Graduate Scholarships » Research Scholarships » PhD Scholarships

Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant: The Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant program supports short-term academic placements for students enrolled in a Master’s or PhD program at African universities.

The program offers grants of up to CAD$10,000 each to fifteen students per year to conduct research for up to four months at select Canadian universities.

An additional prize of $1,000 will also be awarded to the best research paper produced by a grant recipient.

The program is building capacity by giving bright, highly-motivated students and scholars an opportunity to discover and impart new learning in a cross-cultural experience.

Supported research covers the Africa Initiative thematic areas of conflict resolution, energy, food security, health, and migration, with special attention to the cross-cutting issues of climate change.

The Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant program is currently accepting applications for research to be conducted between September and December.

Grant recipients are expected to self-identify professors and experts they would like to work with at universities in Canada and will be required to submit an official letter of support from the university where they wish to be based as part of their application for the grant.

Grant Eligibility Criteria:

must be a Master’s or PhD student enrolled in an African university*

must be in good academic standing (with at least an overall B, or equivalent, standing)

proposed research must be original and timely, and must focus on one of the Africa Initiative’s thematic areas of conflict resolution, energy, food security, health, and migration, with special attention to the cross-cutting issue of climate change
Scholarship Application Requirements:

completed application form

proposal (maximum 5 pages) summarizing the applicant’s graduate research, including research objective, methodology and expected results and outputs; a timeline and proposed research plan in Canada; and an overview of the capacity of the host institution contacts’ involvement with the applicant’s work while in Canada

one letter of support from the university the applicant plans to be based at (either a letter of support from the host university inviting the applicant as a visiting scholar or an acceptance letter from the host university inviting the applicant as an exchange student)

current CV

current university transcript

two letters of recommendations (one letter from the applicant’s academic advisor and an additional letter from other academic or professional sources)

passport scan

writing sample (can be any written research work authored by the applicant)
Program expectations: Participants are expected to provide content for the Africa Initiative’s Africa Portal on a regular basis during their placement and write one major research paper for the Portal at the end of their placement.
Follow the links below for more details and application contacts.

For more information and scholarship applications, see: Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant