The Structural Transformation of Agriculture and Rural Areas in Africa (STAARS) Fellowship program, a multi-institutional collaboration managed by Cornell University in collaboration with the World Bank's Development Research Group and the Partnership for the Economy (PEP), announces its annual call for research proposals. Early-career African researchers selected as STAARS Fellows in 2024 will 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.

The fellowship covers travel and training expenses. STAARS fellows will be paired with faculty, senior research staff, or affiliated research mentors from Cornell University, the World Bank, or PEP, with whom they will co-author a paper on a topic of mutual interest related to structural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa. The program aims for the publication of resulting research findings in high-quality peer-reviewed journals and as working papers. In addition, the World Bank, PEP, and Cornell will facilitate fellows' participation in scientific and policy conferences, provide professional development training, and build international research networks for the fellows.

VALUE

• Selected candidates will receive funding to cover travel and participation in a three-week mentorship program at Cornell University or the World Bank (mentorship-based).
• The remainder of the professional research and development coordination training will be conducted virtually.
• Fellows are expected to dedicate a significant amount of time to the proposed research and capacity-building activities.
• A modest stipend will be provided to each fellow. No salary support is available; STAARS will not cover the fellow's time allocated to this research.

ELIGIBILITY

• The call for proposals is open to early-career African researchers, whether PhD holders or post-doctoral students in their final year before completing their degree, or preferably those who have completed their PhD no earlier than 2018. Priority will be given to researchers of African nationality who reside and work in Africa – or who will soon return to Africa – with proposals related to the research topics indicated above.
• Qualified female researchers are particularly encouraged to apply. STAARS accepts applications from recent Ph.D. graduates who can benefit from further mentoring and training to become internationally respected and recognized researchers.
• Fellows are expected to complete the proposed project, submitting their findings as a draft working paper by December 13, 2024, and submitting the paper to a peer-reviewed journal and/or conferences by June 30, 2025.

Researchers are expected to be familiar with and have demonstrated access to existing datasets, possess strong working knowledge of appropriate software, typically Stata and/or R, and an interest in the econometric analysis of high-quality datasets. Knowledge of georeferenced data and GIS software for managing it is an advantage. Knowledge of Stata and/or R will be assessed in the final phase.

DEADLINE:  January 19, 2024

To sign up and find out more, click here.