Iso Lomso Fellowships 2017 for Early Career African Researchers (Fully Funded)

Application Deadline: 15 November 2017.

Iso Lomso Fellowships provide an exceptional early career opportunity for Africa’s brightest minds in academia. Iso Lomso means ‘the eye of tomorrow’ in isiXhosa: seeing towards the future, laying the foundations for tomorrow.

The programme is aimed at African scholars who have obtained a doctoral degree within the preceding seven years and who hold an academic position at a university or research institution anywhere in Africa. Candidates should have established a research programme and have completed a post-doctoral fellowship or equivalent post-PhD programme. All disciplines are considered.

Requirements:

To be eligible applicants must:
• be a national of any African country;
• be born after the 1st of January 1976;
• have an affiliation at a research or higher education institution in an African country, and continue to do so for the foreseeable future;
• have obtained a doctoral degree from any recognised higher education institution (worldwide) after the 1st of January 2011;
• have completed a post-doctoral fellowship or equivalent post-PhD research programme;
• be in a position to commence a first period of residency at STIAS during the second half of 2018 or the first half of 2019.

Benefits:

Iso Lomso Fellows will enjoy:

• a three-year attachment to STIAS during which time they may spend a total of ten months in residence at STIAS to develop and pursue a long-term research programme;
• the possibility of a residency at a sister institute for advanced study in North America, Europe or elsewhere;
• funding to attend up to three international conferences or training workshops anywhere in the world;
• support to convene a workshop with collaborators at STIAS;
• lecturer replacement subsidy for the fellow’s home institution during residency periods.

The main means of support is STIAS residencies. Residential periods will be agreed mutually between the fellow, his or her home institution and STIAS, and may vary between six weeks and five months per residency. A first period of residency will typically be of longer duration to be taken up during 2018/2019, followed by two further residencies through 2020. While in
residence fellows receive regular STIAS fellow support which includes:
• an economy return flight;
• comfortable accommodation within walking distance from the institute;
• individual offices equipped with a PC, telephone and printer;
• a monthly stipend for daily living costs;
• access to the Stellenbosch University library (including electronic resources) and a high-speed internet connection;
• participation in the regular STIAS fellows programme, including daily lunch, weekly fellows’ seminars, STIAS public lectures and social events;
• a child care subsidy for fellows accompanied by young children while in residence.

Application Procedure:

To apply, eligible candidates need to complete the Iso Lomso 2017 Application Form which can be downloaded at www.stias.ac.za/iso-lomso. The completed application form should be signed, dated and submitted together with the following documents, all in PDF format:
• A motivational cover letter of not more than one page in length. The letter should include a description of the applicant’s academic career, detailing the ideas and experiences that have shaped and motivated his or her intellectual work.
• A pre-proposal for a three-year research project. This is a short essay of two to three pages which provides (i) a summary of the applicant’s current research/work, (ii) the main thesis of the proposed research project, including the problem statement and aim of the project, (iii) an overview of existing literature and other sources for the project, (iv) the project’s theoretical background and methodological approach, (v) the significance/relevance of the project for African scholarship,and (vi) a provisional time framework with proposed periods of
residency at STIAS, additional activities, and research outputs.
• One or two recent writing examples authored by the applicant (articles or book sections) related to the proposed project.
• A copy of the applicant’s doctoral certificate.
• A letter of support from the applicant’s home institution (either from the head of department, dean of faculty, principal of college, or equivalent).
• Two letters of recommendation from scholars who are familiar with the applicant’s work, preferably one from the applicant’s current home institution and one from another institution. The letter should be printed on an official institutional letterhead and should include the name of the recommender, the academic position of the recommender, an indication of how long and in what capacity the recommender has known the applicant, and an evaluation of the merit
of the applicant’s proposed project and ability to complete the proposed work during three years. The letters of recommendation will be confidential and should be sent by the recommender directly to [email protected].

Applications may be submitted electronically via email to [email protected] by the end of Wednesday, 15 November 2017 (Central African Time). For entries by postal service, courier or facsimile, please contact the STIAS Programme Manager in advance by email or telephone to confirm delivery arrangements.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Iso Lomso Fellowships 2017