2026 Democratic Governance Institute — Migration Governance: Rethinking Mobility and Democratic Agency in Africa

CODESRIA's institutes combine funded residency with structured intellectual training: laureates arrive with a research paper, work on it across two weeks with senior resource persons, and leave with a revised paper and a route to publication. This year's theme is migration governance and democratic agency, held in Lagos in partnership with the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana. This is the continent's own social science council funding African scholars directly, with no Northern partner anywhere in the structure.

Open to academics, academically inclined policy actors and researchers in African universities and research centres. Laureate places are for PhD candidates and early-career African scholars; resource-person places are for senior scholars with at least two relevant publications. No nationality or institutional-membership restriction is stated, so a Malawian academic at a public university is eligible to apply.

Apply through https://apply.codesria.org/. Laureates submit an application form, application letter, institutional affiliation letter, CV, a ten-page research proposal, two reference letters and a copy of the passport. Resource persons submit a letter, CV, two published papers and a five-page lecture proposal.

Timeline: Applications close 31 August 2026 | Notification by 11 September 2026 | Draft papers due 18 September 2026 | Institute 28 September to 9 October 2026, Lagos