African Peacebuilding Network Accepting Applications for Individual and Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowships

Funding for individual African citizens and collaborative groups of six team members to conduct research projects that will inform policy and practice on conflict and peacebuilding in Africa.

The African Peacebuilding Network (APN) is part of the US Social Science Research Council (SSRC), an independent, international, non-profit organisation that fosters innovative research, nurtures new generations of social scientists, deepens how inquiry is practiced within and across disciplines, and mobilises necessary knowledge on important public issues.

The APN is accepting applications for both Individual Research Fellowships and Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowships to enhance the quality and visibility of independent African peacebuilding research both regionally and globally, while making peacebuilding knowledge accessible to key policymakers, practitioners and research centres of excellence in Africa and around the world.

In both cases, fellows produce research-based knowledge that is relevant to, and has a significant impact on, peacebuilding scholarship, policy, and practice on the continent. The APN will work to ensure that knowledge generated feeds into regional and global debates and policies on peacebuilding.

Research outputs/products may include, but are not limited to, books, policy briefs, articles/essays, occasional/working papers, newsletters, blogs and feature/op-ed articles. Fellows are strongly encouraged to contribute to the APN’s Working Paper series, Policy Briefing Note series, digital forum Kujenga Amani, and social media platforms.

For Individual Research Fellowships

Applicants must be African academics, policy analysts or practitioners currently residing in an African country. Preference will be given to early- to mid-career academics, as well as experienced practitioners and policy analysts.

Up to 18 individual fellowships will be awarded. Fellows will receive a maximum of $15,000 each to support six months of field-based research, from June 2022 to December 2022.

Funding can be used to cover relevant books and articles, project design and development support, necessary equipment, research/fieldwork-related travel, editorial and professional/institutional support for publications, and conference costs and related travel for dissemination activities.

For Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowships

Collaborations must consist of joint researcher-practitioner teams of six members, made up of Africans based at or affiliated with universities; regional organisations; government agencies; or non-governmental, media, or civil society organisations on the continent. Collaborations may be new or already established.

Applicants must be scholars or practitioners based in Africa, with the lead investigator based at or affiliated with an African university. The lead investigator must have a PhD, and other members of the research group may be junior lecturers and practitioners who are expected to hold at least a master’s degree with two or more years of work experience. The awards are ideally meant for joint teams of mid-career and junior academics, practitioners, activists and policymakers, led by a senior academic/practitioner.

Collaborative working groups will be supported by a maximum award of $60,000 for a period of eighteen months. Funding should be used to support new field research, training activities, the review of relevant literature, and the production and dissemination of a range of outputs, from policy briefs and reports to best-practice models, as well as academic publications. These outputs should be published in print and electronic formats.

Applications to both awards should be submitted by the 1 February 2022 (23:59 EST) deadline.

(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect Newsflash.)