PIH Research Grant for Final-Year Pharmacy Students

The PIH Research Grant for Final-Year Pharmacy Students supports undergraduate projects with a clear potential to improve health, healthcare delivery, health services or public health. For its first edition in 2026, PIH Africa (Pharma Incubation Hub Ltd/Gte) will award two grants and provide publication support. Applications are scheduled from 15 October to 15 November 2026. This is project funding, not a tuition scholarship or an allowance for personal upkeep.

Opportunity Summary

About the Opportunity

Projects must address a question with direct health or healthcare benefits. Priority areas include antimicrobial resistance, access to medicines, medication safety, pharmaceutical care, non-communicable and infectious diseases, substance use, maternal and child health, health systems and digital health. Laboratory, formulation and phytochemical projects qualify only where they demonstrate a clear path to patient or population benefit.

Eligible proposals are independently scored by at least two reviewers, with no interviews. Assessment covers relevance and scientific quality at 25 points each, feasibility at 20, publication potential at 15, originality for the Nigerian setting at 10, and clarity at five.

Review runs from 16 November to 3 December 2026. Two awardees are scheduled to be announced on 5 December, with agreements and payment in January 2027. Only successful applicants will be contacted; applicants who have not heard by 5 December should regard their application as unsuccessful.

Awardees must obtain approval from a recognised Health Research Ethics Committee before collecting any data. They must provide a one-page progress report after three months and a final report with their manuscript. They must publish as first author in a peer-reviewed local or international journal and submit their manuscript within 12 months of the award. Supervisors and others may be co-authors. All resulting publications, posters, presentations and theses must acknowledge PIH Africa using its prescribed statement.

Funding and Benefits

• Two grants of ₦250,000 each are available.
• Each grant is paid as one lump sum after the awardee signs the grant agreement and supplies ethical approval where required.
• Eligible expenses include data collection, research assistants, laboratory consumables, ethics fees, analysis software, article processing charges and conference registration.
• Awardees receive publication support. Tuition, personal upkeep and supervisor honoraria are excluded.

Who Can Apply?

• Be an undergraduate B.Pharm or Pharm.D student at a Faculty or School of Pharmacy in Nigeria accredited by the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria.
• Be in the final year during the 2026/2027 academic session and lead your own final-year research project.
• Have started, or be about to start, the project; data collection must not be complete.
• Have a supervisor willing to support the application through a signed letter.
• Have ethical approval, or evidence of an application for approval, where the study requires it.
• Submit only one application per student. Group projects may apply once through one lead student, who must be first author.
• Postgraduate students, graduates, students on other health courses, completed projects and already fully funded projects are ineligible.

What Nigerian Applicants Should Know

• Eligibility is tied to enrolment at a Pharmacy Council of Nigeria-accredited pharmacy school in Nigeria, not simply being a Nigerian applicant.
• The supplied rules do not state a separate citizenship or residence requirement.
• The deadline uses WAT, the time zone observed in Nigeria.

Required Documents

• Completed Application Form and Research Proposal, including a 500–1,000-word proposal in Part E; submit the completed form as a PDF.
• Signed supervisor’s support letter on institutional letterhead, dated on or after 15 October 2026. It must confirm your name, matriculation number, final-year status, supervision and project title, project stage and incomplete data collection, ethics status, feasibility within the timeline and budget, and support towards manuscript submission with you as first author.
• Proof of studentship: student ID card or current course registration form.
• Ethical approval or proof of having applied, where required.

How to Apply

1. Download the application form and complete it using Microsoft Word, Google Docs or WPS Office on a phone or computer.
2. Write the proposal in Part E under the supplied headings.
3. Save the completed form as Surname_Application.pdf.
4. Send all required documents in one email to [email protected] with the subject: PIH Research Grant 2026 – Surname – University.
5. Submit before 11:59 pm WAT on 15 November 2026. Late applications will not be considered. An automatic reply confirms email receipt.

Visit the official application page

Application Tips

Preparation advice: prioritise a focused research question, a defensible study design and a realistic budget within ₦250,000. Explain the practical health benefit rather than relying only on the topic’s importance. Check that the proposal follows the form’s headings and 500–1,000-word limit. Arrange the supervisor’s letter early and check its date and required confirmations before submitting.

Information checked 8 November 2026.