Partnerships for Innovative Research in Africa (PIRA)
Call for Proposals 2026

Strategic Focus: Responsible AI, Data, and Digital Innovation for Global Impact

Application: https://uplift.isp.msu.edu/funding/calls/8c09312a-ecd6-4910-a523-801aea662baf

Applications are due by December 18, 2026

1. Program Overview and Strategic Focus

Alliance for African Partnership (AAP)—a consortium of leading African universities, African research institutions, and Michigan State University (MSU)—invites proposals for the Partnerships for Innovative Research in Africa (PIRA) strategic funding program.

PIRA is a consortium-wide, tiered funding opportunity designed to cultivate and support multidirectional, collaborative research partnerships at different stages of development. The program supports emerging partnerships exploring new areas of collaboration, partnerships ready to carry out targeted collaborative research, and established partnerships seeking to expand or scale promising research and engagement activities.

A defining feature of PIRA is its emphasis on fair, equitable, and mutually beneficial partnerships from project conception through completion. Project teams are expected to jointly define the challenge, objectives, methods, activities, resource allocation, anticipated outcomes, and plans for communicating and applying results. Relevant local stakeholders should be engaged throughout the project when appropriate, with recognition of their knowledge, expertise, priorities, and contributions. Projects should also take an adaptive approach that is responsive to local contexts and changing conditions.

Proposed partnership activities may include cooperative research, capacity strengthening, pilot studies, data collection and analysis, community engagement, research training, knowledge mobilization, proposal development, and other activities that advance one or more of AAP's three pillars:

• Building Bridges
• Transforming Institutions
• Transforming Lives

2026 Strategic Focus: Responsible AI, Data, and Digital Innovation for Global Impact

This call seeks proposals that apply, study, evaluate, or critically examine artificial intelligence, data analytics, digital methods, and emerging technologies—including their governance and broader implications—to address significant African and global human and societal challenges. Artificial intelligence is interpreted broadly within this call and is not limited to the development of new algorithms, models, or technical systems.

Responsive proposals may involve applied AI, machine learning, generative AI, data analytics, computational methods, geospatial analysis, remote sensing, digital humanities, digital archives, language technologies, data visualization, digital platforms, decision-support approaches, or other forms of data-driven and digital research. Projects may also examine the ethical, cultural, historical, linguistic, educational, legal, political, economic, or societal implications of AI and digital transformation.

Projects are not required to develop or deploy an AI system or digital product. Scientific, technical, humanistic, artistic, social scientific, educational, policy, and community-engaged approaches are equally welcome and bring essential perspectives to understanding and shaping how AI, data, digital innovation, and technological change interact with societies, institutions, cultures, and communities. All proposals must demonstrate a substantive connection to the strategic focus; the use of an AI system, digital platform, or analytical tool alone, without a clear connection to the project’s research questions, methods, partnership objectives, or anticipated impact, will not be sufficient.

2. Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Approaches

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary proposals are strongly encouraged when the integration of multiple fields, perspectives, or forms of expertise strengthens the project's ability to understand or address the identified challenge.

Interdisciplinary projects bring together perspectives, methods, or expertise from multiple academic fields to strengthen understanding of a shared challenge.

Transdisciplinary projects go further by integrating academic expertise with the knowledge, experience, and perspectives of non-academic partners in the co-development of research questions, approaches, interpretation, and pathways to impact.

Depending on the challenge, transdisciplinary partners may include, for example:

• government ministries, agencies, or local authorities;
• civil society, nongovernmental, or community-based organizations;
• communities, practitioners, educators, health workers, farmers, or other knowledge holders;
• private-sector, industry, technology, or professional partners; and
• policy institutions, regional bodies, or other organizations positioned to use or apply research findings.

Proposals may be interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary. AAP particularly encourages projects in which multiple forms of expertise and knowledge are meaningfully integrated rather than added nominally, and where such integration strengthens the relevance, rigor, use, and potential impact of the work.

3. Responsible and Ethical Research and Innovation

Responsible and ethical research is a central expectation of this call. Applicants must identify the ethical, social, cultural, and governance considerations relevant to their proposed work and explain how these considerations will be addressed during project design, implementation, analysis, dissemination, and future use of project results.

