CODESRIA 2023 College of Mentors for African Scholars

With funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY), the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is implementing an intervention to support doctoral students registered in African universities in the social sciences, humanities or in higher education studies. The support entails placing the students under the CODESRIA College of Mentors. The CODESRIA College of Mentors is composed of senior African academics in the social sciences and humanities both from the diaspora and within Africa who have agreed to devote part of their time to support students in African universities at the doctoral level. Their role includes assisting students in developing their research proposals, reading and commenting on drafts of their dissertation chapters, sharing current literature relevant to the student area of study, and where possible, helping the students publish part of their work in various outlets including academic journals. CODESRIA will convene an institute at the beginning, bringing together the selected students for purposes of induction and setting in place modalities of work. The College of Mentors will complement but also strengthen the support CODESRIA is already undertaking in African universities. This is the overall aim of the CODESRIA Doctoral Support Programme.

The College of Mentors is part of CODESRIA’s ongoing efforts to broaden its interventions and strengthen social sciences and humanities scholarship in African universities as articulated in the Council’s 2023-2027 Strategic planning cycle. This call specifically targets doctoral students registered in universities located in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa and who are at the advanced stage of fieldwork and in the pre-dissertation writing phase of their doctoral studies.

• Table of Content
• About College of Surgeons of East & Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA)
• College of Mentors
• Aim and Benefits of College of Mentors
• Requirements for College of Mentors Qualification
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About College of Surgeons of East & Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA)

In 1996, a Steering Committee of the Association of Surgeons of East Africa (ASEA), supported by visionary surgeons who would become the Foundation Fellows of COSECSA, recognised that the quality and quantity of surgical services available to people within the region was inadequate Training of specialist surgeons in the region was restricted to the M.Med surgery programmes (or equivalent) in University Teaching Hospitals with only limited numbers and a variable training programme. Access to training in the UK was becoming restricted and the FRCS exam was being phased out. A fundamental n... continue reading

College of Mentors

Aim and Benefits of College of Mentors

 The College of Mentors will complement but also strengthen the support CODESRIA is already undertaking in African universities. This is the overall aim of the CODESRIA Doctoral Support Programme.

Requirements for College of Mentors Qualification

Only candidates who meet the following criteria are eligible to submit applications:

• Should be affiliated with  an accredited university from the subset of African countries identified above
• Must be registered for doctoral study in the social sciences, humanities, or in higher education studies
• Should be at the advanced phase of doctoral work (fieldwork or pre-dissertation phase)

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Doctoral students who meet the above quality criteria and wish to be considered for support under the College of Mentors are requested to submit the following:

1. A motivation letter requesting for consideration to be placed in the College and indicating the phase of doctoral study and work already accomplished
2. A 5-page synopsis of the doctoral research proposal
3. Two letters of support/nomination; one from the dean of the school where the student is registered and the other from the primary supervisor indicating, among other things, support for the student to be placed under mentorship, the stage the student is in the doctoral program and the status of the student (i.e., is the student a member of staff, on staff development status, or a private student)

Complete applications should be submitted by 15th March 2023 through the CODESRIA online submission system using the following link https://submission.codesria.org/. Candidates will be informed of the results of the selection process by 15th of April 2023.  The induction institute for selected students will be held in June 2023.

For more details, visit CODESRIA website.