Deadline: September 14, 2025
Applications are open for the American Political Science Association (APSA) MENA Workshop 2026. They invite early-career scholars who would like to participate in a four-day in-person workshop that examines the theme of participatory and engaged research in the MENA region.
Organized in partnership with the Doha Institute (DI), the program will be held from January 5-8, 2026 at DI in Doha, Qatar. The workshop is part of a multi-year effort to support political science research among early-career scholars in the MENA region and to strengthen research networks linking Arab scholars with their colleagues overseas.
Cost
- The organizers will cover participation costs, including travel, lodging, and materials for up to 20 qualified applicants.
Eligibility
- Open to advanced doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career scholars (those who received their PhDs within the past 5 years), as well as early-career PhD holding practitioners who are citizens of countries in the MENA region. The program is tailored for scholars in political science and other social science disciplines—including peace and conflict studies, international studies, development studies, and adjacent fields—undertaking research that seeks to consciously employ participatory and engaged research methods in the MENA region, particularly those working on projects that use in-country fieldwork, rely on original data collection, and explore methodological, ethical, and practical challenges of social science research in applied settings.
- Priority will be given to scholars currently based at universities or research institutes in the region.
- Professional fluency in English is required.
Application
Applications must be in English and include:
- The completed online application form.
- A detailed recent Curriculum Vitae/resume.
- For advanced graduate students and early-career scholars: a research statement (2,000 words maximum) describing the work-in-progress you plan to discuss at the workshop. This statement should outline your research question(s), a brief literature review, the methods used and/or your plans for data collection/fieldwork, the project’s (anticipated) contribution(s) to the field, and how it relates to the workshop theme(s). The research project should not be any part of a co-authored project and should not be an excerpt from a work that is already completed or accepted for publication. Research projects currently in-progress (i.e., at the proposal stage, data collection/analysis stage, or writing stage) will be accepted. Submissions may be derived from a dissertation project if it fits the workshop theme.
- For PhD-holding practitioners: a cover letter (maximum 1,500 words) describing your motivation to attend the program, current research interests and methodologies, and how this training will benefit your professional development and/or future research plans. If applicable, include a description of your current or planned applied research project(s), outlining the research questions, methods employed for data collection, and how your work aligns with the workshop themes.
- One letter of reference on official letterhead and scanned as electronic file. If you are a graduate student, the letter should be from your dissertation/academic supervisor. If you are a postdoctoral fellow, faculty member, or a PhD-holding practitioner, the letter may come from a former dissertation supervisor, a colleague at your home institution, a university official, or an employer.
Supporting documents can be uploaded with the application materials or sent directly to [email protected].
For more information, visit APSA Workshop.
