National Research Foundation SARCh – Postdoctoral Fellowship

Suitable candidates are invited to apply for a Postdoctoral Fellowship hosted by the National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa at Rhodes University, South Africa. The successful Postdoctoral Fellow will be an active participant in the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme, which comprises Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa (NRF/DST) and Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa (Mellon). The programme is based in the Fine Art Department at Rhodes University.
The fellowship is worth R200 000 per annum (tax exempt), and the academic year runs from January to December 2024.
The Goals of the SARChI Research Programme are to: 

• Produce high quality research outputs
• Foster a culture of academic sharing and cooperation by working on related topics
• Develop, as a team, non-hierarchical forms of ‘sideways learning’
• Build research capacity through a co-operative research culture
• Build collaborations with scholars on the African continent
• Address pertinent socio-political concerns in Africa and various global south contexts

Summary of Fellowship Criteria: 

• Candidates must have obtained their PhD in a relevant discipline within the last five years
• Candidates’ research needs to focus on the visual and performing arts of Africa and needs to intersect meaningfully with the programme’s research areas
• Candidates must be of exceptional merit as evidenced by the quality of their research
• Preference will be given to candidates based on the African continent
• Candidates based in other global south contexts will be considered
• Candidates need to demonstrate an ability to submit for publication at least two new articles based on original research in relevant accredited journals during the Fellowship

Conditions of the Award:

• The successful candidate must reside in Grahamstown for the duration of the Fellowship
• The Fellowship cannot be held concurrently with supplementary funding or salary
• The University expects that all publications, creative works and other academic products of the Fellowship will bear appropriate acknowledgement with full affiliation to Rhodes University and the NRF/DST Research Chair in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa
• The University reserves the right to request the refund of any fellowship paid to the Fellow should the Fellow terminate his or her contract prior to its completion

Application Process and Deadline:
Please email a brief Expression of Interest to Charmaine Mostert (c.mostert@ru.ac.za) and request an Application Form. In the Expression of Interest include your area of research, the date your PhD was awarded, the institution that awarded the degree, and your current institutional affiliation (if applicable).
Submit the completed Application Form and accompanying documents listed on the form to Charmaine Mostert (c.mostert@ru.ac.za) by September 15, 2024.
An applicant who has not completed her/his PhD at the time the Fellowship is offered must have successfully completed the PhD by the end of 2024. In these circumstances the Research Chair, Professor Ruth Simbao (r.simbao@ru.ac.za) will require written assurance from the applicant’s Supervisor that there is a reasonable expectation that the examination process will be successfully completed by the end of 2024.
If you have any questions, please contact Charmaine Mostert (c.mostert@ru.ac.za).