NELGA/DAAD Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024/2025: (Deadline:25 March, 2024)

Applications are open for the NELGA/DAAD Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024/2025. DAAD is offering postdoctoral research fellowships at African universities and research institutions. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to organize support measures for the “Network of Excellence for Land Governance in Africa (NELGA)”.

NELGA is a partnership of African universities and research institutions with proven leadership in education, training and research on land governance. Currently, NELGA has more than 70 partner institutions across Africa.

Benefits

The basic fellowship consists of:

• A monthly rate of EUR 800;
• A virtual training workshop on Advocacy for Research Output
• In Addition, support for the following may be granted upon request (subject to availability of funds):
  • Reimbursement of expenses for scientific publications in relevant journals up to a maximum of EUR 1500.

Eligibility

They invite young postdoctoral scientists with completed PhD degrees from central institutions of land policy in Africa to apply for funding for NELGA postdoctoral fellowships.

Applicants must:

• Have completed their PhD degree at a state or state recognized institution of higher education;
• Have a background in land governance/land management or a related field (e.g. land administration, land economics, urban and regional planning, geomatics);
• Be nationals of an African country;
• Be granted leave of absence by their home institution in case of conducting a field study or research stay abroad.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be reviewed by an independent selection committee consisting of experts in the relevant fields. The performance-based assessment will consider:

• A convincing and well-planned research project incl. preliminary work undertaken, the relevance of the topic for research and application-oriented outputs, choice of methods and work equipment, the fit of the facilities and support offered by the host institution, appropriateness of the time-schedule, motivation);
• Academic achievements (incl. scientific and other qualifications, consistency of the proposal with further scientific qualification and long-term career planning);
• Consistency of the proposal with the objectives of the NELGA (incl. relevance for policy linkages, transferability of expected results into policy).

Any additional documents supporting the academic relevance of the research proposal or providing information about pertinent extracurricular activities of the applicant will also be considered in the assessment.

Application

Documents to be submitted include:

• DAAD application form, duly filled (available in the DAAD-Portal);
• Curriculum Vitae (use the Europass specimen form)
• List of publications (if applicable);
• Letter of motivation;
• Detailed description of the research proposal and a description of previous research work (max. 10 pages);
• Weekly schedule of planned research work;
• Description of the expected results and applicationoriented outputs (incl. ideas for the transition of the findings into society and policy);
• Copies of Master’s diplomas/certificates (with final grades) and transcripts of record of all annual academic examinations (incl. explanation of grading system);
• Copies of PhD diploma/certificate (with final grade and transcripts of record, if applicable) incl. explanation of grading system;
• Two recent reference letters from university teachers which provide information about the applicant’s qualifications;
• Proof of teaching/work experience/internships (if applicable);
• Letter confirming supervision by an academic adviser at the host or home institute, which refers to the applicant’s proposal and confirms that the host or home institute will provide a workplace (not applicable for studies in the field)

Applicants will be required to:

• Register online via the DAAD-Portal (if not already registered)
• Apply online

For more information, visit NELGA/DAAD Fellowship.