The SMAIAS is an Independent Research Organisation established in 2002 which seeks to influence land and natural resources policies in Africa through multi-disciplinary social science research, policy dialogues, and training and information dissemination. The SMAIAS interacts with various organizations and countries to assist them in developing capacity for policy formulation and research. It also facilitates policy dialogue among governments, academics, civil society and others on land and agrarian development, especially the land rights of marginalized social groups.
Student Small Research Grants (SSRG)
The Small Research Grants program is intended to support research projects with budgets of $2,500.00 for dissertation writing. The SSRG Program seeks to encourage emerging young African scholars from the land and agrarian disciplines and other related professional fields to undertake research relevant to the improvement of scholarship. This program support individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing new and constructive ideologies in the areas of agrarian studies, particularly in the Global South. The sponsored research is aimed at helping to inform policies and practices that improve the lives of marginalised groups who depend on agriculture as a source of their livelihoods.
This highly competitive program aims to identify the most gifted students conducting dissertation research related to the following areas: land issue; agriculture; climate change; food security and gender. The call targets enrolled PhD and Master students supervised by the institution they are affiliated with. Apart from the dissertation, another expected output of the research project will be a publishable paper and a presentation of the findings at the 2019 Agrarian Summer School to be held in Harare. The grants will be granted to an individual and will last for 12 months.
How to apply
Interested applicants should submit their applications containing the following required materials as Word documents. Please note that applications that lack any of these elements will be not be considered.
- A proposal with the following clearly titled sections: an introduction; statement and contextualization of research question; brief review of literature and/or competing hypotheses; study design and research methodology; theoretical and practical significance of the study; research plan and a brief summary of budget. Proposals must be submitted as Word documents and should not exceed 10 pages long (font type: Times New Roman; font size: 12; line spacing: double).
- Completed budget template.
- Annotated plan of deliverables: One-page annotated table of contents for two scholarly articles.
- A cover letter listing full details- names, email and physical addresses and telephone number- of the members and coordinator of the project
- Updated Curriculum Vitae with three references
- Institutional affiliation: A letter indicating your institutional affiliation
NOTE: A successful applicant for this grant will be expected to submit, within three months of signing of the grant contract, a revised draft paper that elaborates the research issue(s), the underlying conceptual framework, a detailed review of the relevant literature, and an outline of the methodological basis of the study. We expect that this will be framed in the form of draft book chapters.
The deadline for submission of applications for the grants is 30th June 2018. Notification of the result of the selection process will be done by 31st July 2018 and applicants who will not hear from us by then should consider their applications unsuccessful. Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.
All applications should be sent by email to: trustees@aiastrust.org
When sending your email kindly use the subject line, ‘SMAIAS-SSRG 2018’ to facilitate the processing of your application
