Cohort 5 call for scholars is now closed. Selected scholars will be announced soon!

Overview

• The African Futures Research Leadership program is a competitive postdoctoral program targets early career researchers from the AAP member institutions
• Successful applicants are paired with an MSU faculty mentor that aligns with their research area
• Scholars work with mentors from their home institution and Michigan State University for one year, including spending a semester on campus at MSU
• With mentor guidance, scholars participate in research for impact, writing of scholarly and/or policy publications, dissemination of research results and grant proposals
• Home institution mentors spend a week at MSU and MSU mentors spend a week at scholars' home institution to continue research collaboration

Objective

The main objective of the African Futures program is to strengthen the capacity of a cadre of African researchers to return to their home institutions and become scientific leaders in their community, establish long-term partnerships with MSU faculty, co-create innovative solutions to Africa’s challenges, and in turn become trainers of the next generation of researchers. This program aims to address the gender gap in Africa, where only 30% of researchers are women, so scholars selected for the program will be women, or men who can demonstrate they are committed to support efforts towards gender equity in higher education institutions in Africa. The research areas that the scholars will engage in during the program should be aligned to AAP's research priority areas.

Success Stories

Now in our fourth cohort, we have been fortunate to host three successful cohorts of scholars over the past several years. Learn more about our previous cohorts.

Our inaugural cohort of African Futures Scholars brought eight early-career researchers in Fall of 2019. At the end of their year at Michigan State University, the scholars had engaged with their work alongside mentors and built lasting connections. Each scholar shared their findings and experiences during the Dissemination Workshop.

AAP hosted our second cohort of African Futures Scholars in 2021-2022 and our third cohort in 2022-2023. We are currently hosting our fourth cohort through July 2024.

Check out our Story Behind The Scholar video series to learn more about the scholars and their work.

 

 

Questions

Please contact Jose Jackson-Malete at jacks184(at)msu.edu or 517-884-8587 with any questions.