Depending on the nature of the project, relevant considerations may include:

• privacy, informed consent, and protection of participants;
• data ownership, access, storage, security, stewardship, and sovereignty;
• institutional control of research data and digital assets;
• bias, fairness, transparency, accountability, explainability, and human oversight;
• cultural and linguistic appropriateness;
• intellectual property, authorship, and attribution;
• protection of local, indigenous, and community knowledge;
• responsible use of generative AI and other emerging technologies;
• environmental and infrastructure implications; and
• equitable access to the knowledge, tools, training, infrastructure, and other benefits generated by the project.

Applicants should address the considerations relevant to their project. The scope and level of detail should be appropriate to the proposed methods, participants, communities, technologies, and anticipated outputs. Applicants are encouraged to consult with relevant institutional offices during proposal development to identify any applicable ethical review, research approval, or other compliance requirements and to account for associated processes and timelines in their project planning.

4. AAP Priority Areas

The strategic focus will operate across AAP priority areas rather than replace them. Proposals must address at least one priority area. The following consolidated areas are included here as a working structure for the final call:

• Sustainable Food Systems, Climate, and Natural Resources

Strengthen agriculture and food systems from production and processing to markets and access to nutritious food. Support climate adaptation and sustainable management of land, water, biodiversity, and energy resources.

• One Health and Community Well-Being

Improve community health and nutrition and address shared risks to people, animals, and the environment, including food safety and the spread of disease.

• Education, Youth Empowerment, and Human Development

Expand access to quality education, including graduate training and research mentorship and strengthen pathways that connect learning with employment, entrepreneurship, and civic leadership.

• Culture, Society, and Inclusive Development

Advance research and creative work on African languages, arts, heritage, and knowledge systems and support research and partnerships that strengthen public institutions and give communities a greater voice in decisions that affect them.

The thematic focus on AI, data, and digital innovation is intended to cut across all four AAP priority areas. It should not function as a separate disciplinary silo or imply that digital or technological work belongs only within a science and technology category. This focus aligns with AAP’s two cross-cutting priorities: Gender and Inclusion and Science, Technology, Innovation, and Digital Transformation. Proposals should reflect these priorities through attention to locally defined needs, inclusive approaches to research and innovation, and equitable participation in and access to the knowledge, technologies, and benefits generated.

5. Partnership Principles

PIRA proposals must demonstrate AAP’s commitment to equitable, mutually beneficial, and sustainable partnerships, guided by AAP’s five core principles: accountability, equity, inclusivity, sustainability, and transparency. Strong proposals will demonstrate how these principles inform the design, implementation, and anticipated outcomes of the partnership.

Accountability: Partners should establish shared responsibilities, meaningful decision-making roles, and mechanisms for monitoring progress, addressing challenges, and adapting activities as research findings, stakeholder needs, or contextual conditions change. African and MSU investigators should hold substantive intellectual, decision-making, and implementation roles.

Equity: Research questions, methodologies, activities, budgets, outputs, and pathways to impact should be jointly developed. Resources should be allocated fairly, reflecting partners’ responsibilities, contributions, and needs rather than defaulting to unequal distributions. All partners should identify meaningful research, institutional, professional, educational, policy, technological, or community benefits.

Inclusivity: Partnerships should recognize and value the knowledge, expertise, and perspectives of African researchers, institutions, communities, and practitioners. Partners should meaningfully engage relevant stakeholders in identifying research priorities, shaping research approaches, and ensuring that project outcomes respond to their needs.

Sustainability: Teams should consider the longer-term value of their collaboration and explain how partnerships, capacities, and research outcomes can be sustained or expanded beyond the PIRA award.

Transparency: Teams should establish clear, mutually agreed-upon approaches to decision-making, financial management, authorship, intellectual property, data ownership, and conflict resolution, ensuring that expectations and responsibilities are understood by all partners.

6. Funding Tiers and Required Deliverables

PIRA is designed to support partnerships at different stages of development. Applicants should select the funding tier that best fits the maturity of the partnership and the proposed work. AAP reserves the right to consider a proposal under a different funding tier if another tier is determined to be more appropriate during review.

Across all tiers, PIRA awards are expected to produce measurable research, partnership, capacity, and societal outcomes. Deliverables should reflect meaningful collaboration between MSU and participating African AAP member institutions, with appropriate shared leadership, authorship, attribution, and access. All projects are also expected to identify a credible pathway to external funding that can sustain, expand, or scale the collaboration.

