Sentinel 2nd Call for Proposals

Starting December 10, 2018 - Ending December 10, 2019 Expired

DOCTORAL RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIPS UNDER THE PHD GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS AT RUFORUM MEMBER UNIVERSITIES 

Call ID: RU/2018/GTA/DRG/03 

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15 February 2019 

About the Call 

By 2050 demand for food in Africa is projected to grow by 2.5 to 3 times the level of 2015. At the same time, Africa continues to import a lot of its staple food, with the African Development Bank estimating that over US$35 billion is spent on food imports. This figure is expected to rise to US$125 billion by 2050. For the past decades, growth in agricultural production has arisen as much via increases in land under agriculture as via yield increases. As a result, agriculture has become the key driver of deforestation in Africa, resulting in loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. These will ultimately impact on human wellbeing by degrading the natural resource base on which people depend for a living. At the same time, agricultural development can disadvantage poorer, more vulnerable groups - for example, when large-scale agricultural investments threaten their land rights. Future agricultural development will need to address trade-offs between economic, environmental and social outcomes to make progress on Sustainable Development Goals 2 (zero hunger), 10 (reduced inequality) and 15 (protection of terrestrial ecosystems). 

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is part of a consortium of institutions implementing the four (4) year Social and Environmental Trade-offs in African Agriculture (Sentinel) Project funded by the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The Project aims at building the capacity of African and UK research organizations to design and deliver high quality, relevant and state-of-the-art research related to this major challenge of trade-offs between economic, environmental and social outcomes. Sentinel explores, in collaboration with decision makers in government, civil society and the private sector, the impacts, risks and trade-offs within and between social, economic and environmental dimensions of different agricultural development pathways in three African countries: Zambia, Ethiopia and Ghana. 

For more details, download the full document.