The American Political Science Association (APSA) is pleased to announce a Call for Applications from early-career scholars who would like to participate in a four-day in-person workshop that examines the theme of participatory and engaged research in the MENA region. Organized in partnership with the Doha Institute (DI), the fellowship will be held from January 5-8, 2026 at DI in Doha, Qatar. The workshop is part of a multi-year effort to support political science research among early-career scholars in the MENA region and to strengthen research networks linking Arab scholars with their colleagues overseas.
Benefits
The organizers will cover participation costs, including travel, lodging, and materials for up to 20 qualified applicants.
Following their full participation in the fellowship, fellows will receive a one-year membership to APSA. The workshop organizers seek applications for projects that focus primarily on the following sub-themes:
Approaches to participatory research, with discussion of different modes of participatory research, the questions they can (and can’t) answer, and how to ground them in academic debates.
Real-world examples of successful participatory and/or engaged research projects.
The promises and pitfalls of survey research in the MENA.
The challenges of integrating diverse data sources (key-informant interviews, focus groups, survey data, participant observation).
Reflections on research collaborations, with discussion of philosophical, ethical, and pragmatic considerations beyond formal ethics review.
Reflection on positionality on and off the page and how it relates to political science research.
Applications are open to advanced doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career scholars (those who received their PhDs within the past 5 years), as well as early-career PhDholding practitioners who are citizens of countries in the MENA region.
The fellowship is tailored for scholars in political science and other social science disciplines including peace and conflict studies, international studies, development studies, and adjacent fields undertaking research that seeks to consciously employ participatory and engaged research methods in the MENA region, particularly those working on projects that use in-country fieldwork, rely on original data collection, and explore methodological, ethical, and practical challenges of social science research in applied settings.
For advanced graduate students and early-career scholars: a research statement (2,000 words maximum) describing the work-in-progress you plan to discuss at the workshop. This statement should outline your research question(s), a brief literature review, the methods used and/or your plans for data-collection/fieldwork, the project’s (anticipated) contribution(s) to the field, and how it relates to the workshop theme(s). The research project should not be any part of a co-authored project and should not be an excerpt from a work that is already completed or accepted for publication. Research projects currently in-progress (i.e., at the proposal stage, data collection/analysis stage, or writing stage) will be accepted. Submissions may be derived from a dissertation project if it fits the workshop theme.
For PhD-holding practitioners: a cover letter (maximum 1,500 words) describing your motivation to attend the program, current research interests and methodologies, and how this training will benefit your professional development and/or future research plans. If applicable, please include a description of your current or planned applied research project(s), outlining the research questions, methods employed for data collection, and how your work aligns with the workshop themes.
One letter of reference on official letterhead and scanned as electronic file. If you are a graduate student, the letter should be from your dissertation/academic supervisor. If you are a postdoctoral fellow, faculty member, or a PhD-holding practitioner, the letter may come from a former dissertation supervisor, a colleague at your home institution, a university official, or an employer.
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