Tier 1: Planning and Partnership Development Grants - up to $25,000

Purpose. These grants support new or early-stage partnerships, as well as existing partnerships exploring a new area of collaborative research. The emphasis is on developing the relationships, shared research agenda, preliminary evidence, and plans needed to advance a sustained collaboration.

Illustrative activities may include partnership co-design; needs or feasibility assessments; stakeholder consultation; preliminary data collection; assessment of available datasets or digital resources; development of responsible research and data-governance plans; research workshops; network development; short-term capacity-strengthening activities; and preparation of concept papers or joint proposals.

Required deliverables:

• A jointly developed research and partnership plan defining the shared challenge, partner roles, proposed methods, institutional contributions, relevant ethical and data considerations, and next stage of collaboration.
• A jointly developed external funding proposal that is ready for submission. Submission during the award period is strongly encouraged.
• At least one joint scholarly, creative, or knowledge-mobilization product, such as a conference presentation, working paper, policy brief, research protocol, digital resource, community report, or evidence review.
• A partnership continuation plan identifying activities, funding opportunities, institutional commitments, and responsibilities needed to sustain and advance the collaboration.

Tier 2: Collaborative Research Grants - up to $50,000

Purpose. These grants support partnerships that have established a sufficient foundation for collaboration and are prepared to implement a focused pilot or collaborative research project. The emphasis is on generating substantive findings or other outputs that can advance the research and position the partnership for continued collaboration and external funding.

Illustrative activities may include pilot research; data collection and analysis; development or evaluation of responsible AI, data, or digital approaches; digital humanities and digital scholarship; community-engaged research; capacity strengthening; creation of shared research resources; preparation of joint scholarly or creative outputs; and development of competitive external proposals.

Required deliverables:

• Completion of a focused collaborative research or pilot project producing analyzable results or another substantive research, creative, institutional, policy, educational, community, or digital output.
• At least one joint scholarly publication or equivalent peer-reviewed scholarly product submitted for review, with appropriate co-authorship across participating institutions.
• One jointly prepared and submitted external funding proposal building on the PIRA project.
• Appropriate preservation, documentation, and sharing of project data or research materials consistent with PIRA data-stewardship requirements.
• A continuation and growth plan describing how the research, partnership, shared resources, and funding strategy will be advanced.

Tier 3: Scaling Grant - one award of up to $100,000

Purpose. The Scaling Grant supports an established partnership with demonstrated prior collaboration and strong potential to significantly expand the reach, quality, institutional foundation, or impact of its work.  Proposals must also demonstrate how the additional level of investment will enable a significant step beyond what could reasonably be accomplished through a Collaborative Research Grant.

Illustrative activities may include scaling or validating a promising research approach, intervention, or digital resource; expanding work across additional communities, research sites, populations, or institutions; strengthening shared research or data infrastructure; developing broader institutional linkages; translating research into policy or practice; undertaking advanced capacity-strengthening activities; and preparing a major external funding proposal.

Required deliverables:

• Completion of a substantial scaling, validation, expansion, or translation activity demonstrating how the PIRA investment extended prior work.
• At least two joint scholarly publications or equivalent peer-reviewed scholarly products submitted for review.
• One major jointly prepared and submitted multi-year external funding proposal appropriate to the maturity and scale of the partnership.
• A documented body of evidence demonstrating the results of scaling, such as expanded reach, validation, institutional or community adoption, policy engagement, use of a resource, or strengthened research capacity.
• Appropriate preservation, documentation, and sharing of project data or reusable research materials consistent with PIRA data-stewardship requirements.
• An institutional sustainability and scaling plan describing how the partnership, infrastructure, resources, training, or interventions will be maintained and expanded.

7. Eligibility

Each proposal must include:

• at least one lead investigator from Michigan State University; and
• at least one lead investigator from an AAP African member university. (To be eligible, participating AAP member institutions must be in good standing, defined as having paid their required AAP membership fees, at the time of proposal submission.)

Additional AAP consortium members, other universities, research institutions, government agencies, civil society organizations, community organizations, private-sector entities, policy institutions, and regional or international partners may participate when their involvement strengthens the partnership and contributes meaningfully to the proposed work.

Individuals who were PIs or co-PIs on grants from the previous round of PIRA grants or AAP strategic partnership grants (2017) are not eligible to lead proposals under this call but may participate as team members. MSU International Studies and Programs (ISP) staff are not eligible to lead proposals.

