Scholarship Opportunity: AGRA PhD scholarships in Soil and Water Management, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
DIRECTORATE OF RESEARCH & POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
REGIONAL PhD PROGRAMME IN SOIL AND WATER MANAGEMENT
ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR APPLICATIONS 2012 – RE-ADVERTIZED
Background:
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) is a Public University established in 1984 with a special focus on better management of agricultural and natural resources for sustainable national development and improvement of livelihoods. SUA is a member of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). Although in recent years SUA has diversified into a range of other academic disciplines including education and social sciences, its core specializations remain in agricultural, rural development, nature and the environment. Over the years SUA has strengthened its standing in this front so much that it has won regional and international appreciation as one of the renowned institutions of specialization in a number of domains including excellence in soil and water management issues.
Sokoine University of Agriculture shares the same opinion with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) that most of the existing PhD programmes in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) region, are mainly conducted by research; hence they lack a broad perspective and have relatively limited analytical rigor and innovativeness compared to PhD programmes with coursework and research. On the basis of its comparative advantage in human and other resources relative to other universities in the region, SUA has developed a 4-year PhD programme with course work and research in the fields of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), Soil Water Management (SWM) and Agricultural Land Resource Planning (ALRP) with effect from January 2010. The candidates will be required to choose and specialize in any one of these areas. Development of the programme and curriculum was done with support from RUFORUM and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA); and in collaboration with other regional stakeholders in the region, whose contributions were essential in addressing common deficiencies in the current postgraduate training curricula in the ECSA region. The training curriculum for this programme is also designed to address the broad perspectives of rural development paradigms and competences for all candidates. This PhD training programme is in line with RUFORUM’s mission that is to strengthen the capacities of universities to foster innovations responsive to demands of small-holder farmers through the training of high quality researchers, the output of impact-oriented research, and the maintenance of collaborative working relations among researchers, farmers, national agricultural research institutions, and governments.
The main goal of this new PhD programme at SUA is to develop and strengthen regional human resources and build institutional capacity in impact oriented research in soil and water management issues. The programme is designed to produce graduates with appropriate skills and knowledge who will be able to carry out and manage agricultural research (in soil health including soil water) and dissemination and adoption (extension) of agricultural technology as part of RUFORUM Network strategic response to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The graduates will be the champions of sustainable land management and reliable soil water management systems who are required to tackle the challenges of increasing and sustaining soil productivity and therefore enhancing food security. The programme goal is therefore in line with AGRA’s main goal which is to enhance human capital for soil health research and extension; and also in line with SCARDA (Strengthening Capacity for Agricultural Research for Development in Africa) programme which targets human resource capacity building at postgraduate levels with broad perspective of development paradigms and competences.
The curriculum of the programme is structured to produce competent graduates who will be able to contribute towards ensuring sustainable food production and sustainable livelihoods in the region through better land use practices. All candidates will be required to take common cross-cutting courses covering research methodologies, scientific writing and presentation skills, climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture; and communication and leadership for development. Based on the research interest, each candidate’s will be required to take courses in any one of the following areas of specialization (modules):
i) Integrated soil fertility management
ii) Soil water management; and
iii) Agricultural land resource management.
NB: All courses related to soil fertility, plant nutrition, crop agronomy, soil health; soil plant-water
relations and soil organic matter dynamics and management are under ‘Integrated soil fertility
management’ module.
Also, the programme provides opportunity for candidates to take courses that have been designed to address agricultural education and extension aspects including Participatory approach methods and development (including soil health research and extension); and courses that will impart entrepreneurship and business management skills to the candidates.
The first year of study will be devoted to taught and examinable courses and research proposal preparation and the rest of time to research and preparation of a dissertation.
Call for applications:
Applications for admission in the next intake into this PhD programme are invited from suitably qualified candidates. We actively encourage applications from suitable female candidates. The new deadline for the applications has been extended to 19th March 2012. Successful candidates will be informed within a week after the deadline, and studies will start in the 1st week of April 2012.
Scholarships:
A limited number of scholarships are available on competitive basis for candidates from Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Qualified women candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. In case of equal qualification, female candidates will be given preference. Candidates with other sources of funding are also encouraged to apply.
Admission requirements and mode of application:
Applicants must have at least M.Sc. in areas of: soil/agricultural/earth/environmental sciences, land and water management, or any other relevant field from a recognized Institution. The potential candidates must fulfil the attached application procedures (PGS 001), fill in the attached application forms (PGS 002). The applicant has to request two referees to fill the Referee Report form (PGS 003). These forms are also available at http://www.suanet.ac.tz/drpgs/application.html. Complete applications must be accompanied by applicant’s CV, copies of degree certificates and transcripts, a motivation letter also indicating area of specialization in soil science. A brief concept note of the expected PhD research will be an added advantage. The application letter should give the applicant’s full name, contact address, telephone/fax number and E-mail address.
Complete applications should be addressed to:
Dr. Abel K. Kaaya,
Regional PhD (Soil and Water Management)
Programme Coordinator Faculty of Agriculture,
Sokoine University of Agriculture
P.O. Box 3001, Morogoro, Tanzania
Applications by e-mails should be sent to: "Abel Kaaya" akaaya@suanet.ac.tz and copied to "Ernest Marwa" emagesa@yahoo.com and "Abel Kaaya" abelkaaya@yahoo.co.uk.
In case of any queries, please contact us through any of these e-mail addresses.
