars who have demonstrated the highest levels of excellence in their fields and made significant contributions to the advancement of science regionally and globally.
About the Fellowship
AAS Fellowship is a lifetime honour awarded through a rigorous peer review process. Candidates are assessed on the strength of their publications record, innovations, leadership roles, and contributions to policy and society. The Academy recognises scholars from all scientific disciplines, grouped into ten clusters: Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Biosciences, Chemical Sciences, Cultural Humanities and Social Sciences, Engineering, Technology and Applied Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Geological, Environmental, Earth and Space Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Policy Sciences.
There is no age limit. The AAS actively encourages the nomination of female scientists and scholars from under-represented disciplines.
Categories of Fellowship
The AAS Fellowship has three categories:
- Fellows — active and outstanding African scientists residing in Africa or elsewhere, non-African scientists who have taken citizenship of an African nation, and Africa-born scientists who have taken citizenship outside Africa and have attained the highest international standards or made significant contributions to science, technology, and innovation in Africa
- Associate Fellows — scholars who demonstrate substantial contributions to Africa, including supervision of African postgraduate students and published research with African first authors
- Honorary Fellows — awarded at the discretion of the Academy
Requirements for Fellows
Candidates must have obtained a PhD or equivalent qualification at least ten years before the year of nomination, hold an H-index of 20 or above on Scopus, Google Scholar, Web of Science, or ResearchGate, have at least one journal article with 100 or more citations, and be a first, senior, corresponding, or last author on at least 50% of the ten submitted articles. The H-index requirement does not apply to social scientists.
The Nomination Process
Only current AAS Fellows and Associate Fellows may submit nominations. Each nomination requires one nominator and one seconder, both of whom must be Fellows or Associate Fellows. Self-nominations are not accepted, though interested individuals may approach a Fellow or Associate Fellow and request to be nominated.