CODESRIA African Academic Diaspora Support to African Universities Program: Call for African Academic Diaspora visiting Fellowships in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Higher Education Studies to African Universities.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites joint proposals from African academics in the Diaspora and in universities in Africa for visiting fellowships to African universities. This call targets African scholars in the Diaspora who are interested in being supported to spend some time in an African university to undertake specific academic activities aimed at strengthening teaching and research in the Social Sciences, Humanities and in Higher Education studies. The tenure of the visiting professorship will range from two (2) weeks to three (3) months. The specific duration for each fellowship awarded will be determined by an external selection committee based on the work schedule of academic activities to be submitted jointly by the diaspora academic and the African host institution as part of the application documents.

CODESRIA is implementing the African Academic Diaspora Support to African Universities program with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY). The program seeks to mobilize the African academic diaspora to support African universities and to strengthen the linkages between African academics in the diaspora and their counterparts in African universities. The focus of the activities associated with the program is the strengthening of teaching and research capacities in the Social Sciences, Humanities and in Higher Education Studies in African universities. These activities reflect CODESRIA’s thematic priorities for research and training in the 2017-2021 program cycle. The specific activities that the diaspora academics would undertake in host African institutions will be agreed upon between the diaspora academics and the host institutions, and will revolve around the following:

• Short-term teaching engagements at African universities;
• Initiating research activities and collaborations;
• Organizing joint supervision of masters’ and doctoral students;
• Facilitating review and further development of curricula;
• Sharing of course materials and the development of new programs;
• Organizing workshops for PhD advisors, as well as summer schools for advanced doctoral and post-doctoral students and early career academics in African universities;
• Undertake other activities that would potentially contribute to strengthening the relationships and linkages between African academics in the diaspora and African universities.

Applications procedure

African Academics from the Diaspora who wish to be supported as visiting fellows to African universities for periods ranging from 2 weeks to 3 months and the African universities requesting to host the diaspora academic should submit a joint application package, that should include the following documents:

• a) A 5-page concept highlighting the activities to be undertaken during the period of the fellowship in the African university, and the gaps in the host institutions’ academic plan that the activities will contribute to addressing. The concept should also include the duration of the fellowship and the exact timing the fellowship will be taken up;
• b) Supporting documents from the host African institution. The support from the host institution should indicate the centrality of the activities the diaspora academic will be engaged in the institution’s academic plan;
• c) The host institution should also include as part of the supporting documents, a commitment to some form of support from the institution to the visiting scholar as a way of subsidizing the fellowship;
• d) Budget- Applications for support should include a budget which links to the time that the visiting fellow will spend in the African institution. For planning purposes, interested fellows should note that CODESRIA will allocate USD 250 per day to successful applicants. This amount will cover the upkeep of the visiting fellow and is inclusive of the cost of a round-trip ticket from the fellows’ home institution to the host institution in Africa.

Expected outputs

At the end of the fellowship, diaspora academics and host institutions will be expected to provide the following:

• a) A detailed Academic fellowship exit report that captures the diaspora academic’s observation of the higher education dynamics and enables a reflection of the fellow’s experience within the context of those dynamics.
• b) Responses to an evaluation form to be sent by an external person evaluating the program on behalf of CODESRIA at the end of the fellowship.
• c) A fellowship completion report from the host institution attesting to the activities undertaken by the diaspora academic and how the outputs/learning from the activities will be integrated into the institutions’ academic plan, going forward.

Eligibility

Those eligible for support under this program are African-born academics in the diaspora, especially in North America and Europe. African scholars based in countries other than their own within the African continent and interested in being supported as visiting fellows to institutions in other African universities (not in their home countries) are also encouraged to apply. Prospective visiting Diaspora academics should get in touch with the host university/department to agree on details of the relevant activities they will be engaged in during the tenure of their fellowship. This information should be included as part of the application documents to be submitted to CODESRIA. Host universities for the fellowships should be located in one of the following countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa.

Application Deadlines

The Complete application package which should include the Concept from diaspora academic and supporting documents from the host institution in Africa should be submitted to CODESRIA via the online application system which can be accessed via the link https://www.codesria.org/submission
Complete application documents should be received by 10th of March 2020. Successful Fellows are expected to take up the fellows in the summer (June-December 2020).

Call for African Academic Diaspora visiting Fellowships in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Higher Education Studies to African Universities

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