South African National Space Agency (SANSA) invites South African students to submit applications for the Bursary Programme for the academic year 2025.
Bursary application closing date: 30 September 2024
SANSA will be awarding bursaries for Postgraduate degree studies, within the following fields:
Earth Observation (Hons, MSc, PhD):
- Remote sensing
- Geospatial programme
- Earth system science with remote sensing
- Earth observations in ecosystems accounting
- Applications of remote sensing in environmental management, including oceans and marine, agricultural and rangelands, water resource management, mineral resource and spatial planning, air quality and climate science
Engineering (MEng, MTech, MSc, PhD, DTech):
- Software and software systems engineering
- Aeronautical, aerospace, mechanical, material, process, electronic, mechatronic and computer engineering
- Space, systems, antenna and RF engineering
- Electromagnetic Compatibility
- Digital signal processing, onboard earth observation mission management, onboard data analysis and reaction, ground operations, earth observation and science data analysis reporting
Space Science (Hons, MSc, MPhil, PhD):
- Solar physics and space weather forecasting
- Antarctic radar studies of atmospheric gravity waves
- Multi-instrument studies of space weather
- Multi-scale ionospheric physics, structure and dynamics
- Ionospheric and radio propagation modelling
- Theory of waves (solitons) in plasmas
- Atmospheric radiation studies
- Verification of space weather forecasting
- Modelling geomagnetically induced currents in power systems
All SANSA divisions (Hons, MSc, PhD):
- Computer science
- Information systems
- Software and systems engineering
- Data science
- Field of your choice related to key SANSA objectives
- Space Weather impacts on global navigation satellite systems
- Evaluation of the space weather near-real-time products
South Africa requires more graduates in science and engineering to adequately equip the country with critical skills needed to fulfill the objectives of the National Development Plan and secure a prosperous and sustainable future for our people. SANSA offers scholarships for postgraduate degrees to help meet the national goal of having qualified postgraduates in science and engineering disciplines.
SANSA bursaries will be awarded to the following values (these amounts may be revised):
- Honours studies: R100 000 for 1 year of study
- Masters studies: R120 000 for 2 years of study
- PhD studies: R140 000 for 3 years of study
Bursary recipient may NOT be in receipt of bursaries that exceed the amount above – if applicants have another bursary of a lower amount amount, SANSA may provide a top-up bursary to the student and not the full bursary amount.
Masters and doctoral students must reapply for funding each year – bursaries will be renewed based on satisfactory progress during the previous year.
Requirements
Applicants must satisfy the following minimum entry criteria before applying (please note that failure to satisfy all the requirements will lead to your application not being considered):
- You must be a South African citizen
- You must be studying or intend on studying towards a postgraduate qualification, in one of the fields listed above
- You must have strong academic potential
- You must have proven financial need
- You must be interested in working within the space sector
- You must wish to bring positive benefits to society
- You must be driven and a forward thinker
How to apply
Applications must be submitted online at: SANSA Bursary Application 2025
Submit clear copies of the following supporting documentation along with your online application (the submission of these documents is compulsory – if any items are missing, your application may be disqualified):
- ID document (certified copy, in pdf format)
- Full academic record (certified copy, in pdf format)
- Fee statement for ALL study years (certified copy, in pdf format)
- Completed SANSA testimonial by education official (in pdf format)
- Proof of any undergraduate bursaries/ funding, if applicable
