The American Political Science Association invites candidates dynamic students and post-doctoral fellows to attend the 7 days fully funded MENA workshop 2020 in Rabat, Morocco. This program is an opportunity to network with colleagues from across the Arab MENA region and advance research on the security and international relations of the region. Moreover, the 7-day workshop is going to held in partnership with the faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences-Souissi (FSJES) at Mohammed V University in Rabat.

Theme

Thematically, the workshop will be theoretically grounded in critical approaches to Security Studies and International relations, with discussions structured around two central themes. Discussions of insecurity will be through the question of what makes people insecure, rather than what makes them secure. By inverting the traditional questions of Security Studies that seek to answer about maintaining the security, this question asks fellows to think of the production of insecurity as the explanation of key variables. Discussions of securitization will reflect on how new patterns of securitization are emerging in the region. By widening the agents of securitization beyond the state, this approach highlights how private companies, social movements, political parties, and even municipalities, are implicated in contemporary securitization in the MENA region. The organizers especially welcome and encourage entries on Insecurity and Securitization. Click here to see more.

Eligibilities 

• The fully-funded MENA workshop 2020 in Morocco is open to all the Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows who are citizens of countries in the Arab MENA region, especially those who are currently working or participating in any project at universities or research institutes in the region.
• However, non-citizens of Arab MENA countries who are currently at universities or research institutes in the Arab MENA region may also apply.
• The program is open to scholars in political science and other social science disciplines undertaking research related to the workshop theme.
  Scholars should apply with a manuscript or research project in progress that they will present at the workshop.
• Professional fluency in English is mandatory.
• Furthermore, the organizers encourage applications from scholars working on topics related to the workshop theme.

Benefits 

This MENA workshop is a fully-funded opportunity for the candidate to enter their paper and travel in Morocco. The workshop will also include sessions on conducting fieldwork, manuscript preparation and publication, and other professional development topics. Following their participation in the full program, alumni will receive 3 years’ membership to APSA and will be eligible to apply for small research grants.

Application Process

Interested candidates must submit an application for participation in the workshop. Here is the  Application Form. In addition to the application, candidates should submit all necessary supporting documents (in PDF or Word Format), must be submitted by March 14, 2020. Furthermore, the application must be in English and should include

• The completed online Application Form.
• An updated Curriculum Vitae/resume.
• A detailed research statement (2,000 words maximum) describing the work-in-progress that the candidate proposes to develop and present at the workshop. This statement should outline the focus of the paper, the methods used, the data/fieldwork on which it is based, and how it relates to the workshop theme(s). The research project should not be part of a co-authored project and should not be an excerpt from a work that is already completed or accepted for publication. Submissions may be derived from a dissertation project that is also suitable for publication as a journal article.
• Two letters of reference on official letterhead and scanned as electronic files. If the candidate is a graduate student, one letter should be from his/her dissertation supervisor. Furthermore, if s/he is a researcher or faculty member, letters can come from a former dissertation supervisor, a colleague at your home institution, a university official, or an employer.

Visit the official website for more information.