University of Free State Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2025-2026 (Funded)

The University of Free State Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2025-2026 will enable an outstanding doctoral graduate to obtain experience in research and innovation at a higher education institution under the mentorship of established researchers. The fellowship is awarded on a competitive basis, considering the applicants’ academic achievements and research potential, as well as the relevance of prior experience and expertise. The fellowship is available for a period of two years (2025–2026).

The fellowship is linked to a competitive research grant obtained from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The project, “South-North flows of information through translation in the global news agency AFP” is led by Dr Marlie van Rooyen from the UFS and Prof Lucile Davier from the University of Geneva. The UFS postdoctoral fellow will be based in Bloemfontein and supervised by Dr Van Rooyen.

Duties and Responsibilities of Free State Postdoctoral

• Conduct innovative research as part of a research team.
• Travel to conduct fieldwork and collect data from two news agency bureaux on the African continent and the African desk of Agence France Presse (AFP) in Paris.
• Prepare conference papers and present at international conferences.
• Author/co-author at least one (1) publication output per year in the form of DHET–accredited scholarly journal articles or books/chapters in books. The renewal of the fellowship beyond the first year depends on satisfactory performance and the submission of an annual progress report.
• Register and reside as a postdoctoral research fellow at the UFS and participate in relevant activities of the Department of Linguistics and Language Practice at the UFS.

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Fellowship 

• The value of the fellowship is R 300,000..

Eligibility for Free State Postdoctoral

• Graduated with a PhD in a relevant discipline within the last five years. Relevant disciplines include but are not limited to translation studies; news translation; news/media and language; ethnography; digital humanities; discourse analysis; pragmatics; and/or sociolinguistics
• Fluent in at least English and French.
• May not hold full-time salaried employment during the fellowship.
• Must be able to relocate to the UFS for the duration of the fellowship. This is a residential fellowship: the successful applicant must spend 80% of her/his postdoctoral period at the UFS.
• Have a strong socio-political knowledge of Africa.

Recommendations

• Knowledge of and experience in qualitative research methodologies.
• Qualitative data analysis software.
• Prior experience in presenting research papers at conferences and/or seminars.
• Authored/co-authored academic publications.

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Application

To apply, email the following documentation by October 6 2024 to Dr Marlie van Rooyen at [email protected]:

• Motivation letter, including a 1-2-page outline of relevant expertise and experience.
• Full CV including a list of research publications, conference papers and other scholarly outputs demonstrating relevant experience and expertise.
• Full transcripts of academic records and copy of doctoral degree certificate.
• Copy of ID document (or copy of passport in the case of foreign applicants).
• Contact details of two academic referees who have taught/supervised the candidate (one referee must be your lead PhD supervisor).

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