Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa |
Conseil pour le développement de la recherche en sciences sociales en Afrique |
Conselho para o Desenvolvimento da Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais em África |
مجلس تنمية البحوث الإجتماعية في أفريقيا |
Application deadline: May 31, 2018
Number of visits: 10781[/ Version française / نسخة عربية /]
Established in 1973, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) promotes research by African and Diaspora scholars in the Social Sciences and Humanities that can contribute to a better understanding of Africa and its place in the world. This is motivated by the belief that sound knowledge of the continent is invaluable to efforts to make Africa a better place for its peoples and societies.
In 2017 CODESRIA introduced the Meaning-making Research Initiative (MRI) as its principal tool for supporting research. Like previous tools, MRI focuses on supporting research that contributes to agendas for imagining, planning and creating African futures. MRI replaced five tools that CODESRIA had deployed in previous years to support research. These were National Working Groups (NWG), Multinational Working Groups (MWG), Comparative Research Networks (CRN), Transnational Working Groups (TWG) and postdoctoral grants. One goal of this move is to increase the legibility and visibility of the research supported by the Council by collapsing previous tools into a single initiative for supporting research.
The adoption of MRI marks a recommitment to the tasks of interpretation and explanation that saw CODESRIA produce ground-breaking work on thematic issues such as democratization and economic reform in Africa. MRI aggressively pushes scholars to build on the close observation of African social realities to grapple with the tasks of explanation and interpretation. The initiative will reinforce support for researchers. It will also better integrate these scholars into the Council’s work. Further, it will offer scholars more varied ways to present their work, including through books, journal articles and policy interventions.
Key selection criteria: Projects funded under this initiative should meet most of the following criteria:
Thematic priorities: All applications must engage with CODESRIA’s 2017-2021 thematic priorities and cross-cutting issues:
Cross-cutting themes: Applications should indicate the ways in which some of these cross-cutting themes are integrated in their proposals: these are gender, generations, inequality, rurality and urbanity, memory and history, as well as futures and alternatives
Special call for female scholars
Increasing the participation of female scholars in the work and governance of CODESRIA has been a long-term goal of the Council. This is because of the marginal role that women have often occupied in the African academy and research landscape. The Council has over the years made some progress in increasing the participation of female scholars in its life and work as well as the consideration of gender in the work it supports though programs like its Gender Institute and Gender Symposium. We think the Council can do more in this regard. This special MRI call is part of a package of measures deployed to build on past advances and drastically increase the involvement of female scholars in the work and life of CODESRIA during the 2017-2021 strategic cycle.
The call invites applications from groups only. No individual awards will be granted. All projects should: 1) be headed by female scholars; and 2) have only women as members. Only in exceptional cases, and with proper justification, will the Council admit a group that has a majority of female applicants with a small number of male members. The members of a group may be from one country or multiple countries. Each group should have between 3 and 5 members and should take into account CODESRIA’s core principles of linguistic, intergenerational and interdisciplinary diversity. All members of a group should have a demonstrated ability to contribute meaningfully to the work of the group. The Council will offer up to USD 35,000 for each winning project.
How to apply
Interested applicants should submit application packages containing the following required materials as Word documents. Please note that applications that lack any of these elements will be discarded.
The deadline for submission of applications for both individual and group grants is May 31, 2018. Notification of the result of the selection process will be done by July 30, 2018 and applicants who will not hear from us by then should consider their applications unsuccessful. All applications should be sent by email to “2018 Meaning-making Research Initiatives,” CODESRIA at mri@codesria.sn. When sending your email kindly use the subject line ‘MRI FS 2018’ to facilitate the processing of your application.
To learn more about CODESRIA’s Meaning-making Research Initiatives please contact:
Research Program
CODESRIA
BP 3304, CP 18524
Dakar, Senegal
Tel: +221 - 33 825 9822/23
Fax: +221- 33 824 1289
E-mail: mri@codesria.sn
Website: http://www.codesria.org
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