News

Central Asia and Afghanistan mountain research fellowships offered

09.08.2013

The University of Central Asia (UCA), through its Mountain Societies Research Institute (MSRI), is offering fellowships to strengthen the capacity of researchers from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic to conduct original research that is focused on learning from and informing sustainable development in mountain areas.

This includes mountain societies in the Tien Shan, Pamir, and Hindu Kush mountain ranges. The topics of research projects supported by the fellowship include four interconnected themes related to mountain economies:

•    Environmental change and natural resource governance associated with land degradation, climate change, biodiversity loss, and natural hazards;
•    On-farm livelihoods such as agro-pastoralism and all aspects of food security;
•    Off-farm livelihoods such as small and medium-sized enterprise development, mountain tourism, and labor migration;
•    The economic, social and environmental impacts of large-scale mountain development relevant to mountain societies.

The Central Asia and Afghanistan Research Fund (CAARF) provides substantial financial, technical and mentorship support to selected fellows.  The fellows will be able to advance their research careers through collaboration with peers and mentors. They will write and publish an academic journal article through a peer-review process. The findings of their studies will be disseminated in a policy-relevant format.  Awards of research grants of USD 5,000-20,000 will be made to the selected social and natural science scholars.

The deadline for applications is 15 October 2013.
 
For eligibility and application procedures, visit: http://msri.ucentralasia.org/