Deadline: April 30, 2013
The Association of American Geographers is pleased to announce a new global fellowship program. The 10-month fellowship program is designed for undergraduate and graduate students in eligible countries in West Africa who are currently enrolled in any field at an institution of higher education, with ideas and plans for research that address themes of Women in Climate Change and Food Security using geographic technologies.
About the Program
The MyCOE / SERVIR Initiative in West Africa is a 10-month fellowship program for undergraduate and graduate students in eligible countries in West Africa to build regional research capacity to use geography and the geographic information sciences. Students are invited to propose a research and outreach project and will be competitively selected on the basis of their long-term potential to contribute to these topics in the region.
The MyCOE / SERVIR program will provide students with customized capacity training in GIS, remote sensing, GPS, and/or spatial techniques to help them enrich their research proposals. They will also receive professional development, have access to additional mentoring by international experts and engage in an online community with other fellows. Capacity building and GIS training will be held at the Center for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services, CERSGIS, in Accra, Ghana, from July 21 – 31, 2013.
Eligibility
- Upper level undergraduate or graduate students who are citizens or residents of eligible countries and who are currently enrolled in a university or academic institution in any field may apply to be MyCOE / SERVIR Fellows.
- Eligible countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Chad, Cote d’Ivorie, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo. All participants must be citizens of one of the eligible countries AND also be studying (students) or working (mentors) and residing in the same or another of the eligible countries.
Requirements
All selected research proposals must meet the following criteria:
- Use geographic technologies such as GPS and GIS
- Incorporate activities that respond to local sustainable development issues related to Women in Climate Change and Food Security
- Include a committed participant for the capacity building activities
- Have a duration of 3 to 6 months of research / educational activity
- Include an element designed for outreach to non-selected applicants or other significant user communities identified with the program organizers, particularly engaging with young girls as described above
Interested students must apply with a mentor who is willing to work closely with them throughout the duration of the program and attend the workshop. Up to 15 teams of students and their mentors will be selected for this West Africa Initiative. Over the life of the fellowship, they will have the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with approximately 60 other teams from around the world that will be selected through MyCOE / SERVIR global initiatives.
Benefits
Fellow participants will receive the following:
- Logistical support, airfare, hotel and subsistence to attend the multi-day capacity building workshop at a GIS center in the region (to be determined).
- Free training and materials in the use of geographic technologies for women in climate change and food security in the region
- A fellowship of $600 USD to be used to support your 3-6 months of research and/or field work
- Other benefits might include geospatial data, GIS software of GPS equipment, where warranted
- A formal certificate of completion from the MyCOE / SERVIR Partnership
- Travel support and research stipends for both students and their mentors.
Note:
- Projects will be encouraged and preferred selection will be given to those who propose to utilize existing geographic data and tools offered by SERVIR (for more information please see: www.servirglobal.net)
- The overriding criteria that will be used in evaluating applications is the potential of each applicant’s contribution to long-term research about Women in Climate Change and Food Security using geographic technologies.
- An independent screening committee comprised of experts in sustainable development topics, GIS and the African region will evaluate applications.
For more information, click here.
