Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Programme Inviting Applications for Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships
Fellowships for citizens of any sub-Saharan African country enrolled on PhDs in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda on a course related to peace, security, and development topics.
The US Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is 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 SSRC runs the Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa programme to strengthen tertiary education in Africa through a series of institutional and individual interventions, creating a pipeline for the development of faculty and research communities.
As part of its actions, the SSRC offers a number of Fellowships for innovative research on peace, security, and development topics. Applicants must be citizens of any sub-Saharan African country and hold a master’s degree at the time of application.
The fellowships are as follows:
Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowships
These fellowships enable fellows to have a 12-month sabbatical from teaching and administrative responsibilities to enable them to complete a dissertation that advances research on peace, security, and development topics. Applicants must be in the final year of writing and have completed at least two doctoral dissertation chapters.
The fellowships provide a stipend of up to $10,000 to support a one-year leave from teaching and administrative responsibilities, including fellows’ travel, research, and living expenses.
Applicants must be enrolled on and working towards a PhD in an accredited university, or affiliated to an institution in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Fellowships
These fellowships support both PhD students who are developing a doctoral dissertation research proposal, and students who recently completed a master’s degree and are seeking to enrol in a PhD programme.
The fellowships support short-term research costs of up to $3,000 to develop a doctoral dissertation proposal. Funding will cover costs related to pre-fieldwork surveys, literature review and doctoral dissertation proposal writing.
Applicants must be enrolled on – or intend to enrol on by the time of the award – and working towards a PhD in an accredited university, or affiliated to an institution in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda.
Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship
These fellowships support the dissertation research costs of PhD students on a topic related to peace, security, and development. Up to $15,000 is available for 6-12 months of doctoral dissertation research. The award helps students to carry out fieldwork, collect and analyse data and work on their literature review and dissertation writing.
Applicants must have a fully developed doctoral dissertation research proposal approved by a graduate school/programme at an accredited university in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania or Uganda.
Post-Doctoral Writing Fellowship (exclusively available for Next Gen alumni)
Fellowships for Next Gen alumni who have completed their doctorate degrees. The award enables recipients to buy time off from teaching and administrative duties to focus exclusively on finalising an article for a peer-reviewed journal or completing a book/manuscript based on a Next Gen-supported doctoral dissertation that advances research on peace, security, and development.
The fellowships provide up to $3,000 each for up to six months. Next Gen supports fellows with writing and revising manuscripts, literature search, fact-checking and copy-editing.
Applicants must be a past recipient of at least one Next Generation Social Sciences Doctoral Dissertation fellowship and be affiliated to an academic department in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda. Applicants must be prepared to take no less than three-month leave away from routine teaching and administrative duties in their current role.
Applications to all fellowships should be submitted by the 10 February 2023 deadline.
(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect Newsflash.)