Get $10,000 for Field Research on Violence in Africa: Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellow Awards 2026–2027 (Fellowship)

If your PhD research tackles causes, consequences, or control of violence on the African continent, this is the kind of fellowship that can push a promising project from pilot notes to publishable findings. The Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellow Awards run every two years and select roughly a dozen emerging scholars for two-year fellowships. Each fellow receives a $10,000 fieldwork grant, an in-person methods workshop on the continent, mentoring from senior African and Africanist scholars, conference sponsorship, and writing support aimed at turning research into journal articles and policy-ready outputs.

This fellowship is narrow in focus but generous in support: it’s for PhD candidates based at African universities and living in Africa, up to age 45, whose projects directly address violence or aggression related to African societies. Think war, crime, intimate-partner violence, political extremism, climate-driven resource competition, or communal conflict along ethnic, racial, or religious lines. The Foundation favors projects that not only explain violence but point toward practical policy responses to reduce it.

If you want time, mentoring, and money dedicated to fieldwork—and help turning messy field data into publishable studies—this award should be on your short list. Below I break down what the fellowship actually gives you, who should apply, how to write an application that stands out, common traps to avoid, and a practical timeline so you can submit a competitive proposal by March 1, 2026.

At a Glance

Why this fellowship matters (three quick reasons)

First, the $10,000 is explicitly for fieldwork. For many PhD students, that kind of dedicated field budget covers travel, local research assistants, stipends for participants, translation, and basic equipment—items often squeezed out of departmental grants. Second, the program pairs money with mentorship and capacity-building: the methods workshop and writing support are designed to help you produce work that meets international publication standards. Third, selection places you in a cohort—those networking ties often turn into collaborators, co-authors, or references for postdoc positions.

If your aim is both rigorous scholarship and relevance to policy or practice, this fellowship gives you practical help, not just prestige. The Foundation favors projects that can point toward policy interventions or practical approaches to reduce violence. That means your application must do more than be academically interesting—it should explain how results could inform policymakers, NGOs, or local institutions.

What This Opportunity Offers

This is not a mini-grant cobbled together from leftover travel funds. The African Fellow Awards are a two-year fellowship program designed to strengthen research on violence related to Africa. Each fellow receives a $10,000 research grant earmarked for fieldwork, plus structured capacity-building: an in-person methods workshop held on the African continent, mentorship from established African and Africanist scholars, sponsored participation at an international conference to present findings, and an intensive writing workshop with editorial assistance aimed at getting papers ready for peer-reviewed journals.

Those mentoring and workshop elements matter as much as the cash. Many applicants can get money elsewhere; fewer get systematic support for research design, ethical field methods, data management, and writing to international journals. The methods workshop will likely cover sampling strategies, mixed-methods integration, remote and in-person data collection in fragile settings, and safety planning for researchers and participants. The writing workshop is where messy field notes start to look like journal-ready manuscripts—with help on framing contributions, structuring arguments, and polishing language.

The Foundation prioritizes work that not only explains the mechanics of violence but that has clear implications for interventions. So, projects that can test hypotheses with actionable implications—e.g., whether certain community policing models reduce violence in peri-urban neighborhoods, or whether land reform policies change patterns of farmer-herder conflict—are especially competitive.

Who Should Apply

This fellowship is aimed at PhD candidates enrolled in accredited African universities who live on the continent and are 45 or younger. Citizenship can be from anywhere; what matters is your institutional affiliation and residence in Africa. If you’re a doctoral candidate doing fieldwork on violence or its drivers in Africa, you’re the intended audience.

Good candidates are mid-to-late-stage PhD students who have a clear, feasible plan for two years of field work and writing. You don’t need to have finished all data collection, but you should show a solid plan and initial groundwork—evidence that the project is viable and that $10,000 will materially advance it. For example, if you’re studying political radicalization in urban youth groups, having pilot interviews, contacts for recruitment, and an outline of data sources will strengthen your case.

Projects that cross disciplines are welcomed—social sciences, public health, economics, environmental science, geography, and historical inquiry are all possible if they bear directly on violence. The foundation gives higher priority to research that connects findings with policies or interventions to reduce violence. Historical studies are considered when clearly tied to current violence dynamics. Also, if your research documents effects of violence only to show they later cause more violence, make that causal path explicit—reviewers look for analytical chains, not isolated descriptions.

Real-world examples of strong topics:

• A mixed-methods study on how seasonal water scarcity alters patterns of communal conflict in the Sahel, testing mediation by market access.
• A comparative investigation of police-community relations in two cities examining whether trust-building programs lower petty crime and retaliatory violence.
• A longitudinal qualitative study of survivors of intimate-partner violence that links services access to recurrence risk.
• An archival and contemporary analysis of land dispossession and its role in episodic communal violence in a specific region.

