AfricaLics Visiting PhD Fellowships 2025 for young African PhD Students.

Application Deadline:  7^th October 2024.

Applications are now open for the 2025 AfricaLics Visiting PhD Fellowships. AfricaLics – the African Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems – is inviting suitable PhD student candidates from universities in African countries to apply for participation in the AfricaLics PhD Visiting Fellowship Programme (2025 cohort) focused on Innovation and Development.

Requirements

• The scholarship option is open to PhD students from countries in Africa classified by the OECD/DAC as low and lower-middle-income countries whose studies – irrespective of sectoral discipline – focus on the relationship between innovation and economic, social or environmentally sustainable development. Female PhD students are particularly encouraged to apply as AfricaLics endeavours to contribute to increasing the currently low number of female scholars in Innovation and Development research studies in Africa. Likewise, PhD students from low-income countries are particularly encouraged to apply as AfricaLics endeavours to strengthen research capacity in Innovation and Development in low-income countries in Africa.
• Applicants must be enrolled as PhD students in a relevant programme at an African university and must have completed their first year of PhD studies by December 2024. A maximum of six visiting scholarships will be available in 2025, but the final number of accepted visiting fellows will depend on the in-depth assessment of applications and funding availability.

Student Requirements

Applicants for the AfricaLics PhD visiting fellowship programme should:

• Be enrolled as a PhD student at a university in Africa.
• Have completed their first year of studies by December 2024
• Have a background (BSc, MSc etc.) in Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Science and Technology Policy, Geography, History or Development Studies. Applicants may also work within the STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) subjects or even manufacturing but from a social science perspective.
• Possess adequate skills in English (documentation may be requested).
• Be working actively on a subject relevant to innovation and development as defined above.
• Submit a brief application of one page/500 words explaining their background, motivation for applying and expected outcomes of participation in the AfricaLics PhD visiting fellowship programme

Programme Details

• The visiting scholarship provides successful PhD students with the opportunity to engage in several online activities including a course on writing skills and a course on ‘How to write an Academic Journal Article’ and up to 5 paper presentation seminars during the study period which runs from 1^st February 2025 to 15^th December 2025.
• VFP participants will be offered the opportunity to apply for and participate in the AfricaLics PhD Academy 2025. Details regarding when and where the PhD Academy takes place will be provided early in 2025.

Benefits

• Successful candidates will participate in a fellowship programme combining online pre- and post-activities with a study period of 3 months at the University of Johannesburg (UJ)[1] in South Africa.
• The three-month study visit to UJ is, however, subject to the availability of funding. While the AfricaLics Secretariat and Scientific Board are searching for funds to finance the study visit, successful candidates are also expected to help search for funds to finance their study visit at UJ themselves (see section on funding issues).
• Mentoring will be provided by a range of African and international scholars in Innovation and Development studies, who are members of the AfricaLics and Globelics communities.
• The programme will also receive support from the Trilateral Research Chair in Transformative Innovation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Sustainable Development (TRCTI)

Application Procedure:

The following documents must be submitted with the brief application:

• Brief outline of your current PhD project including PhD training plans (max. 5 pages)
• Curriculum Vitae – CV (including PhD courses attended so far)
• Letter of support from the main PhD supervisor confirming that the PhD student will have completed her/his upgrade/probation by end December 2024
• Letter of support from the University Administration at the university where the PhD student is enrolled
• Copies of academic certificates (copies of Bachelor and Master Certificates as a minimum)
• One writing sample (article or chapter) from current PhD program.