EASST Visiting Fellowship 2017/2018 for East African social scientists (Fully Funded to University of California, USA)

Application Deadline: 11:59PM Pacific Time, 31 March 2017.

In Spring 2017, EASST will host its sixth annual Visiting Fellowship application. The EASST Visiting Fellowship seeks to equip East African social scientists with the skills needed to carry out rigorous evaluations of social or economic development projects in East Africa. During a four-month fellowship, researchers will be based at the University of California, Berkeley during the Fall academic semester (approximately August 20 – December 20, 2017).

Selected fellows are able to audit courses, present research, attend seminars, develop curricula and design collaborative research projects.

Requirements:

ELIGIBILITY
Eligible candidates for all EASST programs must:

• Be a resident of an East African country participating in EASST (i.e. Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, or Uganda);
• Have a PhD or Master’s degree (completed within the last 8 years) or be enrolled in a PhD program in economics, statistics, epidemiology/public health, or another social science discipline;
• Hold a staff position at a research institution, university or other organization in East Africa, preferably one that supports policy-relevant, quantitative social science research;
• Have participated in or have familiarity with impact evaluation research (either randomized or quasi-experimental studies) and econometrics;
• Have participated in field-based data collection and rigorous empirical research/analysis;
• Be computer literate, familiar with software programs such as STATA or R, fluent in English, and a strong public speaker;
• Plan to return to a research institute in East Africa for at least 1 year after the fellowship; and
• Demonstrate a commitment to building the capacity of African research institutions/universities.
• Applicants interested in infectious diseases, women’s empowerment, agriculture, or digital credit will be given preference

FELLOWSHIP ACTIVITIES
During the fellowship period, visiting researchers will:
• Participate in seminars and conferences on research in social and economic development;
• Present their own work during seminars and workshops;
• Audit courses, including rigorous doctoral-level seminars in impact evaluation;
• Carry out an independent research project under the mentorship of faculty members. Projects can use existing data for retrospective analysis or set-up a study design for future data collection;
• Meet and collaborate with faculty or students in multiple academic departments;
• Design impact evaluation curricula that will be taught at an East African institution;
• Participate in policy dissemination by contributing to policy briefs, attending meetings with policymakers and stakeholders, and presenting at events;

SELECTION CRITERIA
Successful candidates must:
• Demonstrate strong quantitative skills, with past coursework in economics or statistics.
• Demonstrate an interest in rigorous program evaluation, policy analysis, and micro-level field data collection.
• Demonstrate a commitment to engaging policy-makers and disseminating research findings.
• Submit a clear and innovative research proposal to evaluate a specific public policy or program, using impact evaluation methodologies.

Benefits

• Fellows receive a living stipend, round-trip economy class air travel to Berkeley, CA, and the opportunity to receive seed funding promote impact evaluation at their home institution in East Africa.

Downloads:

• Fall 2017 EASST Visiting Fellowship RFA
• Fall 2017 EASST Visiting Fellowship Academic Recommendation form
• Fall 2017 EASST Visiting Fellowship Policy Engagement Recommendation form.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the EASST Visiting Fellowship 2017/2018