South-South Research Scholarship
Research Scholarships for visiting postdoctoral researchers from developing countries to conduct research at a national or international research institute in a developing country
The Food Security Center (FSC) is a university center of excellence in development collaboration at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. FSC is one of five excellence centers of the program “exceed – Higher Education Excellence in Development Cooperation”, which is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany. FSC’s mission is to make effective and innovative scientific contributions in research, teaching, and policy advice to eradicate hunger and achieve food security in collaboration with partner research and education organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and national and international development and research organizations. Thematically, FSC’s activities deal with issues of sustainable food availability, food access, food use, and food utilization. More information is available from www.foodsecurity.de.
Description of South-South Research Scholarship
FSC seeks visiting postdoctoral researchers (junior lecturer, lecturer) from developing countries for a period of three months. The Center wishes to attract young innovative professionals. The scholarship aims at increasing their previously gained scientific knowledge and skills relevant to food security related issues. The successful candidate will collaborate with the research staff of one of FSC’s partner universities or an other research center or development organization located in a developing country (e.g., one of the centers of the CGIAR) to conduct a specific research project contributing to the mission of FSC.
Funding for research is expected to be provided by the applicant’s and/or supervisor’s institute and/or other organizations. The objective of the collaborations is to write at least one joint, peer-reviewed publication. Candidates should present their research work at the partners’ seminars, lecture series and/or workshops. They are also expected to engage in teaching and training activities related to the research topic in the partner institute at the graduate and/or postgraduate level at a limited scale.
Interregional South-South collaborations (e.g., from Africa to Latin America, or from Latin America to Asia) are encouraged in particular.
Furthermore, FSC aims at establishing an active, long-lasting collaboration with the supported researchers and their home institutes through an interactive alumni-network.
The scholarship is awarded for a stay at a partner institute, research center, or development organiza-tion located in a developing country. The monthly grant is EUR 700 for postdoctoral researchers (junior lecturer, lecturer). Travel costs to/from the positions’ location will be covered. Proofed costs for a health and liability insurance will be refunded for an amount up to 100 €. Other costs must be paid for from the stipend.
Required skills
The applicant must provide proof of:
- outstanding study performance in agricultural, nutritional, natural, social, economic or political sciences, or related disciplines with specification on food security related issues with a minimum MSc grade of 2.5;
- PhD degree in agricultural, nutritional, natural, social, economic or political sciences, or related disciplines with specification on food security related issues;
- track record of knowledge in the proposed field of study;
- plan to return to his/her home country / country of residence and institute;
- excellent proficiency in oral and written English.
Furthermore, the applicant must:
- be able to conduct innovative research;
- have excellent interpersonal skills and team spirit;
- be able and willing to work well in an interdisciplinary, multicultural environment with individuals from different scientific, societal and cultural backgrounds and with organizations from the public, private and civil society sector;
- be available for the entire period of the research stay of 3 months;
- be a national of a developing country according to OECD DAC List.
Application
Application is only possible by completing FSC’s application form, which can be downloaded at this website (see download area). Besides the application form, the documents indicated in the application form are required for the application. All application materials must be submitted in English.
Applications will only be accepted, if the research proposal is
(1) based on FSC’s conceptual framework;
(2) related to applicant´s doctoral thesis.
There is no application deadline.
FSC will confirm the receipt of all (complete) applications (i.e., if an application is not complete or not in the described format, FSC will not consider it and will not confirm receipt of the application).
The selection of the candidates will take place after receipt of the application, the scholarship program will start anytime, based on the agreement between supervisor of the hosting institute and the scholar.
All accepted applications will be selected according to the following criteria:
1. Fulfillment of announcement criteria (cf. “required skills” and “application”);
2. Quality of proposal and project feasibility;
3. Fulfillment of demands (e.g. of hosting institutes or emerging from collaborations with (devel-opment organizations).
The selected applicants will be contacted after the selection process. Please be aware that FSC will contact only successful candidates.