If you’re unsure whether your topic fits, ask: does the project directly engage with causes, forms, or control of violence relevant to the African continent? If yes, you likely fit.

Insider Tips for a Winning Application (5–7 specific, actionable tips)

1. Tie your research question to a clear policy or practice implication. The Foundation rewards projects that explain how findings could inform interventions. Don’t stop at “we will describe X”; show who could use your results and how. If your study tests an intervention, outline the mechanism and the practical steps for scaling or piloting your recommendation.

2. Show feasibility early and concretely. Detail recruitment sources, local organizations that will help, ethical approvals (or a timeline for obtaining them), and plans for translators or research assistants. A simple timeline with milestones—pilot interviews, primary data collection, analysis phases, and dissemination—goes a long way.

3. Budget for the real costs of fieldwork. Itemize travel, local wages, participant compensation, transcription, translation, data storage, and contingency. $10,000 looks generous until you’ve priced flights to remote sites, permissions, and months of local assistance. Explain your numbers briefly in the budget justification.

4. Emphasize local embedding and safety. Living on the continent is required; explain how local residence enhances access and safety. Describe steps you’ll take to protect participants and yourself—safe interview spaces, trauma-informed interviewing, data anonymization, and approval by institutional review boards.

5. Use your writing to tell a clear causal story. Whether you use qualitative case study logic or quantitative identification strategies, walk reviewers through the causal chain: what causes X, how your methods isolate that effect, what alternative explanations you’ll rule out, and why your approach is appropriate for the question.

6. Leverage the mentorship and workshops in your narrative. Explain how attending the methods workshop and receiving editorial support will improve your project outcomes. For instance, note if you lack advanced quantitative training and how the mentorship could fill that gap or help you design robust mixed-methods analysis.

7. Draft strong letters of support. Letters should be concrete: specify institutional commitments (access to archives, office space, lab facilities), the availability of supervisors, and any local partnerships. Avoid vague praise—ask letter writers to state what they will do and what resources they will provide.

8. Be concise but human. The reviewers are scholars and practitioners; they appreciate clear prose that shows you know the field and the people involved. Avoid dense jargon and long methodological detours early in the proposal. Start with the question, why it matters, and how you’ll answer it.

Combine these steps and you’ll present a project that’s both credible and useful.

Application Timeline (backward from March 1, 2026)

Start early. Work backward from March 1 and build in buffers for institutional approvals and referee letters.

• December – January: Finalize research design and prepare draft narrative. Begin budget and get institutional sign-off on overhead or administrative processes. Start requesting letters of support and give letter writers a clear summary and deadline at least three weeks before you need the letters.

• Mid-January – February: Circulate the near-final draft to at least three readers: one specialist in your subfield, one methodologist, and one reader outside your discipline. Incorporate feedback and refine your significance and methods sections.

• Mid-February: Finalize budget justification, ethics paperwork, and CV. Confirm receipt of letters of support. Check all file formats and ensure institutional requirements are met.

• Two days before deadline: Submit early. The Foundation’s portal can be particular and last-minute issues happen. Submit at least 48 hours before March 1 to avoid technical problems.

If you’re later in the academic year—e.g., you plan to do fieldwork during a dry season or after exams—explain the timing explicitly in your timeline: reviewers want to see you can realistically do the work within the fellowship period.

Required Materials (what to prepare and how to present it)

You’ll usually need the following. These are distinct items—prepare each carefully:

• Project narrative (concise, compelling, and methodical). This should state the research question, its significance, the literature you’re addressing, hypotheses or expectations, and your methods (sampling, instruments, analysis plan). Use subheadings to make the argument easy to scan.

• Budget and budget justification. Itemize expected costs tied to specific tasks (e.g., three months of fieldwork: travel $X, research assistant stipends $Y, transcription $Z). Explain why each expense is necessary.

• CV or biographical sketch. Tailor it: emphasize publications, relevant field experience, language skills, and prior ethical training.

• Letters of support or institutional endorsement. These should confirm supervisory support and access to needed resources (archives, local contacts, lab space).

• Ethics or IRB documentation (or a plan for obtaining it). If you haven’t secured approvals yet, include a timeline and show you’ve started the process.

• Data management plan. Explain where and how data will be stored, anonymized, and shared if applicable. Reviewers want to know your plan for participant confidentiality.

• Any preliminary data or pilot results. Even short pilot interviews, descriptive statistics, or archival leads strengthen feasibility.

Prepare clean, polished documents. Save figures and maps as separate files where requested. If your project involves vulnerable populations or high-risk field sites, include a safety and risk mitigation plan.

