The SOLTRAIN (Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative) has opened its 2025/2026 academic year postgraduate Bursary application. All interested candidates should the procedures to apply Now.

Closing Date:16 February 2025/2026

SOLTRAIN (Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative) was formed in 2009 as a regional program on capacity building and demonstration of solar thermal systems in the SADC region.

BURSARY REQUIREMENTS:

To qualify for this bursary application, you must align with the following requirements. That is:

• You must be a South African citizen OR a citizen of one of these countries: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho or Mozambique
• You must be registered for Postgraduate studies, for the first half of the 2025/2026 academic year
• You must be pursuing studies towards a topic of solar thermal energy (the following topics will be given preference):
  • Potential analysis for solar thermal systems within the health sector, in South Africa and Mozambique (including: survey of hospitals and clinics in the country and number of beds and monthly average number of patients; calculation of hot water used in hospitals and clinics; and derivation of potential for thermal solar systems for the health sector in these countries)
  • Potential analyses for solar thermal systems at educational or social institutions (including: calculation of hot water used and derivation of potential for solar thermal systems for the specific applications; and calculation of potential electricity savings)
  • Potential analyses of solar thermal systems within the tourism sector (including: definition of important tourism regions; survey of beds and average amount of tourists in the regions; calculation of hot water used; derivation of potential for solar thermal systems in the tourism sector)
  • Analysis of measurement data from selected systems from the SOLTRAIN project (measurement data will be provided by SOLTRAIN; analysis of measured data with economic and/or technical input)
  • Topics related to the use of solar thermal technologies for industrial applications (heating/ drying/ cooling)
  • Documentation and analysis of mass housing programmes in Namibia and South Africa, with mandatory installation of solar water heaters (including: documentation of the programme – location, amount of houses, number and size of installed Solar Water Heaters; questionnaire based interviews with a large number of users on the satisfaction with the Solar Water Heater; lessons learned; potential mass housing programmes for this survey: Namibia – NHE houses, OSONA village project / South Africa: 1 million solar water heater programme; student abstracts from previous year)

BURSARY COVERAGE:

SOLTRAIN is inviting students to apply for the SOLTRAIN Solar Thermal Project Support Scheme for Postgraduate Students, for studies within the first half of the 2025/2026 academic year.

Students who are from one of SOLTRAIN partner countries (which include: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Mozambique), pursuing studies within the solar thermal energy area may apply.

The value of the bursary is a maximum of €2500 Euro (equivalent to over R43 000 South African Rand).

METHOD OF APPLICATION:

All Applicants must apply online at SOLTRAIN Postgraduate Bursary Application 2025/2026

Supporting Documents

The following supporting documentation must be submitted along with your online application (the submission of these documents is compulsory – if any items are missing, your application may be disqualified):

• ID document for proof of citizenship (certified copy)
• Details about your solar thermal project (in 300 to 600 words)
• Motivational letter explaining why you should receive the bursary (in 300 to 600 words)
• Estimated budget for your funding request (up to a maximum of 2500 Euro)
• Proof of tertiary registration for the 2025/2026 academic year (on institutions letterhead)
• Full academic transcript/ record to date (on institutions letterhead)
• Letter of support from a supervisor