The 2023 cohort will get the opportunity to participate in a one-year fellowship programme combining online activities with a study period of 3 months at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Six PhD students - four female and two male - have been selected to take part in this year’s AfricaLics Visiting Fellowship Programme (VFP).

The successful candidates were selected from a pool of 72 applicants by a distinguished committee comprising of members of the AfricaLics Scientific Board and the Secretariat. They represent a diverse range of African countries (Cameroon, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya).

The 2023 cohort will get the opportunity to participate in a one-year fellowship programme combining online pre-and post-activities with a study period of 3 months at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mentoring will be provided by a range of African and international scholars in innovation and development studies who are research active in AfricaLics and Globelics.

The aim of the programme and the scholarships is to help African PhD students working in the field of innovation and development to strengthen their academic/research qualifications, improve the quality of their dissertations and prepare for a career in innovation and development either within academia or outside (e.g. in the private sector or in government/policy making).

The programme does this by increasing the mobility and level of exposure of the PhD students to international knowledge in the field of innovation and development. It forms part of the efforts by AfricaLics to contribute to the development of a vibrant research community in Africa in this emerging and highly multidisciplinary field.

During phase I and II of the Research Capacity Development Programme (2011-16 and 2017-22 respectively), the visiting fellows had the opportunity to visit Aalborg University as part of the programme. However, from 2022, the VFP fellows have been hosted by African universities. The 2022 cohort was hosted by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) in Kenya.

The Swedish International Development Agency, Sida (Stockholm), has so far provided funding for the visiting scholarships as part of the project Enhancing research capacity on Innovation and Development in Africa.

The AfricaLics secretariat (hosted by ACTS) is responsible for the project with the AfricaLics Scientific Board providing advice on scientific matters and issues of strategic importance.