2025 Africa Institute Senior & Postdoctoral Fellowships (Deadline: 1 August, 2025)

Applications are open for the Africa Institute Senior & Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026. The Africa Institute, part of Global Studies University in Sharjah, UAE, is a leading interdisciplinary research and postgraduate institution dedicated to the study of Africa and its diaspora.

As part of its mission to advance critical scholarship, The Africa Institute offers Research Fellowships through a competitive annual program. These include Senior Fellowships—one-year residencies for established scholars, named after Toni Morrison and Ali A. Mazrui—and Postdoctoral Fellowships—two-year residencies for early-career researchers, named after Okwui Enwezor and Fatema Mernissi. Based in Sharjah, all fellowships support original research in the humanities and social sciences, with an emphasis on African and African diaspora studies.

Benefits

• The Institute will provide fellows with access to appropriate office space, access to library resources, computer and technical support, with routine administrative support in matters related to, residency, salary disbursement, HR matters and research funding.

Eligibility

• The Senior Fellowships are open to scholars who are at the associate professor or full professor levels, or their equivalents within or outside the academy.
• The applicant for the Postdoctoral Fellowships must hold a Ph.D. awarded within the last five years.

Application

All files must be submitted in PDF format, combined into one file, to streamline the review process. The required documents should be submitted in the below order:

• An abstract (up to 300 words) outlining the research project the applicant proposes to carry out during the fellowship period
• A project statement (1,000–2,000 words) outlining the research objectives, approach, and overall importance of the study. Applicants may also include a one-page bibliography featuring the key sources that are most relevant to their proposed work
• Two Samples of Writing (published and unpublished)
• Letter of Interest
• CV
• Contact details of three referees whom the Institute will solicit directly for letters of reference.

Submissions should be made to applications@theafricainstitute.org with the subject line indicating “Name of the respective Fellowship” you are applying to:

• Toni Morrison Senior Fellowship in African Diaspora Literature and Cultural Studies
• Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellowship in Global African Studies
• Okwui Enwezor Postdoctoral Fellowship in Visual Culture, Performance Studies, and Critical Humanities
• Fatema Mernissi Postdoctoral Fellowship in Social and Cultural Studies

Deadline: August 1, 2025

For more information,