Deadline:
March 31, 2025
Location(s)
United Kingdom
London
Overview
The Centre of African Studies offers one PhD scholarship to African nationals as part of the Governance for Development in Africa Initiative funded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
Details
Applications are invited for PhD studentships focused on the area of state capacities, governance and bureaucracy for development. This may include projects designed to understand public sector governance capabilities, political settlements, state business relations, the governance of state owned enterprises, the governance of development policy design and implementation, and so on. But applications must focus on the public sector/state/civil service, on governance, and on development.
The eligible PhD are only those within the following departments:
- Development Studies
- Law
- Economics
- International Relations/Politics
- CISD (Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy)
- DEFIMS (Department for Financial and Management Studies )
- Distance Learning: CEFIMS (Centre for Financial and Management Studies), DEFIMS
The Centre is supported by:
Mo Ibrahim Governance for Development in Africa Initiative (GDAI)
The Centre of African Studies & SOAS in partnership with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation run this initiative with the aim of building skills, developing talent, and enabling Africans to improve the quality of governance in their countries.
About SOAS University of London
SOAS University of London is the only Higher Education institution in Europe specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East. SOAS is a remarkable institution. Uniquely combining language scholarship, disciplinary expertise and regional focus, it has the largest concentration in Europe of academic staff concerned with Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
On the one hand, this means that SOAS scholars grapple with pressing issues - democracy, development, human rights, identity, legal systems, poverty, religion, social change - confronting two-thirds of humankind while at the same time remaining guardians of specialised knowledge in languages and periods and regions not available anywhere else in the UK.
SOAS is synonymous with intellectual enquiry and achievement. As a global academic base and a crucial resource for London, SOAS is distinctively positioned to analyse, understand and explain some of the most challenging issues facing us in the world today.
Our academic focus on the languages, cultures and societies of Africa, Asia and the Middle East makes us an indispensable interpreter in a complex world.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
Scholarship Criteria Domicile/Residency:
Applicants must be domiciled (or permanent residents) in an African country. Preference will be given to scholarship candidates living in Sub‐Saharan Africa.
In order to be considered for funding, applicants must first secure an UNCONDITIONAL OFFER for the PhD by applying directly to the SOAS Doctoral School. Once the place is secured, the applicants can apply for the scholarship.
Candidates will be assessed on academic merit by a panel consisting of SOAS academic members. The assessment of your application will be based on the information in your scholarship application.
Please provide the following documents by email to ab17@soas.ac.uk:
- complete application form (see pdf attached on the right side of this page)
- a copy of the unconditional offer received from SOAS admissions office
- CV (please include your email address)
- 2 pages max statement outlining knowledge and interest in governance-related issues
- Your research proposal (as sent to the SOAS Admissions Office)
Please note that CAS reserves the right not to award scholarships and will only award them where there are applicants judged to meet sufficiently high academic standards and with demonstrable interests in fields relevant to the objectives of the GDAI.
Dates
Deadline: March 31, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
- The scholarship provides for fees for three years and an annual bursary of £16.000 per year.
- The scholarship also covers visa costs, HIS and TB (if undertaken), provided receipts are submitted to the Centre of African Studies office.
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