Fellowship Opportunity: The SAIS China and Africa Research Initiative at John Hopkins University

SAIS-CARI Fellowships

The China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies announces the launch of the SAIS-CARI Fellows program. SAIS-CARI Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis or by invitation to researchers, policy-makers, or journalists who wish to spend a concentrated period of time (1 to 2 months) writing or doing field research on an under-explored policy issue related to China’s African engagement. 

Applicants may either apply to (1) spend a month at SAIS, leveraging the resources of Washington, DC, SAIS-CARI and the SAIS faculty, working on a China-Africa related topic or writing up field research that has already been conducted; or (2) propose to spend one or two months conducting new research in China, or in Africa, on a China-Africa policy issue.

We particularly encourage teams of two people, one of whom is fluent in Chinese, to propose research topics that could be investigated in Africa, drawing on each researcher’s comparative advantage. All projects must be policy-relevant and based on case studies and fieldwork.

For 2015, we especially welcome proposals that will pair analysis of cases of Chinese investment, aid or finance in Africa with that from the United States. We are also interested in case studies of manufacturing or agriculture investments, telecommunications, infrastructure, foreign aid, technology transfer, vocational training, and mineral processing investments.

Grants can range from $3000 to $10,000 per person, covering economy flight, accommodations and meals, local transport, and other reasonable research costs.

• Proposals should be no more than three pages, single-spaced, including an overview of the research project and methodology, a budget, and the names and professional email addresses of two referees whom we can contact.

               •  In your package, please also include a separate c.v. and up to two writing samples.

• We encourage applicants to show that they have policy “buy-in” for their topic – that they have discussed their proposed research with people in government or in another part of the policy or professional world and gotten a commitment from them to play an informal advisory role in the research.

All grantees must produce a report of some 3000 words from their research project, which may be published as a SAIS-CARI policy brief. Most successful applicants will also be expected to produce a working paper for the CARI working paper series. Depending on the research topic, grantees may receive funding to present their research at the annual CARI conference.

Applications are due to sais-cari@jhu.edu by April 15, 2015 for a start date between June 1 and October 30, 2015. Decisions will be announced in April. The SAIS-CARI Fellows Program is supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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