8. Proposal Requirements

Applicants should submit the following:

A. Cover Page and Project Summary

• project title and funding tier;
• names, titles, and institutional affiliations of all lead investigators and key team members;
• partner institutions and organizations;
• alignment to AAP priority area(s);
• project duration;
• total amount requested; and
• an approximately 200-word project summary describing the proposed project and partnership, its connection to the strategic focus, and its anticipated outcomes.

B. Proposal Narrative - maximum 5,000 words, excluding references and required appendices

Partnership and Institutional Capacity

• capacity and relevant strengths of each partner institution;
• roles and responsibilities of participating partners;
• past or ongoing collaboration, if applicable;
• why the partnership is necessary and how it was co-created;
• how leadership, decision-making, and resources will be shared;
• how local and non-academic stakeholders will participate, where relevant; and
• how the work will contribute to sustained institutional relationships.

Problem Statement, Rationale, and Strategic Alignment

• the shared challenge or opportunity being addressed and its significance;
• the project's substantive relationship to AI, data, digital innovation, or technological change;
• alignment with one or more AAP priority areas and strategic pillars;
• the project's theory of change or equivalent explanation of how proposed activities are expected to contribute to intended outcomes and impact.

Research Questions, Objectives, and Methods

• clearly defined research questions and/or objectives;
• research design, methods, analytical approach, or other scholarly/creative methods appropriate to the field;
• why the proposed approach is appropriate and feasible;
• how interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary integration will strengthen the work, where relevant.

Responsible and Ethical Research and Innovation

• the ethical, social, cultural, governance, data, intellectual property, community, and technology considerations relevant to the project;
• how risks will be identified, monitored, and mitigated;
• how appropriate institutional and national requirements will be met.

Activities, Outputs, Outcomes, and Timeline

• a clear description of project activities;
• a logical framework or equivalent structure connecting activities to outputs, outcomes, and objectives;
• a timeline with major milestones and responsibilities.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

• indicators or other measures of progress and results;
• data sources and collection methods;
• responsibilities and timing;
• mechanisms for reflection, learning, and adaptation.

Sustainability and External Funding

• how the partnership and its outcomes will be sustained or advanced after the award;
• realistic external funding opportunities or pathways the team will pursue.

C. Additional Required Materials

• line-item budget and budget narrative using the AAP template;
• one-page CV or resume for each lead investigator;
• a letter of support from each participating institution or organization;
• a letter of support for each lead investigator from the dean, department head, or equivalent institutional authority; and
• additional letters from community, government, industry, or other implementation partners where relevant.

9. Research Data, Digital Assets, and Stewardship

Projects that collect, generate, digitize, or substantially curate research data, digital assets, or reusable research resources must include an appropriate plan for their stewardship, documentation, preservation, access, and responsible sharing. Plans should address governance, ownership, security, retention, and long-term stewardship arrangements, and comply with intellectual property agreements, institutional review requirements, participant consent, applicable laws and policies, and protections for sensitive, proprietary, indigenous, local, or community knowledge. Where appropriate, teams should make project resources available at the broadest responsible level of access.

10. Communications, Engagement, and Knowledge Mobilization

Funded projects are expected to communicate findings and products to audiences positioned to use them. Applicants should identify appropriate communication and engagement approaches and explain how findings will reach relevant academic, policy, practitioner, institutional, industry, or community audiences.

Activities may include, as appropriate:

• community or stakeholder engagement;
• policy or practitioner dialogues;
• research briefs and community reports;
• digital media, podcasts, videos, infographics, or public-facing resources;
• open educational resources or toolkits;
• conference presentations or other scholarly dissemination; and
• dissemination through AAP platforms and partner networks.

Communications and Engagement Budget Requirement: At least 10% of the total requested funds must be earmarked for communication and engagement efforts. These funds may support activities such as research translation, stakeholder or community engagement, workshops, video or digital resource development, policy or practitioner dissemination, and other appropriate knowledge-mobilization activities.

11. Gender, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

AAP is committed to gender equity, inclusion, accessibility, and nondiscrimination. Applicants must explain how relevant equity and inclusion considerations will be incorporated across the project lifecycle, including problem definition, research design, participation and recruitment, data collection, analysis, interpretation, implementation, dissemination, and knowledge mobilization.

Projects should consider whether AI, data systems, digital technologies, or research processes could reproduce or amplify existing inequities and should describe appropriate strategies for identifying and mitigating those risks. Where relevant, proposals should support meaningful participation by groups that are often underrepresented in research, technology, policy, or decision-making.

