CODESRIA Advanced Senior Research Grants for Higher Education Studies: Call for Proposal

Deadline: March 15^th, 2023

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, CODESRIA, with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY) is implementing a research intervention to support senior academics in African Universities undertake research on various sub-themes related to the future of higher education in the continent. This call invites eligible senior academics to submit proposals for consideration. The call specifically targets academics in universities located in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa as well as African academics from the diaspora. Joint proposals involving senior academics in African universities and African academics from the diaspora are encouraged. Individual or joint proposals submitted by female candidates will be given preference under this call. The grant will be tenured for 15 months.

The overall focus of this intervention is to support research on systemic realities affecting African universities and the higher education space more generally. In designing this intervention, CODESRIA noted that the higher education space in the continent is strongly connected to prevailing socio-economic challenges like poverty, underdevelopment, insecurity and climate change. An appreciation of these broader contextual issues as they impact higher education will be necessary. Those submitting proposals for consideration should focus on the following sub-themes:

1. Higher Education in Africa and the SDGs
2. Digital transitions and alternative pedagogies for graduate education
3. Curriculum and graduate transition into the work environment
4. African universities and the national and global research eco-systems
5. The future of the social sciences and humanities in African universities
6. The changing nature of academic and scientific freedom in African Universities
7. The question of funding and implications for university missions and mandates

Researchers to be funded under this grant will be expected to produce and submit to CODESRIA a “Green Book.” By Green Book, we mean an exploratory study that contains a state-of-the art review. It includes but is not limited to documenting the state of the issues to be investigated and a mapping of future areas for research. Academics already undertaking research on any of the issues listed above can apply for this grant to support completion of fieldwork and preparation of the book manuscript. In addition to preparing the book manuscripts, grantees will also be encouraged to publish and disseminate brief outputs from the grant through other publications such as University World News, The Elephant, The Conversation, or as journal articles.

Application Modalities

Those submitting proposals, either jointly or individually should include the following:

1. A recent CV highlighting the candidate’s strengths in the areas indicated in this call
2. A 5-10-page proposal synopsis indicating the specific theme/topic to be investigated, with a clearly articulated conceptual framing for the work to be undertaken and clearly linked to current literature on one of the sub-themes identified above
3. A letter from a senior university administrator, preferably a deputy vice chancellor for Research or academics confirming the institutional affiliation of the principal applicant

Completed proposals should be submitted through the CODESRIA online submission system on or before the 15^th March 2023 using the following link https://submission.codesria.org/.