ABOUT THE COMPANY – CSIR
we are pleased to inform you about CSIR Bursary South Africa 2025-2026 / read full details.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), established in the year 1945, is a the premier and central research and development organisation in South Africa. The CSIR is Africa’s the biggest research and development organisation, which covers approximately 10% of the whole African African R&D budget.
The CSIR’s 7 main focus areas include: Industry, Energy, Natural Environment, Built Environment, Digital Environment, Health and Defence and Security. The company is based in the city of Pretoria, on its own campus and has a staff base of around 3000 scientific and technical researchers.
Some of the key issues which the company aims to address via interventions includes – building a state with the ability to deliver high-quality services to all South African citizens consistently; developing employment opportunities and a strong economy; positively contributing to social and economic infrastructure development (including water resources, energy, transport and ICT networks).
ABOUT THE CSIR BURSARY PROGRAMME – FIELDS COVERED
CSIR are Undergraduate and Postgraduate students to apply for bursary funding for the 2022 academic year. The bursary is aimed at students with a strong academic record, and also aims to increase the amount of female and black students within the Science, Engineering and Technology sector.
Bursaries will be awarded for studies within the following fields, that are priority to the CSIR:
Undergraduate to Honours Degrees:
- Aeronautical Engineering
- Accounting or Risk Management (B Com/ BTech)
- Applied Physics
- Bio-Informatics
- Biological Sciences
- Biomedical Engineering
- Biotechnology
- Chemical Engineering
- Chemistry with Chemical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Computer Engineering
- Computer Science
- Computer Science with Chemistry
- Data Science / Data Modelling
- Economic Science
- Electronic Engineering / Software Engineering
- Extractive Metallurgy (Hydrometallurgy), (Pyromet)
- Industrial Engineering
- Industrial Physics
- Information Systems
- Information Technology
- Material Science
- Mechanical Engineering
- Mechatronics Engineering
- Physical Metallurgy
- Physics with Computer Science
Masters Degrees:
- Research Group: Human and Societal Systems
- Field of study: Biomedical Engineering
- Required Qualifications: Honours Degree in Electronic Engineering or Data Science
- Research Group: Advanced Materials Engineering
- Field of study: Metallurgical Engineering
- Required Qualifications: Honours Degree in Material Science, Metallurgical Engineering or Physics (Masters)
- Research Group: Advanced Materials Engineering
- Field of study: Mechanical Engineering
- Required Qualifications: Honours in Mechanical Engineering with Computation Analysis
- Research Group: Laser Enabled Manufacturing
- Field of study: Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering
- Required Qualifications: Honours in Metallurgy or Metallurgical Engineering
- Research Group: Optronic Sensor Systems
- Field of study: Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Technology or Software Development
- Required Qualifications: Honours degree, BTech in Computer Science; Electrical Engineering and Electronics Engineering; Physics or Applied Mathematics
- Research Group: Synthetic Biology
- Field of study: Bioinformatics and Synthetic Biology
- Required Qualifications: Honours Degree in Bioinformatics
- Research Group: Smart Logistics Management
- Field of study: Industrial Engineering or Operations Research
- Required Qualifications: BEng or BEng Honours degree in Industrial Engineering or Honours in Operations Research
- Research Group: Coastal Engineering and Ports Infrastructure Pavement Design and Construction
- Field of study: Civil Engineering
- Required Qualifications: Honours degree in Civil Engineering with specialisation in Coastal Engineering or Pavement Engineering
Doctoral Degrees:
- Research Group: Centre for Robotics and Future Production
- Field of study: Computer Science; Electrical Engineering; Electronic Engineering; Mechatronics Engineering; Mechanical Engineering
- Required Qualifications: MSc in Computer Science; Electrical Engineering; Electronic Engineering; Mechatronics Engineering; Mechanical Engineering. Advantageous: experience with Linux operating system; experience with the Robot OperatingSystem (ROS); experience with the 3D LiDAR and IMU data; experience with machine learning and computer vision; experience with algorithms on robot platforms; experience with the-Loop (HIL) testing.
- Research Group: Human and Societal Systems
- Field of study: Biomedical Engineering
- Required Qualifications: Masters in Electronic Engineering or Data Science.
- Research Group: Advanced Materials Engineering
- Field of study: Mechanical Engineering
- Required Qualifications: Masters in Mechanical Engineering with Computation Analysis.
- Research Group: Optronic Sensor Systems
- Field of study: Applied Mathematics; Computer Science; Electrical Engineering and Electronics Engineering; Physics; Software Development
- Required Qualifications: Masters or MTech Degree in Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Electronics Engineering, Physics.
