Deadline: 20-Jan-23

The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) seeks to provide Africa-based early career researchers working on the themes of peace, democracy and climate change on the continent with the space and intellectual community to transform a draft paper into a publishable journal piece.

Objectives

• To strengthen the academic writing skills of African early career scholars, with particular attention to female scholars,
• To enhance the success rate of early career African scholars’ submissions to high quality journals,
• To build a network of Africa-based scholars working on the themes of peace, democracy and climate change.

Programme: The 5-day programme will be organised as a writing retreat, with daily seminars and writing sessions. The seminars will include practical guidance on academic writing and publishing in high quality journals. The daily writing sessions will be supported by academic mentors and editors with research interests in peace, democracy and climate change.

Funding: Successful applicants will be provided with funding to cover travel expenses to Ghana from Sub-Saharan Africa along with accommodation and subsistence costs for the duration of the workshop. If the ongoing pandemic will make an in-person workshop impossible, the writing retreat will be organised virtually instead.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications are welcomed from early career researchers who meet the following eligibility criteria:
  • A doctorate which was awarded within 5 years of the application deadline, i.e. doctoral certificate awarded after January 2018 to date,
  • Employed at a recognised university or research institute in Sub-Saharan Africa,
  • Fluency in written and spoken English (there will be no translation services provided).

Selection

• Applications will be assessed and selected through a strictly merit-based procedure. The main selection criteria are:
  • A PhD certificate granted between January 2018 and January 2023,
  • Employment at a university or research institute on the African continent,
  • Excellence, relevance and originality of the draft research paper,
  • Fit of the research with the themes of peace, democracy and climate change.
  • The workshop is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research through the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) based at the University of Ghana, Legon. The organisers of the workshop are MIASA at the University of Ghana in cooperation with ZIAF/University of Frankfurt, Germany.

For more information, visit MIASA.