‘Future leaders’ fellowship gives PhDs a reason to stay

Nineteen academics from nine African countries have been selected for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship programme aimed at providing newly graduated African doctoral students with the means to put their research and ideas into practice on home soil and raise the profile of African research.

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a consortium of 85 universities in 35 African countries, announced the recipients of the ‘Wajao’, a two-year postdoctoral programme funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, on 1 March.

Wajao is a Swahili word for ‘future’ which can be used to infer ‘future leaders’.

“We are using this term to imply that the recently graduated PhDs are the future leaders,” said Dr Sylvia Chindime, head of training and quality assurance at RUFORUM.

The programme targets former beneficiaries of regional doctoral training programmes who were funded by Carnegie through RUFORUM and aims to increase retention rates among African graduates in Africa in order to strengthen universities’ and research institutions’ capacity to meet the growing demand for higher education and research.

Chindime told University World News that the programme addresses a key frustration among young African academics.

“After finishing their studies, the newly graduated students have no means to put their new ideas into practice. They are often left alone to float to find their own way and many opt to go abroad for better opportunities,” she said.

“This project will provide opportunities to the recently graduated students to lead research and strengthen teaching on the continent, and also be supported to raise the profile of African research internationally.”

She said the young professionals would be given opportunities to carry out research, strengthen their supervisory, teamwork and leadership skills, and to be actively connected across the continent to form a critical mass of committed and engaged professionals, “improving their own and their university standings”.

Valued at US$60,000 over a period of two years, the fellowship will provide academics the opportunity to build their own careers, lead research teams, get international exposure and receive training and mentorship, said Chindime.

In turn, the postdoctoral fellows would help to build university doctoral programmes in African institutions by supporting, supervising and integrating postgraduate students into their research teams.

“The fellows will also be supported as they make connections internationally in their disciplinary areas, and will have the opportunity to network with each other and across Africa in support of both higher education and their disciplines.”

The fellowships form part of RUFORUM’s broader commitment to strengthening postgraduate training and academic mobility in Africa. Since 2009, RUFORUM, with financial support from Carnegie and other agencies, has contributed to the training of 436 PhD graduates, 97% of whom upon completion of their studies have returned to their home countries to teach and conduct research.

The 19 new fellows, which include seven women, are drawn from Uganda, Zimbabwe, Benin, Ghana, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia and Nigeria.