Call for Applications
Training to Engaged Transformative Research:
Proposal Writing and Research Design Seminar in Social Sciences
for Junior Scholars in the Arab Region
January 19-21, 2018
Amman, Jordan
The Arab Families Working Group (AFWG) and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS) are organizing a training seminar on proposal writing and research design in social sciences on January 19-21, 2018 in Amman, Jordan.
This three-day intensive seminar will train junior scholars (recent PhD holders or advanced MA level) in the social sciences on conducting engaged transformative research. The seminar focuses on training in proposal writing and research design with additional material on data collection, data analysis, and writing for reports/dissertation/publication. The training is intended to prepare junior scholars for continued graduate training towards their PhDs or assist new PhD holders in initiating new research programs.
About the Sponsors and Presenter
The Arab Families Working Group (AFWG) is organizing the seminar, funded by the Ford Foundation. AFWG is a collaborative project of 16 scholars who carry out research on Arab families and youth in Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and their diasporas. AFWG is committed to training a new generation of scholars to carry out engaged transformative social science research. The Arab Council for Social Sciences facilitates, fosters, funds and trains scholars in the social sciences throughout the Arab region.
The key presenter is Dr. Suad Joseph, Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Davis. She has been teaching proposal writing at UC Davis for over 30 years. She has been conducting proposal writing workshops for faculty, graduate students, and NGOs throughout the Middle East, as well as in the USA and Europe for over 15 years.
Workshop Format
The first day of the first seminar is a full day of lectures on proposal writing and research design. Participants will be given assignments to work on each day of the seminar. Day two is organized around lectures and writing groups. Day three will have a combination of brief lectures, and seminar participant presentations on their research projects to the whole seminar for collective feedback. The seminar will cover all the components of a “maximal” research proposal (most of the questions that funders typically ask) and train participants to tailor the maximal proposal into a “targeted” proposal to submit to specific funders. The seminar includes intensive lectures which present the components of a research proposal, data collection, data analysis, and report/dissertation/article writing. Seminars will include writing groups focusing on each participant’s individual proposal. The participants will work on writing a complete proposal, including budgets.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be advanced Arab graduate students, junior scholars, or scholar-activists working in the social sciences, based at universities or national NGOs in the Arab region.
- Applicants must already have a research project they are working on or committed to developing.
Approximately 20 participants will be admitted to the seminar. Seminar participants will be funded for travel to and from Amman, Jordan, and for accommodation in Amman, unless they already live there. Lectures are in English; participants must be relatively fluent in spoken and written English. Please bring your laptops if possible.
Application Guidelines and Deadline
To apply for the seminar, please complete the application form. Answer the questions on the application form precisely in the space provided. Email your complete application to Suad Joseph (sjoseph@ucdavis.edu) & (afwg@ucdavis.edu) by no later than October 31, 2017.
Accepted applicants are required to read the following documents BEFORE the workshop
- Components of a Humanities and Social Science Research Proposal
- Ten Tips for Proposal Writing
- The Art of Proposal Writing
These documents are available on this page.