What Makes an Application Stand Out

Applications that do well combine clarity, feasibility, and relevance. Clarity: start with one crisp paragraph that states the research question and why it matters. Feasibility: reviewers must be convinced you can complete the proposed work within two years with the resources requested. Relevance: explicitly link potential findings to policy, practice, or future research directions.

Strong applications often include mixed-methods strategies that triangulate evidence—qualitative interviews to contextualize quantitative patterns, or historical archives that explain present-day dynamics. They make an argument for why fieldwork on the continent is essential (rather than secondary data analysis) and show local partnerships that enable access and ethical conduct.

Examples of standout features:

• A detailed sampling frame for fieldwork, showing how participants will be identified and recruited.
• An ethics plan tailored to the population (e.g., trauma-informed consent procedures for survivors of violence).
• Concrete dissemination plans: which conferences, which journals, and which policy briefs or local stakeholders will receive findings.
• Evidence of prior field experience or language skills that reduce risk and improve data quality.

Finally, telling a clear causal story—what you expect to find and why—while acknowledging limitations and alternative explanations helps reviewers trust your judgment.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Vague policy claims. Saying your research will “inform policy” without specifying who would use your findings or how is weak. Identify target audiences—government departments, NGOs, community leaders—and how they might apply your work.

2. Under-budgeting fieldwork. Researchers routinely forget translation, transcription, local transport, and participant compensation. Itemize and justify each line in the budget.

3. Ignoring ethical complexities. Proposals that gloss over consent, confidentiality, or researcher safety raise immediate red flags. If your research involves traumatized populations or insecure regions, provide clear mitigation measures and ethical approvals timeline.

4. Overly ambitious scope. Two years and $10,000 won’t fund a continent-wide comparative study. Focus your proposal on a manageable, well-specified question with realistic data demands.

5. Weak letters of support. Letters that merely praise you without committing resources or access are unhelpful. Ask referees to specify institutional commitments and the role they’ll play.

6. Last-minute submissions. Technical failures, missing letters, or institution approvals often derail otherwise strong proposals. Submit at least 48 hours early.

Fix these issues and your application will look professional, realistic, and ready for use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can non-African citizens apply? A: Yes. Citizenship is not restricted. The important requirements are that you’re currently enrolled in an accredited PhD program at an African higher-education institution and that you live on the continent.

Q: Do I need to have completed preliminary data collection? A: Not necessarily, but having preliminary contacts, pilot interviews, or initial data will greatly strengthen feasibility claims. If you lack pilot data, be explicit about how you’ll achieve access and how the grant will enable necessary steps.

Q: Is the $10,000 intended to cover living expenses? A: The grant is described as a fieldwork research grant. Use it for travel, local assistance, participant compensation, transcription, equipment, and conference costs tied to research dissemination. Include a budget justification showing how these items align with your work plan.

Q: Will the Foundation pay for tuition or stipends? A: The program focuses on research costs, mentorship, and capacity-building. It is not typically structured as a living stipend or tuition award. If you need support for living costs, explain other funding sources or how the grant will be applied.

Q: What does the methods workshop include? A: Workshops usually cover research design, advanced methods, ethical fieldwork, data management, and safety planning. They’re also an opportunity to get feedback on preliminary analyses and to meet mentors. Explain how attending will improve your project in the application.

Q: How competitive is the program? A: The Foundation selects about a dozen fellows every two years. Competition is strong; clear, feasible projects tied to policy-relevant outcomes have an advantage.

Q: Can I include international collaborators? A: Yes, but the fellow must be enrolled at and based in an African institution. International collaborators can be listed, but justify why local leadership and residency matter for the project.

Q: If I’m not funded, can I reapply? A: Yes. Use reviewer feedback to strengthen subsequent submissions. Many successful applicants revise and resubmit.

Next Steps — How to Apply

Ready to apply? Start now. Draft your one-paragraph hook that states the question, significance, and proposed field site. Pull together your CV, budget numbers, and at least one letter of support that commits to institutional resources. Contact potential mentors and letter writers with a brief project summary and a clear deadline for their input.

When your materials are ready, visit the official application portal to register and submit. Make sure your institutional sponsored research office (or equivalent) is aware of the submission and any internal sign-off requirements. Submit at least 48 hours before March 1, 2026 to avoid last-minute portal issues.

Apply here: https://www.grantinterface.com/Home/Logon?urlkey=hfg

Good luck. This fellowship rewards focused, practical research that can improve understanding of violence and offer paths to reduce it—so write clearly, ask for realistic resources, and show how your work will matter beyond the dissertation.