New Migration Academy calls for applications
- Wits University
Members of the African Research Universities Alliance open new opportunities in migration studies.
The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at Wits University is pleased to announce the launch of the African Academy for Migration Research (AAMR). AAMR is an initiative of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and it aims to drive migration research scholarship excellence and researcher professional development across the African continent in partnership with seven other institutions.
ACMS is responsible for implementing and managing AAMR initiatives including Virtual Training Institutes for postgraduate students and early career scholars, completion grants for PhD and postdoctoral studies and open educational resources.
Applications are now open for the PhD and postdoctoral completion grants and for the first Virtual Training Institute on Migration and Health.
“This initiative presents exciting opportunities for building collaborations across the continent, supporting the development of the next generation of African migration scholars," says Jo Vearey, Professor at ACMS and Director of the ARUA Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Migration and Mobility.
Contrary to popular belief, the majority of African migrants move within the continent. However, only 13 out of 55 African Union states offered citizens of other countries visa-free entry in 2018. This makes Africa the most restrictive continent in the world for Africans. Since migration contributes to economic development, it is important that the continent finds ways to harness these attributes by finding ways of facilitating free movement of Africans.
The launch of AAMR is an important step in realising these solutions.
Professor Loren B Landau, South African Research Chair in Mobility and the Politics of Difference at ACMS and Professor at University of Oxford agrees: “This is an important initiative that will help to strengthen the African academy and position African based academics to lead in shaping global scholarly and public debate on human mobility
Professor Mucha Musemwa, Head of the School of Social Sciences at Wits where the Academy is located has welcomed the launch of AAMR. “The appointment of the ACMS as the hub for the provision of research capacity building and professional development of the next generation of African migration scholars testifies to the excellent work the ACMS has already been doing on this front. Our School is proud that ACMS will continue to focus attention on some of the pressing societal issues of the day working with fellow universities on the continent.”
The AAMR is funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The seven partner universities in ARUA with an interest in migration studies are: Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), Makerere University (Uganda), Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (Ethiopia), University of Cape Town (South Africa), University of Ghana (Ghana) and University of the Western Cape (South Africa).
For more information, please visit acms-aamr.org and for enquiries, email aamr@migration.org.za.