United Nations University- PHD Paid Internship

UNU-INRA, with funding from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is undertaking a three-year project entitled “Unleashing the Potential of African Rural Economies through Green Growth”. The project aims to provide empirical evidence on how green growth strategies can, amongst others, influence employment, income generation, competitiveness and social inclusion in rural Africa under four thematic areas:

• Green business opportunities in rural Africa
• Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and resource efficiency, productivity and resilience in rural Africa
• Rural SMEs and ecosystem services
• Institutions and governance for environmentally-friendly business practices

Thirteen PhD interns will be selected to be on the project. Three exceptional PhD interns will receive a two-year scholarship, which will require them to spend one year at UNU-INRA headquarters in Accra, Ghana, and another year at their affiliated universities. The other 10 PhD interns will spend 3–4 consecutive months at UNU-INRA headquarters in Accra, Ghana or at one of UNU-INRA’s operating units based in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Namibia, Senegal and Zambia.

Who should apply?

Applicants should be African nationals and must be enrolled in a doctoral programme, most preferably at the later stage of the PhD programme. They should be able to conduct high-quality research. UNU-INRA accepts both Anglophone and Francophone applicants. However, candidates should be fluent in oral and written English or French, as their case may warrant. While there are no restrictions with respect to the applicant’s areas of study, these must be clearly linked to addressing the critical issues related to green growth in rural Africa.

The PhD internship programme does not make provision for primary data collection or a PhD advisor’s honorarium, except for successful applicants under the two-year scholarship. Specific research questions may be proposed to a selected candidate, but priority will be given to those candidates who already have research questions that overlap with our current priority areas within green growth themes. For examples of research questions that the project would like to address, see the Related Files tab.

Stipend

UNU-INRA will provide two types of financial support. A monthly stipend of around US1,000.00 will be provided to a successful applicant spending a maximum of four months within the programme. The stipend is a contribution towards accommodation, subsistence, medical and other expenses.

For a successful applicant under the two-year scholarship, a monthly stipend of around USD 600.00 will be provided. The stipend is a contribution towards subsistence, medical and other expenses. For the latter category of interns, the programme does make a provision for an allowance not exceeding USD 5,000.00 for collection of primary data when necessary, and allowance for their PhD advisors, not exceeding USD 2,000.00. For all successful applicants, the Institute will provide a round trip ticket to and from the location of the programme.

Applications

The deadlines for applications  for the academic years 2015-20016 and 31 May 2015. Acceptance decisions will be sent to successful applicants within three weeks of the closing dates.Successful candidates will be expected to notify UNU-INRA of their acceptance of the offer within two weeks of receiving the notification. The acceptance letter should also include a letter from the candidate’s academic supervisor confirming that the applicant is authorized to participate in the programme.

Interested applicants should complete and submit the application form and include their curriculum vitae and proof of enrolment in a PhD programme. As part of the application, your PhD supervisor will need to provide UNU-INRA with a letter of reference. Applications should be emailed to:phdinternship@inra.unu.edu.

Only applications with an area of study linked to green growth issues will be accepted. Priority will be given to those candidates with research proposals that address our current priority areas within the green growth themes, such as employment, income generation, innovation, competitiveness and social inclusion in rural Africa.

For more information about the programme, contact the Programme Coordinator at phdinternship@inra.unu.edu.