Jobs and Announcements

With funding support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, CODESRIA, announces a call for proposals for a new intervention targeting support to doctoral schools and rebuilding scholarly communities in the social sciences and humanities in African universities. The overall goal is to engender a generation of academics and knowledge that can enable the people of the continent critically (re) imagine and (re) create better, freer, more sustainable, and more inclusive communities and worlds. Proposals to be supported under this call are those submitted by individual/ groups of graduate/doctoral schools, SSH faculties, including research and teaching units dealing with higher education studies. Proposals should focus on issues to do with curricular reform, doctoral student supervision practices and mentoring of faculty in graduate supervision; interventions to rebuild/recreate scholarly infrastructures and academic communities through holding faculty seminars, strengthening faculty journals and conferences, systems to recreate strong workshop and seminar cultures; support for scholarly writing and academic publishing workshops especially targeting doctoral students and early career academics.

Health Policy Analysis (HPA), seeks to understand and explain the policy process. The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research is supporting a fellowship programme in HPA for 2017-18, for PhD students, or those registered for an equivalent degree, based in LMICs who seek to research the politics of health policy change – focussed, for example, on agenda setting, an aspect of policy formulation, an experience of policy implementation, the politics of policy evaluation/learning, or another, relevant, area. The PhD ideas must also be nested in relevant policy, political science, public administration and/or organisational theory. Proposed applicants must be a national of an LMIC already registered or be currently finalising registration for a PhD, or equivalent, in an LMIC university, and at a stage where they have NOT yet finalised their study protocol or started data collection. Those selected as HPA fellows under this programme will be supported to conduct their PhD research and will be required to attend 2 week-long thesis workshops during this time – broadly, to support the finalisation of their protocol (year 1) and a related paper (year 2). HPA fellows will receive distance learning support between workshops and receive bursary support for their PhD research, linked to the preparation and completion of workshop-related outputs. Applicants must submit the following: a full and complete CV, with copies of all post-graduate university level academic certificates; a 1-2 page motivational statement for your application, indicating how this programme will fit with their existing PhD plans and timelines; a 4-5 page note outlining the work which they hope/plan to do, the theoretical base and methodology and justifying its significance in terms of current HPA work in LMICs; a letter of support from their supervisor (on their university letterhead), and a brief CV of their supervisor; evidence of registration (completed or in progress) for a PhD or equivalent, at an LMIC university, including the disciplinary area of study, year of entry, expected graduation data and current phase of studies; and the name and contact details of 3 referees, with clarification of their relationship to each; of whom at least 2 should have supervised the applicant an academic capacity. Preference will be given to women candidates, those under 40 years of age and to candidates from low income countries (LICs).

IXminusY supports social movements, action groups and change makers who are fighting for a fair, democratic, sustainable and tolerant world. Projects that are supported by XminusY can take place on a broad variety of topics. But more important than the topic, is that the people involved take action themselves to change their own society. An application needs to have background information, concrete data, your planned activities and a detailed budget up to 3,000 euros. XminY doesn't support conferences, seminars, debates or other meetings unless they clearly aim to prepare for actions. In Africa, XminY only supports groups that can supply at least two references from other organisations or individuals.

This is an opportunity for activists and scholars to contribute to a series of three linked workshops in Africa. Each two-day meeting will debate current challenges and prospects for Left analysis and action. The organisers are seeking both key speakers and offers of papers, with a plan to publish a selection in the Review of African Political Economy. The workshops are scheduled in November 2017 in Accra, Ghana; April 2018 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; June 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa; September 2018 at the African Studies Association in the UK. These workshops will link analysis and activism in contemporary Africa from the perspective of radical political economy, and will be organised around three linked themes: Africa in a ‘post-crisis’ world, economic strategy, industrialisation and the agrarian question and resistance and social movements in Africa.