The « conseil de fondation » of the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) wishes to increase the number of graduate students from Swiss universities working in collaboration with the CSRS in West Africa, and it is pleased to announce the first session of its W Müller Award to help to finance this collaboration. The award is open to graduate students (MSc and PhD) registered at Swiss universities and planning to conduct their projects (at least in part) in West Africa in close collaboration with a team of the CSRS in one their research areas. These are: (i) environment and health, (ii) food security and nutrition, and (iii) biodiversity and conservation. (Please see http://www.csrs.ch/ for more details of the research at CSRS.) The project must be in line with the strategic plan of the CSRS. The “conseil de fondation” will award up to 5’000 CHF per project from its W Müller fonds; in 2016-17 two projects will be funded.