The African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) invites research fellowship applications from African researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners working on conflict and peacebuilding issues at universities and research institutions; or regional, governmental, and nongovernmental agencies or organizations based in Africa.
A core component of the APN, the Individual Research Fellowship (IRF) program is a vehicle for enhancing the quality and visibility of independent African peacebuilding research both regionally and globally, while making peacebuilding knowledge accessible to key policymakers, practitioners and research centers of excellence in Africa and around the world.
Fellowship recipients produce research-based knowledge that is relevant to, and has a significant impact on, peacebuilding scholarship, policy, and practice on the continent. For its part, the APN works toward inserting the evidence-based knowledge that fellowship award recipients produce into regional and global debates and policies focusing on peacebuilding. The program also strives to build a highly visible and active network of African scholars and practitioners capable of projecting African perspectives and voices onto global discourses, knowledge and practices of peacebuilding.
Eligibility
All applicants must be African citizens currently residing in an African country. This competition is open to African academics, as well as policy analysts and practitioners.
Applicants who are academics must hold a faculty or research position at an African university or research organization, and have a PhD obtained no earlier than January 2012.
Applicants who are policy analysts or practitioners must be based in Africa at a regional or sub-regional institution; a government agency; or a nongovernmental, media, or civil society organization, and have at least a master’s degree obtained before January 2017, with at least five years of proven research and work experience in peacebuilding-related activities on the continent.
Support is available for research and analysis on the following issues:
- Root causes of, and emerging trajectories of violent conflict;
- Natural resource conflict;
- Geopolitics and histories of conflict and peace;
- Minorities, under-represented groups, and the social dynamics of conflict and peace;
- Theories and practices of conflict mediation;
- Resilience, conflict prevention and transformation;
- State and non-state armed actors, transnational crime, extremism, displacement and migration;
- Post-conflict elections, democratization, governance and development;
- Statebuilding, Nationbuilding, Identities and the citizenship question;
- Transitional justice, reconciliation, and peace;
- The economic and financial dimensions of conflict, peacekeeping, and peace support operations;
- Regional Economic Communities (RECs), regionalism and peace ;
- UN-AU-REC Partnerships and Peacebuilding Architectures ;
- Digital media, technology, war and peace;
- Cultures, media, and art(s) of peace;
- Gender, youth and peacebuilding;
- Water politics, conflict and peace;
- Peace Movements
- Peace Education
- Prevention of mass atrocities; and
- Public Health, Covid-19, conflict, peace and development
Benefits
- Fellowships are awarded on a competitive, peer-reviewed basis and are intended to support six months of field-based research, from June 2022 to December 2022. Up to eighteen (18) individual fellowships of a maximum of $15,000 each will be awarded. Women are strongly encouraged to apply.
- During the fellowship period, recipients are required to participate in two mandatory workshops organized by the APN. These workshops will provide opportunities to refine recipients’ research designs, focus and methods; present findings; explore ways to make their work more accessible through publications and other means to multiple peacebuilding constituencies; networking, and developing constructive working relationships with other fellows, senior academic, and practitioner facilitators.
Application Process
All applications must be uploaded through our Online Open Water portal.
Requirements
- Completed Application Form
- Research Proposal & Bibliography
- Expected publication(s)
- Current CV
- Proposed Research Timeline
- Proposed Research Budget
- Two Reference Letters
- Language Evaluation(s) (if required)
If you encounter any difficulties accessing the online portal, please contact APN staff at apn@ssrc.org, or by telephone at (+1) 718-517-3669.
All materials must be submitted no later than 11:59 pm (EST) on February 1, 2022.
Application Deadline:Â February 1, 2022.
For More Information:
