The Social Science Research Council offers fellowships to support the completion of doctoral degrees and to promote next generation social science research in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. The fellowships support dissertation research on peace, security, and development topics.
The doctoral dissertation research fellowship supports 6-12 months of dissertation research costs of up to US$15,000 on a topic related to peace, security, and development. This program also offers two workshops each year to help fellows to further develop and strengthen their research, engage key literature in their fields, embark on fieldwork-based research, and develop their capacity for scholarly writing, including academic publications.
Eligibility Criteria
All applicants must:
- be citizens of any sub-Saharan African country
- be enrolled and working towards a PhD in an accredited university, or affiliated to an institution in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda
- have a fully developed doctoral dissertation research proposal approved by a graduate school/program at an accredited university in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania or Uganda.
- in the very initial phase of field research, or preparing for the fieldwork phase of their dissertation
Please see the following list of prospective issues that are considered relevant to Next Gen fellowships:
- Causes and driver of conflict
- Institutional and local approaches to conflict prevention, management and resolution
- Elections, transitions and development
- National and tegional approaches to peace, security and development
- Identity and conflict
- Gender, youth, conflict, peace and security
- Conflict, peace and human mobilities
- Cultural issues in security and development
- State-society relations
- Digitality
- Economic and humanitarian perspectives to conflict and peace
- Democracy, human rights and development
- Post-conflict development, reconstruction and reconciliation
- Law, peace agreements and transitional justice
- International justice, genocide and war crimes
- Cities, migration and mobility
- Law and constitutionalism
- Health, food security and development
- Natural resource governance and development
- Climate change, conflict, peace and security
- Globalization and emerging insecurities
- Media, conflict, peace and security
- Data, privacy and security
Offered Benefits
The doctoral dissertation research fellowship supports 6-12 months of dissertation research costs of up to US$15,000 on a topic related to peace, security, and development. This program also offers two workshops each year to help fellows to further develop and strengthen their research, engage key literature in their fields, embark on fieldwork-based research, and develop their capacity for scholarly writing, including academic publications.
Application Process
All applications must be submitted using the online application portal.
Strong proposals will offer clear and concise descriptions of the project and its significance. Proposals should display thorough knowledge of the relevant social science literature that applicants will engage and the methodologies relevant to the project. In addition, applicants must demonstrate that all proposed activities are feasible and can be completed in a timely manner. All proposals will be evaluated for these criteria by an independent, international committee of leading scholars from a range of social science and related disciplines.
Fellows must be willing to attend two workshops sponsored by the SSRC each year that are intended to help early-career faculty engage in scholarly reflections, research and writing. We anticipate awarding up to 43 fellowships in total across all categories each year
