AfricaLics Fellowship Program application process at Aalborg University in Denmark. Learn the best way to apply for the AfricaLics Fellowship Program for the academic year 2020/2021, via Aalborg University Scholarship Portal.
If you are reading this, it means you have heard about the AfricaLics Fellowship Program 2020.
In this article, we are going to systematically outline the right way to apply for the AfricaLics Fellowship Program for interested and qualified applicants.
Scholarship Description
The fellowship program gives chance to successful applicants to study for a period of five (5) months at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of the Social Sciences at Aalborg University, Denmark.
The Call is made at a time of worldwide uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we expect that it will be possible to implement the program as envisaged some time in 2021 and so, we urge interested eligible candidates to apply despite of the uncertainties.
The objective of this visiting fellowship program and the scholarship awards is to aid African PhD students working in areas of Innovation and Development to build up their academic and/or research qualifications, further the quality of their dissertations as well as prepare for a career in innovation and development whether within academia or outside (e.g. in the private sector or in government or through policy making).
The fellowship program achieves this by growing the international mobility and the level of exposure of the PhD students to foreign knowledge in the area of innovation and development. The program constitutes part of the initiatives by AfricaLics to add to the growth of a lively research community in Africa in this new and extremely multidisciplinary field. The funding for the visiting scholarship awards is provided by the Swedish Development Agency, Sida (Stockholm) as part of the project improving research capacity in areas of Innovation and Development in Africa nations via the African Network on Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems (AfricaLics) – Phase II (2017-2021).
Many applicants have been asking us questions like;
- How Can I Apply for AfricaLics Fellowship Program?
- Is the AfricaLics Fellowship Program Form out?
- When will the Aalborg University Scholarship start?
- I need an Aalborg University Scholarship update, etc.
- Aalborg University Scholarship Portal.
Available Subjects
Political Science.
Eligible Nationalities and Benefits
This scholarship is only open to students from Africa countries.
Requirements
- The scholarship award option is available to PhD students from nations categorized by the DAC as low and lower-middle income in Africa whose studies – regardless of sectorial field – focus on innovation and development. Female PhD students are specifically and greatly encouraged to apply as AfricaLics endeavors to add to increasing the presently low number of female scholars in the area of Innovation and Development research studies in Africa.
- In the same vein, PhD students that come from low-income nations are specifically encouraged to apply as AfricaLics aims to add to the research capacity in the area of Innovation and Development in low-income nations in Africa.
- Candidates must be registered as PhD students at African universities and should have completed their first year of PhD studies latest by December 2020.
- A maximum of four (4) visiting scholarship awards are available for 2021. The visiting scholarship award is complementary to the studies of the PhD students and candidates must have secured already, basic finance for their PhD studies from other sources (such as African governments, other organizations, self-funding).
- The fellowship program prioritizes students working on topics relevant or related to the research themes identified by the AfricaLics network as vital to the future of Africa.
Selection Criteria: Candidates for the AfricaLics PhD visiting fellowship program must:
- Be registered as a PhD student at any university in Africa.
- Have completed their first year of studies latest by December 2020 (upgrade/probation)
- Have a background (i.e. BSc, MSc etc.) within Political Science, Geography, Economics, Science and Technology Policy, Sociology, History or Development Studies. Candidates may also work within the STEM (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) subjects or even manufacturing, only that it is from a social science perspective.
- Have adequate skills in English (documentation may be asked for). Language tests that are acceptable are detailed on the AAU web-page here.
- Be working actively on a subject related to the areas of innovation and development as defined above.
- Complete and submit a brief essay of 1 page/500 words explaining his/her background, motivation for applying as well as expected outcomes of participating in the AfricaLics PhD visiting fellowship program
How to Apply
The application must be submitted along with by the following documents:
- A brief outline of the applicant’s current PhD project which should include training plan (maximum of five (5) pages).
- CV (which includes PhD courses attended so far).
- Letter of support from the main PhD supervisor attesting that the PhD student will have completed his/her upgrade/probation by the end January 2021.
- Letter of support from the University Administration at the university where the PhD student is registered.
- Copies of academic certificates (copies of Bachelor’s Degree (BSc.) and Master’s Degree (MSc.) Certificates as a minimum)
- A writing sample (article or chapter) from the applicant’s current PhD program
You are NOT expected to submit a copy of your passport when applying for the fellowship program. If you are offered the scholarship award, we will request that you confirm that you have a passport that is valid for the period of the scholarship award and at least six (6) months after (or whatever is required at the time of application for residence and work permit in the country – Denmark). Collection of personal data will be kept at the very minimum, safely stored and won’t be used for any other unspecified purposes.
Applications with all required documents/attachments should be forwarded latest by 31st July 2020 (COB) to visitingphd@africalics.org.
Applications not meeting the criteria above will not be considered, so please, kindly forward any questions you may have to visitingphd@africalics.org and you will be aided.
Visit Program Webpage for details
Deadline
The deadline for the scholarship award application is 31st July 2020 (COB). Applicants should ensure they submit their applications on or before the specified date.