The African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) invites research fellowship applications from African researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners working on conflict and peacebuilding issues at universities and research institutions; or regional, governmental, and non-governmental agencies or organizations in Africa.

A core component of the APN, the Individual Research Fellowships program is a vehicle for enhancing the quality and visibility of independent African peacebuilding research both regionally and globally while making peacebuilding knowledge accessible to key policymakers and research centers of excellence in Africa and around the world. Fellowship recipients produce research-based knowledge that is relevant to and has a significant impact on, peacebuilding scholarship, policy, and practice on the continent. For its part, the APN works toward inserting the evidence-based knowledge that grant recipients produce into regional and global debates and policies focusing on peacebuilding.

Support is available for research and analysis on the following issues:

• Root causes of, and emerging trajectories of violent conflict;
• Natural Resource Conflict;
• Geographies as well as histories of conflict and peace;
• Theory and practice of conflict mediation;
• Resilience, conflict prevention, and transformation;
• State and non-state armed actors, transnational crime, extremism, displacement, and migration;
• Post-conflict elections, democratization, governance and economic reconstruction;
• Statebuilding, including state-society relations and state reconstruction;
• Transitional justice, reconciliation, and peace;
• Likewise, the economic and financial dimensions of conflict, peacekeeping, and peace support operations;
• Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and peacebuilding;
• UN-AU-REC Partnerships and Peace Support Operations;
• Digital media, technology, and peace;
• Cultures, media, and art(s) of peace;
• Gender, youth, and peacebuilding;
• Water conflict and peace;
• Health, post-conflict development, peace, and security; and
• Also, Prevention of mass atrocities.

African Peacebuilding Network Research Fellowship

African Peacebuilding Network Research Fellowship is competitive and hence awarded on peer-reviewed basis. Moreover, the fellowship intends to support six months of field-based research, from June 2020 to December 2021. Up to sixteen (16) individual fellowships of a maximum of $15,000 each will be awarded. APN strongly encourages women to apply for the scholarship.

During the fellowship period, recipients must participate in two mandatory workshops organized by the APN. These workshops will provide opportunities to refine recipients’ research focus and methods; present findings; explore ways to make their work more accessible through publications and other means to multiple peacebuilding constituencies; and develop constructive working relationships with other grantees, senior academics, and practitioner facilitators.

Eligibility for the African Peacebuilding Network Research Fellowship

In order to be eligible for the APN Research Fellowship, candidates must abide by the following rules:

• All applicants must be African citizens currently residing in an African country. This competition is open to African academics, as well as policy analysts and practitioners.
• Applicants applying as academics must hold a faculty or research position at an African university or research organization, and have a PhD obtained no earlier than January 2009.
• Applicants applying as policy analysts or practitioners must be based in Africa at a regional or subregional institution; a government agency; or a nongovernmental, media, or civil society organization.
• Further, they should at have least a master’s degree obtained before January 2014, with at least five years of proven research and work experience in peacebuilding-related activities on the continent.

How to apply for the African Peacebuilding Network Research Fellowship

Candidates may apply for the African Peacebuilding Network Research Fellowship by completing and submitting the online application. Additionally, the candidates must also upload the following documentations:

• Completed Application Form
• Research Proposal as well as Bibliography
• Current CV
• Likewise, proposed Research Timeline and Budget
• Also, two Reference Letters
• Language Evaluation(s) (if necessary)

Deadline

The application for the 2020 African Peacebuilding Network Research Fellowship is open until the deadline at 11:59 pm (EST) on January 15, 2020. However, the applications arriving after the deadline are not eligible for the fellowship consideration.