University of North Carolina Visiting Research Fellowship, Transfer Project 2021

The Transfer Project invites African researchers to apply for a 5-month fellowship to engage on joint impact evaluation research with project researchers.

University of North Carolina Visiting Research Fellowship

The Transfer Project is a multi-country research learning initiative on the impacts of cash transfer programs in sub-Saharan Africa
(www.cpc.unc.edu\projects\transfer). Extensive data have been collected to capture the effects of these transfer programs on a wide range of outcomes such as consumption and food security, household demographics, health, education, productive activities, and adolescent safe transitions to adulthood.

The visiting fellow will work with Transfer Project researchers on a joint research project using data from impact evaluations from one or more of the following countries: Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Ghana.

University of North Carolina Visiting Research Fellowship Eligibility

• We seek African junior researchers affiliated with African research institutions or universities.
• Candidates should be either PhD students at the dissertation stage, or early career academics (PhD earned within last 5 years) in economics, agricultural economics, demography, public health or public policy.
• Candidates must have strong microeconomic and quantitative analysis skills, be conversant in modern impact evaluation techniques, be fluent in STATA and able to communicate fluently in the English language.
• While substantive field is open, we seek applicants whose interests lie in topics covered by the evaluation data that we have available—survey instruments and research themes can be found at the Transfer Project website under country pages.

Value of Award:

• The visiting fellow will work on one research paper together with Transfer Project researchers. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the fellowship will be conducted entirely by virtual means. In that regard, it is required that candidates have access to good computer and internet resources for holding Zoom-type interactive sessions.
• The selected fellows will participate in a virtual workshop on impact
  evaluation methods, and each fellow will collaborate with a senior Transfer Project researcher and a faculty from the University of North Carolina (UNC) to identify the paper topic, develop an analysis/work
  plan and timeline.
• The visiting fellow and mentors will prepare the analysis datasets and conduct the analysis and will write a manuscript. The final paper will be published as a Transfer Project working paper and will be submitted to an academic journal for publication. The paper can serve as a dissertation chapter if agreed upon beforehand and if co-authorship is acceptable.
• In addition, visiting fellows will be encouraged to identify opportunities to present joint work at academic conferences as appropriate.
• UNC will provide an honorarium of $5000 US Dollars. This Request for Application is open to citizens of African countries only.

Duration of Award: 5 months

How to Apply for University of North Carolina Visiting Research Fellowship

• Applicants should send a writing sample, CV and a detailed cover letter indicating how you qualify for the Fellowship, your experience in policy-oriented research and quantitative analysis of household survey data, and your likely area of interest informed by a review of Transfer Project topics and questionnaires.
• The cover letter should include the name and contact information of two (2) reference persons knowledgeable of your research work we might communicate with.
• Application materials should be sent to: TPFellowshipsUNC@office.unc.edu with ‘Transfer Project Africa Fellowship’ in the subject line.
• All application documents should be submitted at the same time.
• For more information contact Dr. Gustavo Angeles to the email above and with copy to gustavo_angeles@unc.edu.
• Closing date for applications is Sunday August 30, 2020 at 11:59 pm US EDT, but candidates are encouraged to apply early.

For more information, visit the University of North Carolina Visiting Research Fellowship.

Application Deadline: 30th August 2020 at 11:59 pm US EDT