- Research Group: Bioprocessing
- Field of study: Microbiology and Biotechnology
- Required Qualifications: Master’s degree in Microbiology and Biotechnology
- Research Group: Human Molecular Diagnostics
- Field of study: Human Molecular Diagnostics and Omics Tools research, Synthetic Biology
- Required Qualifications: Master’s Degree in Bioinformatics, Biological Sciences, Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Advantageous: programming skills (preferably Python, R or Matlab); experience in mammalian cell culture techniques; basic skills in mathematics and environmental modelling.
- Research Group: Sustainability, Economics and Waster
- Field of study: Chemical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or Process Engineering; focusing on Life Cycle Assessment
- Required Qualifications: Master’s degree in Engineering; basic skills in mathematics and environmental modelling; ability to perform inter-disciplinary research; ability to work independently and in a team; knowledge of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software/ tools, knowledge of LCA input/output analysis and material flow analysis; self-motivated and able to be stimulated by the scientific environment; strong scientific report writing skills; good communication skills (oral, written and presentation)
- Research Group: Climate and Air Quality Modelling
- Field of study: Physical or Mathematical Sciences
- Required Qualifications: Master’s degree or equivalent qualification in Physical Sciences or Mathematical Sciences, with an application in atmospheric physics, climatology or similar; strong analytical skills with basic knowledge of R, Python, C++, C, FORTRAN or Bash computer programming languages. Advantageous: experience with machine learning algorithms; publication in atmospheric science or related field; strong communication skills in spoken and written English.
MORE ABOUT THE CSIR BURSARY PROGRAMME – COVERAGE VALUE & SELECTION
The bursary will provide cover for the following expenses: registration fees, tuition fees, books, once off allowance for a laptop, accommodation and a living allowance.
Shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to attend an interview – candidates who do not receive any feedback, should regard their application as unsuccessful.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CSIR BURSARY
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):
Current Matric students:
- You must be a South African citizen
- You must be currently in Matric
- You must intend on studying full time, within one of the aforementioned fields of study, in 2022
- You must intend on studying at a recognised public university in South Africa
- You must have achieved a minimum result of Level 5 for English in Matric
- You must have achieved a minimum result of Level 6 for Mathematics in Matric
- You must have achieved a minimum result of Level 6 for Physical Science in Matric
Current University students:
- You must be a South African citizen
- You must have completed Matric
- You must be studying full time within one of the aforementioned fields of study
- You must studying at a recognised public university in South Africa
- You must have passed all previous subjects which you registered for
Postgraduate (Masters and Doctoral) applicants:
- You must be a South African citizen
- You must be studying full time within one of the aforementioned fields of study
- You must have completed an undergraduate qualification in the relevant field, as listed above
- You must studying at a recognised public university in South Africa
- You must meet the entry requirements for your chosen field of study
- You must have a strong academic record
- You must have good scientific writing skills
- You must have good time management skills
- You must have strong technical abilities
- You must be organised
- You must be enthusiastic, driven and self-motivated
- You must have good report writing skills
- You must have good communication skills (written and verbal)
- You must be able to formulate and conduct research
- You must be able to work independently and within a team
- You must be able to work under pressure within a team
- You must be able to meet scheduled deadlines
- You must be able to take initiative and ownership
HOW TO APPLY FOR THE CSIR BURSARY
Applications must be done online at: CSIR Bursary Application 2022
All applicants will receive an email confirmation after their application has been received, and will be advised if their application was successful or unsuccessful.
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)
- Curriculum Vitae
- Application letter stating which field of study you are applying
- Grade 11 final results AND Matric results to date, if currently in Matric (certified copies)
- Matric certificate, if completed Matric (certified copy)
- Full and most recent university transcript/ record, if currently studying (on institutions letterhead)
- Proof of provisional university acceptance, if currently in Matric (on institutions letterhead)
- Proof of university registration, if currently enrolled and studying (on institutions letterhead)
- Students under 18: a completed and signed consent form (.docx) by a parent or guardian – to comply with POPI regulations
- Students under 18: parent/ guardian ID document (certified copy)
CONTACT THE BURSARY PROVIDER
For any queries related to this bursary programme, please contact CSIR directly:
Recruitment Centre
Tel: 012 842 7518
Email: [email protected]
Please do NOT contact the CSIR if this bursary has already closed. View our other bursaries open for application here: https://www.zabursaries.co.za/bursary-news/
This bursary listing was last updated on: 8 July 2021.