Applications are hereby welcomed for Commonwealth Professional Fellowships for mid-career professionals who wish to have the opportunity to enhance knowledge and skills in their given sector, and to have catalytic effects on their workplaces.
Commonwealth Professional Fellowships are for mid-career professionals from low- and middle-income countries to spend a period of time at a UK host organisation working in their sector for a programme of professional development.
Fellowship Sponsor(s): Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, UK
Host Institution(s): UK host organisation
Fellowship Worth: Fully-funded
Number of Awards: Several
Study Level: Mid-career professionals
Nationality: See eligible Countries (below)
Also Apply: Africa Research Excellence Fund Fellowship Programme
DETAILS | Commonwealth Professional Fellowships
All Commonwealth Professional Fellowships in the 2023/24 round are in the thematic area of Clean Energy, Air and Oceans. The Purpose is to provide professionals with the opportunity to enhance knowledge and skills in their given sector, and to have catalytic effects on their workplaces.
Intended beneficiaries: Mid-career professionals (with five years’ relevant work experience) working in development-related organisations in low- and middle-income Commonwealth countries.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for Commonwealth Professional Fellowships for International Students, applicants are expected to meet the following conditions:
- Applicants must be a citizen of or have been granted refugee status by an eligible Commonwealth country, or be a British Protected Person
- Be permanently resident in an eligible Commonwealth country
- Have at least five years’ full-time, or equivalent part-time, relevant work experience, in a profession related to the subject of the Fellowship programme, by the proposed start of the fellowship – voluntary work experience will not be counted towards this minimum
- Be in employment at the time of application at an organisation that they will return to upon completion of the Fellowship
- Provide at least two references, one of which must be from their current employer.
- Not have undertaken a Commonwealth Professional Fellowship within the last five years (at the time of taking up the award)
- Not be seeking to undertake an academic programme of research or study. Academics are eligible to apply for the scheme, but only to undertake programmes of academic management, not research or courses relevant to their research subject
- Be available to start and complete their fellowship within prescribed dates
Eligible Countries
The following countries are eligible for the Commonwealth Professional Fellowships:
Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Dominica, Eswatini, Fiji, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, St Helena, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia.
See Also: Commonwealth Young Professionals Programme (Multiple Positions) 2023
Application Procedures
How-to-Apply: Interested applicants for the Commonwealth Professional Fellowships are to complete an online application form and provide all the required information by the application deadline.
Fellowships will be tenable for between six weeks and three months starting from February 2024.
Please note that all Commonwealth Professional Fellowships in the 2023/24 round are in the approved thematic areas. All applicants must be professionals working on related issues.
In the application form, prospective fellows will be asked to:
- List all undergraduate and postgraduate university qualifications obtained (where applicable)
- List up to 10 publications and prizes (if applicable)
- Provide details of employment history and explain how each job is relevant to the programme you wish to undertake in the UK (up to 100 words per employment)
- Provide a statement on the relevance of your previous work experience to the proposed fellowship (up to 300 words).
- List names and positions of up to three referees who are qualified to comment on both your capacity to benefit from your proposed fellowship in the UK and your ability to deliver development impact afterwards. One of your referees must be your current employer.
- Provide a Development Impact statement in 4 parts.
In the first part (up to 200 words) you should explain how your proposed Fellowship relates to:
- Reducing reliance on fossil fuels, lowering rates of air pollution or promoting marine conservation, in accordance with the aims of COP 26 and SDGs 7, 13 and 14.
- Development issues at the global, national and local level
- Development issues connected to the theme of climate change and the wider sector
Application Deadline: 16 August, 2023