Applications Open for Ibadan 2020 Writing Workshop Scheduled for July

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Professor Sir Mark Walport, CEO, Global Challenges Research Fund
Professor Sir Mark Walport, CEO, Global Challenges Research Fund

Applications are now open for the Ibadan 2020 Writing Workshop, supported by the Global Challenges Research Fund of the British Academy in a fully-funded Writing Workshop programme scheduled to take place at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria from July 22 to 24,2020. The University of Ibadan is a pioneer institution in the fields of African history and humanities.

The theme of the programme is Rethinking Development in Nigeria: Economic History, Ideas, Policies. The event will support a new generation of Nigerian scholars in claiming their rightful place at the centre of the debate on Africa’s economic past.

Over the course of three days (July 22-24,2020), sixteen early career researchers (current PhD students or scholars who have completed their PhDs, not earlier than July 31, 2018, based in Nigerian universities will present their papers, receive feedback and develop productive interactions and meaningful relationships with a team of 13 distinguished senior researchers and journal editors from Africa, Europe and the Americas.

The workshop will comprise three types of sessions, devoted respectively to presentations by early career researchers; improving writing, publication strategies and communication of research; scholarships, research funding and career opportunities in a variety of institutional contexts (UK, USA, France and Germany).

Apart from the networking opportunities provided by the workshop, there will be specific sessions in which participants will have informal one-on-one conversations with the editors, and discuss the feedback received on their papers and their career strategies.

The four pillars of the workshop are :

  1. Promoting the career and research development of young scholars  in Nigerian universities;
  2. Creating exchange and networking opportunities that can easily result in new partnerships and equal collaborations between scholars and journal editors based in the Global North and the Global South;
  3. Placing young Nigerian scholars at the centre of the ‘renaissance of African economic history’ (Austin and Broadberry 2014), and make them key actors in the construction and institutionalisation of the history of African economic thought as a field of study represented in major international journals;
  4. Stimulating a conversation across Nigerian institutions on the role of historical approaches in addressing the development challenges identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

Interested applicants are required to submit papers providing historical perspectives on the contemporary concerns reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300).These include, but are not limited to, work that offers sophisticated historical analyses of the following issues in the Nigerian context:  Poverty and inequality (concepts, experiences, measurement), Hunger, Agriculture and industry, Labour, Gender inequalities in economic and social life, The relationship between economic and political ideas and policy choices, Indigenous economic institutions and cultures as well as policy design, implementation and performance.

Other areas are Taxation, Finance and Credit, Trade, Demographic change, History of economic thought, as well as the politics of economic and social statistics.

The application procedure is a selection process on a competitive basis in three stages. All intended applicants are required to send as a single file, a title and an extended abstract of up to 2,000 words (complete with contact details and institutional affiliation), one letter of recommendation from their Heads of Department or any other senior scholar (Supervisor, If a PhD student), and a curriculum vitae by the march 7, 2020. For those who have already completed their PhDs, the letter of recommendation should state clearly the date of PhD completion.

The 2,000 words (excluding bibliography) extended abstracts should contain, among other things,  the following: Awareness of existing historiography on the chosen topic, a clear and consistent argument,  A specific sense of how the proposed article contributes to the literature on the chosen topic as well as an explicit discussion of methods and sources used.

The authors of the best-extended abstracts will be required to submit a full paper (between 8,000 and 12,000 words) by April 30, 2020.

Only sixteen papers will be selected among those submitted, and their authors invited to the workshop. The authors of the selected papers will be notified by May 21, 2020.

Applications are to be sent via email to: ibadan.ehworkshop2020@gmail.com.