Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program Announces 2018 Fellowship Recipients

NEW YORK, May 10, 2018 – The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, now in its fifth year, has selected 43 African Universities in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda to host 55 African-born scholars to build partnerships between home and host universities and address priority needs at host universities and countries. The program is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in collaboration with United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) in Nairobi, Kenya, which coordinates the activities of the Advisory Council.

The visiting Fellows will work with their hosts on a wide range of projects that include controlling malaria, strengthening peace and conflict studies, developing a new master’s degree in emergency medicine, training and mentoring graduate students in criminal justice, archiving African indigenous knowledge, creating low cost water treatment technologies, building capacity in microbiology and pathogen genomics, and developing a forensic accounting curriculum.

Designed to increase Africa’s brain circulation, build capacity at host institutions, and develop long-term, mutually-beneficial collaborations between universities in Africa and the United States and Canada, the successful initiative has now awarded a total of 335 Fellowships since its inception in 2013.

New Round of Applications Now Open
The program has also announced that universities and prospective Fellows can now apply for the next round of grants. The application opened on May 1, 2018 with a July 6 deadline. For the upcoming grant cycle, priority themes include science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), and sustainable cities and communities. There are also opportunities for alumni to apply for supplemental funding to increase the impact of their projects. See “How to apply”. Please direct all questions related to the application process to AfricanDiaspora@iie.org.

The new grants announced today include:

  • Joint teaching and research: 55 new fellows will travel to Africa starting this summer to conduct projects proposed by their host universities.
  • Conference participation: Six alumni teams (a fellow and host collaborator who worked together in a previous grant cycle) will receive funding to present together at an international conference on the outcomes and impact of their joint projects.
  • Alumni opportunities: 18 successful alumni will return to their original host institutions to build on their successful collaboration, or travel to a new institution in Africa to conduct additional projects.
  • Knowledge production and workshops: Scholars and hosts can apply for supplemental funding for resource materials, research and publication costs and to connect with research networks, professional associations, industry and society to advance the projects beyond the host institutions. For example, knowledge production grants covered the acquisition of a conductivity/salinity meter for a hydraulic field station and provided funding to hold a day-long graduate research seminar for students to showcase projects.

Selected Fellowship projects include the following:

  • Kenya: A professor from Clarke University will work with Kisii University on developing a Center for Peace, Social Justice, Equality and Security.
  • Ghana: University of Cape Coast will host a professor from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania to work on Coastal Water Resource Studies.
  • Nigeria: A psychology professor from the University of Manitoba will work with the Nigerian Defense Academy on promoting research on military mental well-being, and a professor from Spelman College will work with Kwara State University, Kwasu on graduate student teaching and mentoring in mathematics.
  • South Africa: The University of KwaZulu-Natal will host a professor from the University of Texas at Dallas to develop a new environmental engineering degree program, mentor staff and post-docs in sustainable engineering education, and collaborate on engineering research in food security and climate change.
  • Uganda: A professor from Marquette University will work with Kabale University on a new master’s degree program in public health and building a foundation for international health and medical research collaboration.

Fellowships match host universities with African-born scholars (individually or in small groups) and cover the expenses for project visits of between 21 and 90 days, including international air travel, a daily stipend, and the cost of obtaining visas and health insurance.

See the full list of 2018 projects, hosts and scholars and their universities.

About the Institute of International Education:
For nearly a century, IIE has been a world leader in international education. We work to build more peaceful and equitable societies by advancing scholarship, building economies and promoting access to opportunity. As a not-for-profit with 18 offices and affiliates worldwide, IIE collaborates with a range of corporate, government and foundation partners across the globe to design and manage scholarship, study abroad, workforce training and leadership development programs. For more information visit www.iie.org.

About United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa):
United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) was founded in 1969 as the Africa campus of United States International University in San Diego, California. Today, the University operates as an independent, not-for-profit institution serving over 6000 students representing 73 nationalities. It offers 24 degree programs from undergraduate to doctoral level, all of which are accredited in Kenya and the United States of America with the Commission for University Education and Senior Colleges and Universities Commission, WASC respectively.

About Carnegie Corporation of New York:

Carnegie Corporation of New York was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge and the strength of our democracy.

Connect with us on Twitter  Facebook  YouTube  and  Linkedin

For more information, contact:

Africandiaspora@iie.org, +1.202.326.7883

For media inquiries, contact:

Catherine Morris, cmorris@iie.org, +1.202.326.7765

Contacts

Public Affairs