Submissions open for Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship

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Deadline: 31 January 2025

The Social Science Research Council is seeking applications for its Doctoral Dissertation Completion fellowship to support the completion of doctoral degrees and to promote next generation social science research in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

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Thematic Priorities

Prospective Next Gen Completion applicants are encouraged to submit applications covering a range of issues related to peacebuilding, security and development including, but not limited to, the following:
- Climate, Environment, and Resources:
  - Climate change, energy transitions, conflict, and peace
  - Human mobilities, insecurities, and peace
  - Hydropolitics, conflict, and peace
  - Natural resource conflict: community, national, and regional dimensions
- Justice, Peace, and Regional/International Stakeholders:
  - Peace education and African futures
  - Regional Economic Communities (RECs), regionalism, peace, and security
  - Transitional justice, reconciliation, and peace
  - UN-AU-EU-REC partnerships, peace operations, funding, security, and peacebuilding architectures
- Nationalism, Identity, Religion, and Culture:
  - Access to justice, diversity, and citizenship
  - Religion and peace
  - State-building, nation-building, identities and citizenship
  - Women, youth, and peacebuilding
- State and Non-state Stakeholders, Governance, and Conflict:
  - African Peacebuilding Interventions: military and non-military norms and practices
  - Dimensions of conflict and security: regional, trans-border, national, and interpersonal
  - Diseases, politics, and peace
  - Geopolitics and histories of conflict, conflict mediation, and peace
  - Political transitions, elections, governance, and development
  - Prevention of mass atrocities
  - Resilience, conflict prevention, and transformation
  - Small arms and light weapons (SALW), transnational crime, violent extremism, war, displacement, and migration
  - Social exclusion, economic marginalization, and the social dynamics of conflict and peace
  - Structural causes, drivers, types, actors, and trajectories of violent conflict
  - The economic and financial dimensions of peace support operations and post-conflict reconstruction
- Technology, Media, and Arts:
  - AI and the fourth industrial revolution: risks to and opportunities for peacebuilding
  - Cultures, media, and art(s) of peace
  - Digital media, technology, war and peace
  - Generative AI and the ethics of knowledge production and practice of peacebuilding
  - Social media, community, advocacy, and peacebuilding
  - Theater, music, and peace

Program Components

Through the Next Gen Completion Program, fellowship recipients can expect the following:
- Innovative Research:
  - To make progress towards completing their dissertations on peacebuilding, security, and development topics within one (1) year. Fellows develop their dissertation chapters, complete, and defend their PhDs drawing on evidence-based knowledge that will inform regional and global scholarly debates.
- Workshops:
  - Participate in one mandatory APN and Next Gen workshop occurring in July in an African country. The workshop will help further develop their chapters and complete the writing of their doctoral dissertations; disseminate findings; explore ways to make their work more accessible through publications, presentations, and other means to multiple scholarly and policy constituencies.
- African Scholarship and Knowledge Production:
  - Contribute to the APN and Next Gen program’s digital forums and social media platforms (Kujenga Amani, Facebook, and X).
- Fostering Community, Professional Development and Networking:
  - Be part of a network of highly visible and active African scholars and practitioners capable of projecting African perspectives and voices onto global discourses, knowledge and practices of peacebuilding, security, and development.
  - Fellows will receive mentorship from highly experienced senior scholars in the field. There are opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and collaboration.
  - Gain new knowledge and skills to advance their careers as academics or practitioners in their chosen fields.

Funding Information

12 Next Gen Doctoral Dissertation Completion Development Fellowship up to US$10,000 each.

Eligible Activities

Potential areas of funding include:
- Costs of travel and accommodation for research and writing
- Costs of equipment (within reason) and resources for research, literature review, and writing, including books and articles, and development support
- Compensation to the institution for leave from teaching and administration
- Editorial and professional/institutional support for publications
- Conference costs and related travel for dissemination activities

Eligibility Criteria

All applicants must be African citizens currently residing in an African country.
All applicants must be enrolled and working towards a PhD in an accredited university in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda.
Applicants must be enrolled in a PhD program at the time of application.
Applicants who already hold a PhD will be screened out and their application will not be considered.
Applicants for the Next Gen Doctoral Dissertation Completion fellowship must have their dissertation proposal approved by their institution and plan to use the fellowship period for completing their doctoral dissertation. All applicants must have at least two (2) completed draft chapters.

Application Requirements

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Please review the following list of requirements for your application, which must all be submitted through the Application Portal:
- Online Application Form;
- Copy of their approved dissertation proposal;
- Two draft chapters of their doctoral dissertation;
- Curriculum Vitae (CV);
- Proposed budget;
- Proposed timeline; and,
- Copy of your master’s degree.
- Please upload a recent, updated copy of your CV. Note that while there is no page limit, your CV should accurately reflect your skills and experience in a coherent and legible manner. All CVs must be submitted in English.
- Application material must be submitted in English. In cases where academic degrees are in a language other than English, a translation must be uploaded with the degree in a collated, single document.