WISER | African Trust Infrastructures | Part-time Doctoral Applications

Over the last twenty years WiSER has established itself as the leading interdisciplinary research institute in the Humanities and Social Sciences on the African continent. From 2023, with generous support from Standard Bank, the Institute has established a new chair in African Trust Infrastructures.

We now invite applications for part-time doctoral study from outstanding students from any appropriate discipline.

Students will be expected to research the origins and institutional effects of the digital population registration and finance systems currently under development on the continent. Examples here could include Ethiopia’s new Fayda platform, Kenya’s Huduma Card, or Zimbabwe's Ecocash system. For more on the theoretical questions at stake in this research, please review this document. (Please send questions about the research to keith.breckenridge@wits.ac.za, with the subject including the phrase “ATI application.”)

This is a part-time programme and it will be designed to be compatible with other full time employment. Students will work in a cohort with the Trust team, and participate in the intellectual life of the Institute.

To apply, please submit the following to the Google form on this page. (The application process requires that you make use of a gmail account to upload your documents, but we will keep no record of it.)

• Complete set of course transcripts for each degree
• Curriculum Vitae, including the names and contact details of three academic referees.
• A writing sample of your choice
• A one page description of your interest in this subject.

Closing date for applications: 1 Feb 2024 0:00