Megatrends Afrika Fellowship Programme 2023 will provide €2,800 in grants to researchers

The Megatrends Afrika Fellowships 2023 are open for applications for African researchers.
Fellowships will be awarded for up to three months, and candidates will conduct independent research projects or collaborate with project team members and colleagues.
Eligible candidates must have a PhD in relevant fields, be from an African country, and have a track record in research areas of relevance to the MTA project.

The Megatrends Afrika Fellowships 2023 are now accepting applications to award fellowships to African researchers across three core research themes.

The core research teams are: actors of violence and the changing nature of conflict, the effects of megatrends on democratization and autocratization, and global power shifts and multipolarity.

Fellowships will be awarded for up to three months, full-time, between 15 May and 30 November 2023, at one of the respective institutes in Berlin, Bonn, or Kiel. Candidates will conduct an independent research project or, if appropriate, collaborate with project team members and colleagues and contribute at least one paper to the project’s publication series.

The Research proposals should be on the following topics:

Multidimensional crises: The effects of multidimensional crises (security, political order/regimes, food security, climate change) on social cohesion, resilience, and gender dynamics in the Sahel or Lake Chad Basin.
The evolving nature of armed conflict and intervention, including remote and hybrid warfare, and its implications for state legitimacy.
Demographic change: The effects of demographic change on political attitudes and participation; young women’s political attitudes and participation.
Digital technologies: The impact of digital technologies on African politics, societies, and economies (i.e., political influence, misinformation, mobile money, investments).
Climate change: Africa’s role in international climate change negotiations or climate adaptation issues.
Energy transitions in Africa: African national and international interests and agendas.

Fellowship details

Fellowships will be awarded for a period of up to three (3) months, full-time, between 15 May and 30 November 2023.
Fellows are expected to live in the city of the respective institute, i.e., Berlin, Bonn, or Kiel, for the duration of their fellowship.
Fellows will receive a monthly grant of €2,800 as well as a round-trip economy ticket between their home country and Germany.
Fellows will be chosen and assigned based on the research agendas of the host institutes.
Fellows who need a visa to enter Germany will be given a letter of support if they are invited.

Eligibility criteria

Candidates must have a PhD in politics, economics, social sciences, geography international relations, and relevant regional sciences;
Be originally from an African country;
Have academic publications and a track record in research areas of relevance to the MTA project;
Having experience in scientific policy advice is an advantage.

Selection Process

The participants will be selected based on:

Academic and professional merit based on the applicant’s publications and work experience;
The academic and political relevance of the applicant’s project;
Coherence and feasibility of the applicant’s project;
Candidate’s ability to communicate effectively and make complex ideas accessible to a broad audience.

Documents needed to apply

All applications must be submitted as a single PDF document and must include a one-page letter of motivation, an academic CV with a list of academic publications (a sample of two recent publications), copies of relevant academic transcripts and/or diplomas (no translations required), and a written concept note describing the applicant’s project.

The concept note should be no more than 2,000 words long and should include a discussion of the project/research topic, relevant project objectives, an explanation of the project’s academic and policy relevance, and an overview of the theoretical and methodological approaches the fellow intends to use.

The scope and ambition of the project should be framed in a way that the publication will be finalised by the end of the fellowship.