We are pleased to announce a Call for Proposals from political scientists interested in serving as co-leaders for the 7th annual MENA Workshop program. Pending availability of funding, the program will be conducted as a 7-day workshop held at a university or research institute in the spring or summer of 2020, followed by related programming at the APSA Annual Meeting in September 2020.
The deadline for submitting a proposal is Thursday, October 31, 2019. Detailed instructions and proposal guidelines can be found on the Call for Proposals. Proposals should be submitted via the online form. Interested scholars are encouraged to contact menaworkshops@apsanet.org and discuss their ideas in advance of the deadline.
The APSA MENA Workshops are hosted in cooperation with universities and research institutions in the MENA region and led by a team of two scholars based at universities in the Arab world and two scholars based in the US or Europe. Each program is dedicated to a substantive issue in political science, with a unique schedule of lectures, discussions, topical presentations and debates, guest speakers, peer review sessions, professional development seminars, and local field trips. We expect that the mentoring and research feedback provided throughout the workshop will support fellows in submitting their research for publication in international, peer-reviewed journals. The working language of the program is English, though the inclusion of Arabic-language texts is encouraged.
Workshop co-leaders serve as academic directors of the program and are responsible for identifying universities or research institutes in the region to host the workshops, preparing a unique syllabus with readings and discussion sessions, and providing detailed feedback on participants’ research. Co-leaders will review applications and invite up to twenty PhD candidates and post-doctoral researchers from across the Arab world to participate as fellows. In addition to planning and moderating the 7-day workshop, co-leaders will select a small group of fellows to present their research at the 2020 APSA annual meeting and help moderate related programming at the conference.
Program administration and logistics will be led by APSA staff in conjunction with local host partners. Co-leaders will receive an honorarium and related expenses (transportation and lodging) to both the workshop (held in the Arab MENA region) and to the APSA Annual Meeting (held in the USA) will be covered.
Proposal Guidelines
Workshop proposals should be submitted jointly by the four co-leaders (two based in the Arab World and two based in the U.S./Europe). Leadership teams may include a combination of junior (assistant professor) and senior scholars (associate or full professor); however, must include at least one senior scholar with experience advising PhD candidates. Proposals should explain the scope of the professional ties between workshop co-leaders, with preference given to individuals and teams demonstrating previous collaboration.
The proposal should specify, with justification, where the workshop will take place and with which institution. Strong preference will be given to proposals that include one of the MENA-based co-leaders’ institution as host. Local partners must present a welcoming environment for social science research and have the institutional capacity to support a successful workshop, including close linkages to other institutions of higher education and research communities.
Note that unlike past workshop years, the 2020 program will be structured as a single 7-day workshop held in the MENA region, with related programming at the APSA Annual Meeting for a subset of workshop fellows.
Prospective leaders interested in discussing their proposal ideas and/or receiving feedback on a draft proposal are encouraged to reach out to APSA well before the deadline. Please contact menaworkshops@apsanet.org if you have any questions or would like more information about the workshops and/or application process.