12. Budget and Budget Narrative

Applicants must submit a detailed line-item budget and budget narrative using AAP-provided templates. Budgets should be jointly developed by the partnership teams, clearly identify each partner's share of resources, reflect equitable allocation, align expenditures with proposed activities, and justify major costs.

The MSU lead investigator and home department will be responsible for the financial administration of the award. The MSU fiscal officer should be involved in budget development to ensure compliance with applicable financial and reporting requirements.

The following PIRA budget requirements and restrictions apply:

• No indirect costs (IDC) for any partner;
• No construction-related costs;
• Regular MSU faculty salary is not allowed (summer salary is allowable);
• No equipment exceeding $5,000; and
• Total project salary and fringe costs may not exceed 30% of the combined project budget.

Cost Share Requirement: At least 10% of the total requested funds must be matched with monetary and/or in-kind contributions from all project partners (total from all partner contributions should be at least 10%). Participating colleges, faculties, departments, institutions, and/or other partners are expected to contribute cost share to the proposed activities as evidence of shared commitment to the partnership and its long-term sustainability.

13. Selection Criteria

Submitted proposals will be evaluated according to the selection criteria established in the 2024 PIRA call, updated only as needed to reflect the strategic focus of this call.

1. Evidence of a collaborative and equitable partnership that strengthens personal, professional, and/or institutional networks in a mutually beneficial and sustainable way. Proposals should demonstrate AAP partnership principles, including accountability, equity, inclusivity, sustainability, and transparency, as well as interdisciplinarity and/or transdisciplinarity, as appropriate.
2. Alignment of proposed activities and project goals with AAP's strategic objectives, applicable priority area(s), and the strategic focus on Responsible AI, Data, and Digital Innovation for Global Impact.
3. The extent to which the proposal demonstrates thoughtful consideration of relevant ethical, social, cultural, and governance issues and provides appropriate approaches for addressing them throughout the project lifecycle.
4. Potential for project deliverables to significantly contribute to their respective scholarly, scientific, technical, technological, creative, policy, educational, or other relevant fields.
5. Potential to create innovative models of community engagement, research-to-use, or development that positively impact people's lives, institutions, policy, practice, or communities.
6. Potential for principal investigators to attract and/or leverage additional external funding to sustain and expand the partnership and its impact.
7. A thorough monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan that links project activities to intended outputs and outcomes and includes a clear description of MEL tools or approaches, indicators or measures, and a timeline for evaluation and reporting.
8. Compliance with AAP nondiscrimination, gender equity, inclusion, and accessibility expectations throughout the project lifecycle, including rationale, design, intended results, data collection, analysis, interpretation, implementation, dissemination, and knowledge mobilization.

14. Selection Process

Proposals will first undergo an administrative and programmatic review by AAP management for eligibility, completeness, and alignment with the call. Short-listed proposals will be assessed by external peer reviewers for research quality and other applicable selection criteria. Final selections will be made by AAP management in consultation with appropriate internal partners and consortium members.

15. Award Timeline, Administration, and Reporting

AAP will work with selected teams to finalize the work plan and budget before project activities begin. Projects may begin only after the final work plan and budget have been approved by AAP. All project activities must be completed within 18 months of the approved project start date.

Awardees will provide progress updates and final reporting at intervals established by AAP. Reporting will address research and partnership progress, outputs and outcomes, financial performance, learning and adaptation, external funding activity, and continuation or scaling plans. AAP may also conduct surveys or other learning activities to assess the PIRA grantmaking process and its alignment with AAP values of equity, transparency, and accountability.

16. Application Checklist

• cover page and approximately 200-word project summary (entered into the on-line application portal);
• proposal narrative of no more than 5,000 words;
• References (not included in word count);
• project timeline/logical framework or equivalent;
• monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan;
• line-item budget and budget narrative;
• one-page CV/resume for each lead investigator;
• institutional/partner letters of support;
• dean/department head letters of support;
• additional stakeholder letters, where applicable;
• required ethics, data governance, and stewardship information, where applicable; and
• [Optional] statement on use of generative AI in proposal development.

17. Questions and Partner Identification

For questions regarding the PIRA Call for Proposals, please contact the Alliance for African Partnership at aap@msu.edu. Applicants seeking assistance identifying potential collaborators may use AAP partnership networks such as the AAP Bridge and/or contact AAP for assistance connecting with potential partners.