Masters studentships in medical and environmental anthropology-2 years

The AnthEM programme is a collaboration between the Institute of Anthropology, Gender & African Studies, University of Nairobi, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Dar es Salaam, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Makerere University, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Maseno University, the Tanzanian and Kenyan national institutes of medical research, NIMR and KEMRI, and the Department of Social Anthropology and the Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo. AnthEM is funded by the NORHED programme of the Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD).

Only candidates living in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are eligible. They must have knowledge of anthropology, show interest in medical/environmental anthropology, and fulfil admission requirements of the MA programme in anthropology at the relevant university.

The applicants from Kenya must have a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, while those from Uganda and Tanzania must have a bachelor’s degree in anthropology or any other relevant social science.

The scholarship includes all university fees, fieldwork costs and a monthly stipend of 50,000 KES.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Interested candidates are invited to submit the following materials to the AnthEM evaluation committee no later than 22 July:

• Degree certificates
• 1-page motivation letter, including a self presentation
• 1-page of ideas for a MA research project in one of the AnthEM thematic areas. Please see more information about this below.

Once selected, candidates will be awarded the scholarship subject to being granted admission to the MA programme in social anthropology at the University of Nairobi or at Maseno University.

All materials must be submitted as PDFs in the application portal. Materials submitted in any other way will not be considered. Applications produced using ChatGPT or other generative AI will be disqualified.

Apply for AnthEM scholarship at Maseno University here: https://nettskjema.no/a/524105

Apply for AnthEM scholarship at the University of Nairobi here: https://nettskjema.no/a/532416

You can apply to both universities, but you will have to submit two separate applications using the links above. The motivation letter and project idea can be the same for both applications.

Thematic areas and project idea

Please revert to the description of 6 different thematic clusters relating to medical and environmental issues to do with pollution and health, which are of interest to the senior researchers participating in this project, and for which the project can offer training and supervisory capacity. Supervision will be provided by teachers from the main university in cooperation with supervisors from other participating institutions.

Please note that these descriptions are meant to indicate a direction – but that you should feel free to come up with your own ideas. You are invited to begin thinking about and designing a research project within one of these areas, depending on your personal interests and experience. If selected, we will discuss the topic and research plan further with you.

The one-page sketch of ideas must include: topic of research; why it is important (to you); research question(s); potential research site(s); social groups, institutions or environments to engage; what methods will you use and how you will go about studying this particular topic.

Contact information

For questions about the MA programme at the University of Nairobi, please contact Professor Onyango Ouma: onyango.ouma@uonbi.ac.ke

For questions about the MA programme at Maseno University, please contact Professor Erick Nyambedha: nyambedha@maseno.ac.ke or Erick.nyambedha@gmail.comFor questions about the thematic clusters, please contact AnthEM project leaders Professor Ruth Prince, r.j.prince[at]medisin.uio.no, Professor Paul Wenzel Geissler, p.w.geissler[at)sai.uio.no, or respective local project leads Professor Onyango Ouma or Professor Erick Nyambedha (see contact information above).