Call for Applications for the Afrocentric and Decolonial Social Work Mentoring Project

Show Table of Contents

Hide Table of Contents

About the project
Application to become a mentee
Project team
Contacts for further information
Project Partners

About the project

Full title

Enhancing the Capacity of Early Career Researchers (ECR’s) to Contribute to Afrocentric and Decolonial Social Work Knowledge Production

Abstract

Afrocentric and decolonial scholarship is lacking in mainstream social work. This collaborative project between universities from South Africa, Kenya, the United Kingdom and Australia seek to enhance African and decolonial knowledge production in social work by building the capacity of 15 early-career researchers (ECR) mainly from low-income countries in Africa.

Drawing on harambee which means pulling together for the improvement of society, we will promote contextually grounded knowledge production through collaborative multi-generational mentoring. Existing networks [Association of Schools of Social Work in Africa (ASSWA), the Africa Social Work and Development Network (ASWDNet)] in Africa and globally (IASSW, IFSW and ICSD) will be harnessed to establish multi-generational mentoring teams. After the teams are established, a four-day research and writing clinic will be done in June, tentatively in Nairobi, Kenya to enhance publication skills of selected mentees. The post-workshop stage will include input from journal editors to enhance publication success. The outputs will be intensive publication training of ECR’s and journal articles ready for publication.

This project is supported by the British Academy’s International Writing Workshops 2026 Programme, supported under the UK Government’s International Science Partnerships Fund, Grant Number IWW25100673.

Application to become a mentee

Participants for this mentoring program will be ECRs within 4 years of PhD completion and will be from Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia . Another requirement is a qualification in social work or equivalent, for example, social development or development administration.

Applications for mentee positions are due on 20th of May 2026 at 5pm Central Africa Time. Interviews will be done in June 2026 online. Please fill in and submit the form below before the due date.

← Back

Thank you for your submiting an application for Afrocentric Mentoring project

Thank you for an interest in becoming a mentee for the Afrocentric and Decolonial Social Work Mentoring project. You will hear from us soon.

Full Name

What is your gender?

WhatsApp Phone Number

Country – applicants are required from these countries. Please select your country.

Your position/affiliation and institution

Date your PHD was granted – please specify the actual date. The project is for applicants within 3-4 years of their PhD. (YYYY-MM-DD)

Your resume, profile or curriculum vitae

Have you published from your PhD? List the publications in the box.

Motivation Statement to support your selection to the program (1-2 paragraphs, including relevance to your career goals)

During the mentoring you will work on a piece of data suitable for publishing an article. Describe the data that you have to work on during the mentoring?

Information about ethics approval for this data

Are you available on these dates and meetings?(required)

29th June to 1st of July 2026 – Nairobi conference May 2026 for an interview To meet at least once a month with a mentor For adhoc group meetings during the period of the project

We are committed to selecting candidates who may miss this opportunity because of care responsibilities and disability. Do you have any such responsibilities or disability? What support would you need to overcome them if selected for this program?

Do you have anything else to say?

If your application is selected, you will be invited to an interview. In the interview, you will be asked to:

Show the data or draft manuscript that you have.
Reconfirm your availability for required activities (e.g., writing retreats, seminars, peer‑review sessions).
Confirm your willingness to engage in collaborative feedback processes and meet submission deadlines.
Confirm your availability to the project over its 2-year period.
Submit a full CV or resume.

Project team

Prof. Shahana Rasool, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Dr. Rugare Mugumbate, University of Wollongong, Australia; University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Dr. Sharlotte Tusasiirwe, Western Sydney University, Australia
Dr. Ntandoyenkosi Maphosa, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Prof. Panagiotis Pentaris, Goldsmith University of London, United Kingdom
Dr. Phyllis Muraguri, The Technical University of Kenya (TUK), Kenya