[STS-Africa] Fwd: Funding opportunity for MA

[Gianluca Miscione]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Natasha Vally <natasha.vally at uct.ac.za>
Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2020 16:37:10 +0000
Subject: Funding opportunity for MA
To: "gianluca.miscione at ucd.ie" <gianluca.miscione at ucd.ie>

Dear Gianluca,

I was hoping you could please circulate this call to the STS-Africa
list for a funded MA in the Department of Sociology, UCT - in the
field of STS.

Thanks!
Natasha

Funding: Masters by Research in Sociology
*Deadline extended*: 27th January 2020


The Sociology Department at the University of Cape Town invites MA
applications from suitably qualified candidates to join a research
project onSouth African Social Grants and Digital Technologies.

The project engages the role that science and technology plays in
shaping the social landscape: with a focus on broadening the scholarly
work around South African social assistance. We seek to explore the
implications and politics of the shift of social grant payment and
administration from a private company to the South African Post
Office. Our research asks questions around privatisation, how
efficiency becomes reframed, and the everyday politics of whether and
how payments work.

In 2018, the South African government ostensibly rejected the ongoing
privatisation of social assistance and instituted a payment and
registration system that it would administer through the South African
Post Office and its banking division Postbank. Despite the move, the
state has remained committed to biometric technologies even though
they are associated with malfeasance. Studying shifts in institutional
power can provide particularly rich insight into those processes that
can otherwise be obscured. There is little scholarly material on the
effects, implications, and challenges of the move from CPS to the
SAPO. This moment of transition allows for detailed insight into the
changes being instituted as well as the motivations for maintaining
certain processes. These inquiries are generative since in the
everyday practices of grant delivery, state practice does not just
mirror relations of society, it also creates its own relations and
reinforces others.

Student projects should fall under the broader theme of science and
technology studies (STS) and/or social assistance in South Africa. Our
hope is that the successful student will engage in creative,
ethnography-inspired research methodologies.

The value of the scholarship is R100, 000 per annum (Plus R17 000 for
running costs)



Eligibility and requirements

Excellent Honours result.
The bursary can only be allocated to a student registered for a
Master’s by full research dissertation.
Preference will be given to black South African applicants.


Successful candidates must:

Register in the Sociology Department and commence research in 2020.
Be willing to conduct research on themes identified above.
Be willing to support other researchers who are part of the project.
Be willing to present their work at seminars, workshops and conferences, and
Prepare a paper for publication in a peer-reviewed journal by end of
the programme.


Funding will be provided for two years but continuation of funding in
the second year (2021) will be dependent on the submission of a
satisfactory progress report by 31 October 2020.



Interested applicants must submit their applications to
natasha.vally at uct.ac.za with a subject line: 2020 MA Funding
Application.



The application package should include the following:

A cover letter explaining how your research interests fit with the project;
A brief concept paper of not more than 1000 words outlining proposed
research project, its relevance, and work plan;
A detailed and up to date curriculum vitae with contact details of at
least two academic referees;
Latest academic transcript.
Conditions of the Award: While, in principle, prospective recipients
are not prohibited from receiving other funding, all such funding
(applied for and/or received) must be disclosed at the time of
application and the total value must not exceed the UCT maximum limit
allowed for Master’s students in 2020.

Closing date for receipt of applications: 27 January, 2020



Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed.
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-- 

Kind regards,
Gianluca

Gianluca Miscione
University College Dublin
http://www.ucd.ie/cito/members/gianlucamiscione


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