Fieldwork Bursaries for PhD Students in Gauteng: Call for Applications – Apply Before 20 October 2025
The Beyond Binaries project, a collaboration between the University of the Witwatersrand School of Social Sciences, IRD—the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development—and IFAS-Research, is inviting applications for ten fieldwork bursaries. Each bursary is valued at R10,000 and is open to current PhD students registered at universities in Gauteng, South Africa.
The bursaries are designed to support the successful completion of doctoral research by contributing to expenses directly linked to fieldwork and ethnographic research, including interviews, participant observation, and focus groups. This is a fieldwork-specific call aimed at strengthening innovative, original research conducted by the next generation of scholars across Africa.
The deadline for applications is 23:59 on Monday, 20 October 2025.
Purpose of the Bursaries
The Beyond Binaries project responds to the limitations of entrenched binaries—north/south, west/rest, civilized/uncivilized—in explaining global challenges. Issues such as climate change, pandemics, authoritarianism, and inequality highlight the inadequacy of binary thinking. Instead, the project focuses on global circuits of influence and exchange, recognising that ideas, practices, and solidarities circulate in multiple directions.
The ultimate goal is to disrupt deficit framings of Africa and Eurocentric models of knowledge production by promoting research that highlights reciprocal, multi-directional flows of knowledge. The bursaries specifically support doctoral students whose work reflects these aims through fieldwork rooted in ethical, inclusive, and decolonial approaches.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must be:
- Registered PhD students at a university based in Gauteng.
- Prepared to complete their funded fieldwork by July 2026.
- Able to travel to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) for events connected with the Beyond Binaries project, including a September 2026 conference on ethics, extraction, and knowledge economies.
- Committed to writing a short paper reflecting on fieldwork experiences, which will later be refined for publication as part of a special issue or collection. Successful applicants will benefit from mentorship, editorial support, and training to help develop their work for publication.
Application Process
Applicants must:
- Complete the online application form (hyperlink provided in the original call). The application should include a fieldwork plan, outlining how the bursary funds will be used, and a reflection on how the research will engage with larger ethical and epistemological questions. If fieldwork is conducted outside South Africa, applicants must also demonstrate how they will comply with the host country’s research approval requirements.
- Submit supporting documents via email to Beth ([email protected]) and Léa ([email protected]):
- A current curriculum vitae (CV).
- A copy of ethics approval paperwork or certificate.
Successful applicants will be notified in early November 2025.
Research Themes
The Beyond Binaries project is organised around three central themes:
- Global circuits of influence and exchange – Rethinking power, hierarchy, and solidarity in global knowledge flows.
- Transformation and decolonisation – Integrating decolonial theory with praxis to move beyond abstraction and towards meaningful change.
- Fieldwork, knowledge, and partnership – Confronting extractive practices, interrogating funding structures, and exploring equitable collaboration.
This bursary call is anchored in the third theme. By funding fieldwork, the project highlights the importance of ethical practices in knowledge production, particularly in African contexts where legacies of extractive research still loom large.
Rationale and Context
Historically, fieldwork in Africa often positioned local participants as “native informants,” relegated to roles as unacknowledged assistants or translators for visiting researchers. While recent decades have seen attempts to move towards equity—through fair compensation, co-authorship, and participatory action research—power imbalances remain deeply entrenched.
The Beyond Binaries project seeks to challenge extractive models by fostering equitable collaboration. It acknowledges that research partnerships are rarely balanced, with funding streams and institutional hierarchies often shaping project priorities and outcomes. Typically, funding is administered from institutions in wealthier countries, leading to dynamics where African researchers are relegated to short-term data collection while northern partners dominate knowledge production and policy influence.
By foregrounding these structural issues, the project encourages a shift from extraction to ethics, from token inclusion to meaningful partnership, and from Eurocentric paradigms to African-led knowledge production.
Outcomes and Expectations
Through this bursary programme, Beyond Binaries aims to:
- Provide practical financial support for PhD students conducting original fieldwork.
- Encourage reflection on ethical practices in research design and implementation.
- Create a platform for Gauteng-based scholars to share experiences and best practices at project events.
- Contribute to a special issue or edited collection that reimagines knowledge economies and decolonial methodologies.
By investing in emerging scholars, the project seeks to lay the groundwork for systemic changes in how research is conducted, funded, and shared.
Conclusion
The Beyond Binaries bursary programme represents a vital opportunity for doctoral students in Gauteng to access funding that supports not only their fieldwork but also their engagement with broader debates on ethics, equity, and decolonisation in research. It provides a platform for the next generation of scholars to challenge entrenched power dynamics and to contribute to reshaping knowledge production in and about Africa.
Applications close on 20 October 2025 at 23:59, and the first cohort of recipients will be announced in early November.
DOWNLOAD THE CALL FOR APLLICATION HERE
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Disclaimer: Global South Opportunities (GSO) is not the funding organization. For any inquiries, please contact the official organization directly. Please do not send your applications to GSO, as we are unable to process them. Due to the high volume of emails we receive daily, we may not be able to respond to all inquiries. Thank you for your understanding.
