MIASA Tandem Residential Fellowships for African Researchers 2023-2024

The Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) is dedicated to research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, with ‘Sustainable Governance’ as its central topic. Our main thematic corridors are conflict and sustainable peace, democracy and environmental transformation. We are also interested in a wide range of intersectional sub-topics, such as landownership and acquisition, migration and mobility, restitution of cultural objects, African cities, human rights and related themes. MIASA is committed to reduce global asymmetries in knowledge production, to promote female scholarship and to bridge cultural divides. The institute offers time and space for supporting innovative academic projects of top international quality. MIASA serves as a hub for exchange, networking and collaboration amongst leading researchers from Germany, Ghana, Africa, Europe and elsewhere in the world. The institute is located on the beautiful campus of the University of Ghana (UG) at Legon (Accra), and has been implemented in collaboration with four German partners – the University of Freiburg, the Goethe University of Frankfurt, the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) and the German Historical Institute Paris (GHIP). It is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with co-funding of the University of Ghana.

The present call is for up to two (2) tandem residential fellowships for 3-6 months each for the academic year 2023/2024 (earliest starting date for fellowship: 1st of June 2023; latest date for end of fellowship: 31st of July 2024). A tandem is composed of a team of two researchers – one who is based in an African country and one who is based in Germany – who apply together with a joint research topic, addressing MIASA’s overarching aims. The call is open to scholars (both on junior and senior levels) who have been awarded their doctoral degree at least three months before the start of the fellowship. Projects can be at conceptional stage, mid-term phase or final stage (analyzing data, writing up findings). Fellowships are residential with only shorter absences possible and with only limited funds to support activities such as field work trips. The selection is made by MIASA’s distinguished international Academic Advisory Board. In a strictly merit-based selection process, tandem fellowships are awarded to researchers of top academic quality with an innovative research topic of high quality. The all-important selection criteria are the academic excellence of the applicants and the fellowship proposal. MIASA is committed to inclusion, gender equality, and family friendliness. The MIASA fellowship programme thus aims for gender parity and promotes affirmative action policies.

MIASA supports academic exchange across existing boundaries: between disciplines, between different cultures and countries, between established and early-career researchers. Furthermore, MIASA engages in activities opening the research community to society, politics, and the arts. Tandem fellows are part of this community, and profit from the lively research environment of the University of Ghana. Applications for tandem fellowships should indicate how the research project contributes to the activities at MIASA and, more broadly, to the academic life on Legon campus.

• Table of Content
• About Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA)
• Tandem Residential Fellowships
• Aim and Benefits of Tandem Residential Fellowships
• Requirements for Tandem Residential Fellowships Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for Tandem Residential Fellowships
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA)

The Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) is an international research college at the University of Ghana in Legon, Accra. The Institute facilitates the cooperation of Ghanaian scientists with their international peers beyond disciplinary and geographical boundaries. MIASA is committed to reducing global asymmetries in knowledge production, simultaneously bridging the cultural divide between anglophone and francophone Africa, as well as increasing the visibility of humanities and social science research by academics in and from Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to ac... continue reading

Tandem Residential Fellowships

Aim and Benefits of Tandem Residential Fellowships

• The successful applicants become MIASA fellows with all the corresponding rights and obligations for the requested funding period. For fellows affiliated with a home institution the fellows’ salary or teaching substitution costs are met by MIASA for every full fellowship month on the principle of “no loss, no gain,” and paid directly to his/her home institution. In cases where this is not possible an individual grant based on the candidate’s salary at his/her home institution can be offered. Fellows may be eligible for a post adjustment to compensate for the difference in the cost of living based on a case-by-case justification. Fellows without employment receive an individual monthly grant.
• For fellows from outside Accra, MIASA provides accommodation (or an equivalent accommodation allowance of up to 1500€/month) and reimburses travel costs. In addition, a contribution to support research undertaken at MIASA can be granted to all MIASA fellows upon application to MIASA directors (max. 250€ per fellow per month).
• MIASA fellows who come with family members to Accra can receive a family allowance. Fellowships are funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research via the University of Freiburg/FRIAS.
• The Institute provides its fellows with office space on the University of Ghana campus. Fellows have full access to all library services at the University of Ghana and, electronically, at the University of Freiburg, Germany. For fellows from francophone and lusophone Africa MIASA can offer funding for courses in advanced academic English during the fellowship at the University of Ghana. A full-time presence of fellows at MIASA for the entire fellowship period is required. Periods of leave need to be negotiated with the MIASA directors prior to the signing of the fellowship agreement, and must not exceed a total of more than 1/6 of the fellowship duration.

Requirements for Tandem Residential Fellowships Qualification

A tandem residential fellowship at MIASA is comprised of two researchers – one from Africa and one from Germany. They apply as a team for working together on a particular research topic, addressing MIASA’s overarching aims. The call is open to both junior (> 6 years after completion of PhD) and senior (> 6 years after completion of PhD) researchers.

Interview date, Process and Venue for Tandem Residential Fellowships

Projects can be at conceptional stage, mid-term phase or final stage (analyzing data, writing up findings). The selection is made by MIASA’s distinguished international Academic Advisory Board. In a strictly merit-based selection process, the tandem fellowships are awarded to researchers of top academic quality with an innovative and high-quality research topic. The all-important selection criteria are the academic excellence of the applicant and the fellowship proposal. MIASA is committed to inclusion, gender equality, and family friendliness. The MIASA fellowship program thus aims for gender parity and is promoting affirmative action policies.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

For more details, visit MIASA website.