2014-2015 Next Gen Africa Workshop held in Accra, Ghana
Accra, Ghana— The Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa program held its fifth skill-building workshop in Accra, Ghana in support of the 2014-2015 Next Gen fellows. The event took place July 21st-25th and is a crucial component of the Next Generation Social Sciences program model. Workshops allow fellows to participate in an international network composed of African scholars, gain mentorship from senior faculty and peers, and receive focused and intensive feedback on their dissertation research and writing over the course of five days.
The Institute of African Studies (IAS) at the University of Ghana, Legon hosted the workshop. Forty-three fellows were in attendance and seven senior faculty members from across the continent joined the group to serve as workshop leaders for group breakout sessions.
Workshop leaders have expertise ranging on topics such as gender politics and health, migration, youth and politics, conflict and natural resource management, social theory, sustainability and governance, and urban politics. Workshop faculty this year included Wilson Akpan (Department of Sociology at the University of Fort Hare), Nana Akua Anyidoho (Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research at the University of Ghana, Legon), Bernard Dubbeld (Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Stellenbosch), Anneeth Kaur Hundle (Makerere Institute of Social Research), Antonio Tomas (African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town), Sarah Ssali (Department of Gender Studies at Makerere University), and Charles Ukeje (Department of Politics at Obafemi Awolowo University-Ife). Bernard Dubbeld previously was a fellow in the inaugural cohort of the program and returned to provide mentoring to the fellowship community.
Fellows and workshop leaders worked together to sharpen the research question that animated fellows’ projects, create a robust literature review, match research method to research questions, and explore possible futures for fellows after completion of the PhD—including publishing and navigating a university career.
To see a complete list of fellows from the 2014-15 cohort who participated in this event, please visit the fellow cohort page. For additional information on workshops, please visit the program page.