Session 4: Practical Insights on Accessing Global Fellowships & Awards

Facilitators: Dr Judith Ani; Dr Victoria Okafor; Dr Romanus Osabohien; and Dr Esther Folarin

This session will feature the following:

• Identifying the Right Fellowship or Award
• Crafting a Competitive Application
• Understanding the Selection Criteria
• Leveraging Networking and Mentorship
• Navigating the Application Timeline
• Overcoming Challenges in the Application Process
• Maximizing the Benefits of Fellowships and Awards
• Case Studies and Success Stories

Dr. Judith Ani is a postdoctoral fellow at Walter Sisulu University, South Africa.  She also serves as the Chief Operations Officer/Director of Research at Inspire World International Foundation, Abuja, Nigeria and leads Partnerships and Programmes at DePECOS Institutions and Development Research Centre (DIaDeRC), Ota, Nigeria. With research interests in health, gerontology, gender, migration, food security and climate change, she has received awards for her impactful research, contributing to several funded projects, the most recent being the prestigious 2023 African-German Network of Excellence in Science (AGNES) Grant, funded by BMZ (German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) and AvH (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation). Passionate about evidence-based research, she aims to address Africa’s social and health challenges for sustainable development.

Dr Victoria Okafor Is a development economist with experience in macroeconomic and microeconomics analysis. Her research entails addressing developmental challenges such as poverty and inequality in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. She is adept in using analytical tools like Stata and E-views to produce and explore data. She currently works as a consultant in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice of the World Bank, where she provides analytical and research support on poverty measurements in Nigeria and, at the same time, contribute to classifying urban and rural poverty numbers in Nigeria. She holds a lecturership position at Covenant University, Ota, where she had her Masters and Doctorate degrees. She is a 1st Class Economics graduate from Landmark University.

Dr. Romanus Osabohien is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Energy Policy and Research (IEPRe), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Kajang, Malaysia. Also, he is the publications lead at DePECOS Institutions and Development Research Centre (DIaDeRC), Nigeria. He is a consultant and reviewer for Global Environmental Outlook 7th Edition (GEO-7), the flagship report of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). Dr Osabohien has executed funded projects both individually and collaboratively. He is an author, reviewer and editorial board member for rated journals such as Elsevier (Heliyon) – Economics, where he serves as an Associate Editor.

Dr Esther Folarin is an assistant professor working as a research associate at Warwick University, UK, and a lecturer at CECOS College, London. She holds a Ph.D in Economics from Covenant University and a Masters in Monetary and Labour Economics from the University of Lagos. She is a professional Lecturer and a member of the National Economic Society (NES), the Canadian Economics Association (CEA) and the Royal Economic Society (RES). She has almost a decade of lecturing experience and commitment to research within international development, economics, and the Global South political economy.

Outcome

The Live Recorded Session on YouTube is embedded herein: