7th PhD Academy on Innovation and Competence Building Systems
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7th PhD Academy on Innovation and Competence Building Systems
July 26, 2021 - July 30, 2021
The Academy will be held online and hosted by the University of Gondar, Ethiopia and the AfricaLics Secretariat.
Two weeks of online sessions:
Week 1: 26th – 30th July 2021
Week 2: 20th – 24th September 2021
Call for application
AfricaLics is part of the worldwide research network, The Global Network for the Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems (Globelics). The purpose of the 7th AfricaLics Ph.D. Academy is to support the training of African Doctoral students engaged in research in the academic field of ‘innovation and development’. This is a multidisciplinary field which includes researchers from a range of disciplines often studying innovation studies, the economics of innovation, innovation management, technology management, science and technology studies. Students and faculty working in the field of innovation and development and principally interested in how innovation relates to economic and social development in Africa are the main target group for the PhD Academy, but the Academy also aims to stimulate awareness of policy and management issues related to this burgeoning field of research.
The Academy will host around students from Africa and a handful of students from the rest of the world. The Academy will invite frontier researchers in the field of innovation and development from around the world to provide lectures and mentor students. We will invite applications from a small number of masters degree students to attend the second week of the event.
Due to the unprecedented and continuing COVID-19 pandemic we are moving the Academy online using Zoom conferencing. The event will take place in two blocks of 5 days of training. The first block will be in July 2021 and the second in September 2021. Each day during each of the two weeks will consist of three (3) sessions. Each session will be 1.5 hours long with a break between each session. To enable participation across all of Africa’s time zones, the sessions will start at 08:30hrs GMT and will finish at 15:00 GMT. All sessions will include simultaneous translation into French.
Given the move online, the format and sessions have changed a little from previous years. However, we will still retain the following activities:
- Lectures by senior researchers on areas ranging from research methodologies to the latest theories and empirical research in the fields of innovation, innovation management and science policy.
- Presentations by Doctoral students of their work with feedback from the senior scholars facilitating at the event.
- Sessions focused on enabling interaction between the students and practitioners and policy makers on innovation and development issues
The first week will focus on presentations by doctoral students and various practical skills building sessions relating to studying a PhD. The second week will focus on lectures on theory and methods. In between the two weeks’ activities (i.e. in August 2021) there will be a requirement to participate in a group activity that will require approximately 16 hours of time. This will mostly be offline activities interspersed with 2 hours of online meetings and interaction on a WhatsApp group.
Participants and qualification requirements
The number of candidates will be a maximum of 25 in week 1 and 35 in week 2. PhD students who wish to participate will need to fulfil the following requirements:
- be at least in the beginning of his/her second year at the time of the academy
- work explicitly on issues related to policy-oriented analysis of science, technology and innovation1
- be able to present an original paper reflecting his/her research and/or thesis work
Master degree students who wish to participate will need to fulfil the following requirements:
- be a registered Masters student in an African university on a degree programme in the area of economics, business or management studies, sociology or development studies or similar
- have a Masters project that will focus on an aspect of innovation studies (i.e. innovation management or innovation systems)2
To improve diversity in the emerging academic community on innovation and development studies research in Africa, we encourage female scholars and those from low-income countries to apply.
Submission
PhD students who apply must submit an extended abstract of their PhD thesis of not more than 5 pages. Masters students who apply must submit an extended abstract of their Masters project of not more than 2 pages. Abstracts should be typed double-spaced in French or in English with font size 12. The abstract should state the objectives, methodology, expected results and (expected) conclusions of the student’s PhD, including supporting figures and main references.
The abstract must be submitted together with the applicant’s CV and a recommendation letter from the principal PhD/ Masters supervisor or a senior scholar who knows the applicant’s work.
These three documents should be sent to the AfricaLics Secretariat (academy2021@africalics.org) on or before 26th June, 2021.
Selection
All extended abstracts will be reviewed by at least two senior scholars from a review panel made up of members of the AfricaLics Scientific Board, AfricaLics Secretariat and the host University.
Selection will be made based on academic quality of extended abstracts as well as on the basis of criteria aimed at promoting diversity (by location, gender etc.). Selection criteria for AfricaLics events are published on the AfricaLics website: http://www.africalics.org/selection-criteria/
Successful applicants will be notified by 5th July, 2020 of their acceptance to the Academy.
Sponsorship and travel support
No sponsorship or travel support will be provided for those who apply and are accepted onto the PhD Academy programme. Accepted participants will be responsible for ensuring they have good quality internet access for each day of the event.
Final paper upload and confirmation of attendance
All successful applicants will be expected to have confirmed their participation by Monday 12th July 2021 or their place will be given to someone else.
We recommend that all applicants pencil in the dates of the event in their diaries as soon as they apply as there is very little time between notification of acceptance and the first week of the event.
All selected participants who confirm attendance will also be expected to upload a final FULL paper (details of this will be given in your acceptance letter) by 22nd July 2021.3
Selection
All extended abstracts will be reviewed by at least two senior scholars from a review panel made up of members of the AfricaLics Scientific Board, AfricaLics Secretariat and the host University.
Selection will be made based on academic quality of extended abstracts as well as on the basis of criteria aimed at promoting diversity (by location, gender etc.). Selection criteria for AfricaLics events are published on the AfricaLics website: http://www.africalics.org/selection-criteria/
Successful applicants will be notified by 5th July, 2020 of their acceptance to the Academy.
Sponsorship and travel support
No sponsorship or travel support will be provided for those who apply and are accepted onto the PhD Academy programme. Accepted participants will be responsible for ensuring they have good quality internet access for each day of the event.
Final paper upload and confirmation of attendance
All successful applicants will be expected to have confirmed their participation by Monday 12th July 2021 or their place will be given to someone else.
We recommend that all applicants pencil in the dates of the event in their diaries as soon as they apply as there is very little time between notification of acceptance and the first week of the event.
All selected participants who confirm attendance will also be expected to upload a final FULL paper (details of this will be given in your acceptance letter) by 22nd July 2021.
Organisation and support
The 7th AfricaLics Ph.D. Academy is jointly organized by the University of Gondar with support from the AfricaLics Secretariat hosted at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Kenya. The event is supported financially by the University of Gondar, the AfricaLics network and Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) through Sida Research.
The local organising committee is led by: Dr. Kassahun Tegegn, Vice President for Academic Affairs University of Gondar. Day to day organisation of the Academy at University of Gondar is the responsibility of Dr. Mulugeta Negash. Organisation of the Academy at the AfricaLics Secretariat is being managed by Dr. Rebecca Hanlin.
Contacts
For any queries or questions about the academy by contact: academy2021@africalics.org
For general queries about University of Gondar: mulugetanw@gmail.com
For general queries about AfricaLics: secretariat@africalics.org
1 If you are unsure as to whether your topic is appropriate please visit www.africalics.org and read more about the network. We are a network of academics and researchers who research on innovation and not in innovation. We are interested in how to encourage, promote and assess innovative activity and, specifically, the impact of all innovative activity (not just technological products and processes) on, and how it impacts, economic and social development.
2 Work in these areas is usually found in a particular set of social science and economics journals – see https://www.africalics.org/innovation-and-development-studies-resources/
3 The full paper should be a full project proposal (for Masters students) or a chapter of your thesis that you would like to present and get feedback on during the Academy (for PhD students).
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