The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) offers

Five Individual Fellowships (Junior/Senior)

for 3-5 months each

at the University of Ghana

for the Calendar Year 2021

Application deadline: March 31, 2020, 24 h CET

The Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) is broadly dedicated to research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, with ‘Sustainable Governance’ as its central, but by no means exclusive topic. Overarching aims of MIASA are working towards a reduction of global asymmetries in knowledge production and bridging the cultural divide between anglophone and francophone Africa. MIASA, established in 2018, serves as a hub for exchange, networking and collaboration amongst leading researchers from Germany, Ghana, the African and European continents, and beyond. It is located on the beautiful campus of the University of Ghana at Legon (Accra).

The Institute offers time and space for supporting innovative academic projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences of top international quality. MIASA supports these projects via different kinds of fellowships: individual fellowships, tandem fellowships with one tandem partner from Germany and the other from West Africa, and fellowships as members of Interdisciplinary Fellow Groups. From 2021 until 2026, MIASA will grant some 20 fellowships per year in total.

The present call is for FIVE individual fellowships of 3 to 5 months duration in the calendar year 2021. Individual fellowships will allow researchers to conduct a project of their own choice. These projects can be of an opening, continuing, or closing nature. The successful applicants will become MIASA Fellows with all the corresponding rights and obligations for the agreed fellowship period. Key among the obligations is that MIASA fellows are required to spend the bulk of their fellowship in residence at MIASA at the University of Ghana.

Fellowships will be awarded to researchers of top academic quality with an innovative and high quality research topic. The selection of fellows is undertaken by the distinguished international Academic Advisory Board of MIASA.

The fellows’ salary costs will be met by MIASA for every full fellowship month on the principle of “no loss, no gain”, and paid directly to his/her home institution. Furthermore, fellows will receive a monthly allowance of 400 €. For fellows affiliated with an African institution at the commencement of the IFG, this monthly allowance will be 1.000 €.

Non-affiliated senior fellows receive a monthly grant of 2.000 € in total. Non-affiliated junior fellows will receive a monthly grant of 1.200 €.

For all fellows, MIASA will provide accommodation and reimburse travel costs. In addition, a contribution to support research undertaken at MIASA (max. 250 €/ fellow month) can be granted to MIASA fellows upon application to the directorate.

The Institute provides its fellows with modern office space and an up-to-date infrastructure. Fellows have full access to all library services at the University of Ghana and, electronically, at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Note: A full-time presence of fellows at MIASA for the fellowship period is expected. Periods of leave need to be negotiated with the MIASA directors prior to the signing of the fellowship agreements, and must not exceed a total of four weeks.

The Institute supports academic exchange across existing boundaries: between disciplines, between different cultures and countries, between established and younger researchers. Furthermore, MIASA engages in activities opening the research community to society, politics, and the arts. Fellows will be part of this community and profit from the lively research environment of the University of Ghana. Note, therefore, that applicants should indicate how they are planning to contribute to the activities at MIASA and, more broadly, to the academic life at the University of Ghana.

MIASA is committed to inclusion, gender equality, and family friendliness. The MIASA fellowship program thus aims for gender parity, is promoting affirmative action policies, and is striving to provide family-friendly conditions for its fellows.

Applications

Applications can be submitted both in English and in French. The completed application form together with the required documents has to be uploaded on the application webpage (https://frias.wufoo.com/forms/miasa-individual-fellowships-2021/) and submitted by March 31, 2020; 24.00 h CET.

Information on the application and selection process (required documents, eligibility criteria, evaluation criteria, timeline and stages of the selection process) is provided in the Application Guidelines for Individual Fellowships.

Eligibility

Eligible for application are early career researchers (1-6 years after having been awarded their PhD) and senior researchers (more than 6 years after having been awarded their PhD) from around the globe in a relevant discipline of the Humanities or the Social Sciences. Therefore, applicants for a junior fellowship must have been awarded their PhD on 31 March 2020 or earlier; applicants who completed their PhD on 31 March 2014 or earlier can only apply for a senior fellowship. Relevant is the date on the official PhD certificate.

Selection

Selection is undertaken by means of a strMerian Institute for Advanced studies in Africa Fellowship 2020 for early career Researchersictly merit-based process. The all-important selection criteria are the academic excellence of the applicant and the fellowship proposal. Additionally, what will be taken into account are the required experience and capability to conduct the fellowship project and to contribute to the activities at MIASA and, more broadly, to the academic life at the University of Ghana.

A highly distinguished international selection committee, MIASA’s Academic Advisory Board, will be responsible for the selection of the fellows.

For further details please contact us at MIASA under miasa@frias.uni-freiburg.de