CALL FOR APPLICATIONS – 15 PhD Positions for Early Stage Researchers

Within the ADAPTED project, 15 PhD positions for Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) who are interested in working on the projects overall research focus "Eradicating Poverty: Pathways towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals" are now open for applications.

The ESR positions will be located at the ADAPTED partner universities and will include a six months research period at a second university for the purpose of getting awarded a European Joint Doctorate. ADAPTED is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network project funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Application documents can be submitted until 31 March 2021. Detailed information about open positions and the application procedure is available via EURAXESS and the ADAPTED website.

UWC Centres of Excellence training workshop on the new DigiFace digital teaching and learning platform

Ruth Knoblich, DAAD Lecturer in Development Research at UWC reports on the UWC Centres of Excellence training workshop in December 2020:

In the first week of December 2020, the two UWC DAAD Centres of Excellence – the South African-German Centre for Development Research SA-GER CDR and the South African German Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice TRANSCRIM – took part in a training workshop on the use of the new DigiFace digital teaching and learning platform. Colleagues from Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, who are managing partners of the DigiFace project, organized and run the training workshop in a venue close to Cape Town.

Read more: UWC Centres of Excellence training workshop on the new DigiFace digital teaching and learning...

Selection Results for the intake 2021

Dear applicants!

The selection for MA and PhD scholarships for the intake 2021 took place and if you have not been informed yet, your selection was not successful.

Individual selection result letters will be sent during the next 2 weeks! We wish you all the best for your future career!

The deadline of the Call for scholarship applications for the intake 2021 expired!

The deadline of the Call for Masters and PhD scholarship applications for the intake 2021 expired!

The new Call for applictions for the intake 2022 will only be announced in April 2021.

Please understand that all applications which were submitted after the expirement of the deadline are not eligible and that applications can only be submitted during an open Call.

Alumni Conference in Berlin/Germany canceled for 2020!

Due to the Corona Crisis, the 2020 #Alumni Conference "Implementing the SDGs – Practical Challenges, Creative Solutions and Best Practices for Knowledge Transfer and Policy Learning" planned to take place in Berlin from 27- 30 July was canceled. The colleagues are trying to postpone the conference to 2021. We will keep you informed about any news in this regard later this year.

Read more: Alumni Conference in Berlin/Germany canceled for 2020!

Welcome to two new scholarship holders!

In 2020, two new scholarship holders commenced their studies at our Centre! Out of about 500 applicants the selection committee chose Kenechukwu Ikebuarko from Nigeria for the PhD Development Studies and Eric Nordjo from Ghana for the MA Public Administration. Both were welcomed by our coordinator at UWC, Freda Philander.

From left to right: Eric Nordjo, Freda Philander and Kene Ikebuako

Digitalization-Kick-off: New Digital Infrastructure for the Network of the DAAD Centres of Excellence

On March 3-6, 2020 the Kick-off Meeting of the new digitalization project DigiFace took place at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth. DigiFace – short for “Digital Initiative for African Centres of Excellence” – is a new project funded by DAAD that aims at supporting and facilitating higher education learning and research at all DAAD African Centres of Excellence. DigiFace is setting-up tools and facilities for digital learning and knowledge exchange with the help of a central interactive digital platform. The project is going to strengthen the Centres’ digital learning, teaching and research competencies as well as the networking among all the Centres – between all institutions involved, between staff, students, and alumni.

More information on the project can be found here on the Website!

The Kick-off meeting was the official starting-point of the new project. Delegates from all the currently 10 Centres as well as from the Centres’ Alumni Network gathered in order to exchange on the current statuses of digital infrastructure, the needs and expectations with regard to such an all comprising new digital network, the opportunities and challenges for its implementation as well as on the next steps to go.

The SA-GER CDR was represented by Lance Scheepers (Information Systems ISD), Enayat Hamza (Programme Manager: Training and Consultancy at the SoG), and Ruth Knoblich (DAAD Lecturer in Development Research at the SA-GER CDR).

RUB Management visited SA-GER CDR

Accompanied by DAAD’s secretary general, Dr. Dorothea Rüland, RUB’s Rector, Prof. Dr. Axel Schölmerich and Chancellor, Dr. Christina Reinhardt, visited the DAAD funded South African-German Centre for Development Research (SA-GER CDR) as part of an information visit of management members of German universities.

At CDR they met our DAAD lecturer Ruth Knoblich, CDR steering committee member Prof. Julian May as well as further staff members and Alumni of the centre.

New Centre graduates from the "Bochum Programme"

Finally, it is done! We are happy to welcome new graduates to the alumni network of the SA-GER CDR. 12 students from the "Bochum Programme of Development Management" (MADM) obtained their Master's degree. They received their graduation certificates on Saturday, 30th of November. Earlier that week, they had successfully defended their master theses on interesting topics like innovation hubs, certification of cocoa farmers, and survival strategies of street traders (just to name some of them).

Our graduates now pursue new goals. Most of them chose the opportunity to strive for a second (UWC) MA degree and then will head for the practical area. We wish our graduates all the best for their future career and trust that they will find exciting positions! We are looking forward to hear from our alumni soon.

New Journal Article by two MADM Alumni

Nardos Legesse Beyene, Alumnus of IEE’s MA in Development Management, together with Prof. Mulugeta F. Dinbabo, also IEE Alumnus and nowadays Acting Director of the Institute for Social Development, IEE’s partner institution at the University of the Western Cape/South Africa, published an article on

An Empirical Evaluation of the Link between Women Participation in Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia

Read more: New Journal Article by two MADM Alumni