Deadline: 19th January 2024
Applications are now open for the Structural Transformation of African Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STAARS) 2024 Fellowship Programme. Early-career African researchers selected as 2024 STAARS fellows conduct rigorous, policy-oriented research on the causal determinants of productivity and income growth, asset accumulation, rural employment and risk management in African agriculture and rural areas.
STAARS fellows will be paired with professors, senior researchers or affiliated research mentors from Cornell University, the World Bank or PEP, with whom they will jointly write a paper on a topic of mutual interest related to structural transformation in Africa south of the Sahara. The programme aims to publish the resulting research findings in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals and as working papers. In addition, the World Bank, PEP and Cornell will facilitate the fellows' participation in scientific and policy conferences, provide professional development training and build the fellows' international research networks.
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Research Scope and Geographical Focus
Future STAARS fellows are invited to develop proposals in the following thematic areas for empirical work on Africa south of the Sahara:
- Dynamics of agricultural input use, technological change and productivity growth.
- Rural factor (e.g. credit, labour, land) and product market performance and links with urban markets.
- Agri-food systems and value chains, their performance and evolution.
- Linking food security, nutrition, health and education.
- Poverty dynamics, risk management and resilience against shocks.
- Sustainable management of natural resources.
- Gender and marginalised groups.
STAARS grantees' rigorous policy analysis should utilise existing data, such as the Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS - ISA), Demographic and Health Surveys or similar high-quality datasets from Africa south of the Sahara. STAARS does not fund new data collection.
programme overview
The STAARS programme spans 15 months from the expected date of selection until the final results are delivered by the STAARS Fellow. Selected STAARS Fellows are paired with at least one primary mentor who is a faculty member, senior research staff or affiliated researcher at Cornell, the World Bank or PEP and who shares an interest in the proposed topic, as well as with one (more junior) peer mentor. After selection, mentoring and collaboration begin immediately with a series of kick-off workshops involving the fellows, mentors and STAARS leadership, taking place during the first few weeks of the fellowship period. This is followed by a period of regular remote collaboration, with weekly or fortnightly virtual meetings.
During this period, training workshops are held on relevant points in the teams' research process. The training workshops are designed to aid the fellows' professional development and complement their skills. Topics described may include, but are not limited to: management skills and data management; reproducible research processes; technical writing; presentation skills; time management; grant writing; navigating peer review; research ethics; and policy engagement planning. In September 2024, STAARS fellows spend 3 weeks visiting their mentors at the mentor's institution, during which STAARS fellows work intensively on the research project, attend feedback workshops, hold a public seminar and participate in network-building activities.
Financing
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- The selected candidates have invested funds to cover travel and participation in a three-week mentoring programme at Cornell University or the World Bank (on a mentoring basis). The rest of the research coordination and professional training will be carried out virtually. We expect the fellows to devote a significant amount of time to the proposed research and capacity-building activities.
- A modest honorarium will be provided to each fellow. No salary support is available; STAARS will not cover the fellow's time allocated to this research. A letter of support from the applicant's current supervisor/manager is required, explicitly indicating that adequate work time will be made available for full participation in the programme, if selected. The programme does not bear costs for any new data collection.
Eligibility
- Open to early career African researchers, either PhD students in their final year before completing their degree or, preferably, those who completed their PhD no earlier than 2018. Priority will be given to researchers of African nationality based in and working in - or soon to return to - Africa, with proposals related to the research themes listed above.
- Qualified female researchers are particularly encouraged to apply.
- STAARS is accepting applications from new Ph.D. graduates who can benefit from additional mentoring and training to become internationally respected and recognised researchers. Fellows are expected to complete the proposed project, submitting the findings as a draft working paper by 13 December 2024, and submitting the paper to a peer-reviewed journal and/or conferences by 30 June 2025.
- Researchers are expected to be familiar with and have demonstrated access to existing datasets and have a strong working knowledge of appropriate software, typically Stata and/or R, and an interest in econometric analysis of high-quality datasets. Knowledge of geo-referenced data and GIS software to manage it is an advantage.
- Knowledge of Stata and/or R will be assessed at the finalist stage.
Application
In the online application, complete the candidate information and research sections. At the end of the application form, attach the following materials in a ZIP folder or merged PDF:
- Research Proposal (maximum 2,500 words):
- Title of the proposed research
- Targeted country(ies)
- Introduction and motivation that includes a clear statement of the research objectives and hypotheses
- Description of the data source(s) and any previous experience of working with the proposed data
- Proposed methodology
- If applicable, summary of any preliminary results
- Proposed research timetable
- Bibliographical references (not included in the 2500 words)
- Candidate's CV
- If proposing to use data that is not publicly available, a letter or other documentation from the data administrator(s) indicating that the applicant will have access to the data for use in the proposed project
- Letter of support from the candidate's current supervisor, clearly indicating that the candidate will have time to work on this project if selected
- Photocopy of passport biodata page and, if applicable, any current US visa
