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Call for Applications: Dorcas Muthoni PhD Fellowship 2024

April 23, 2024

Application Deadline: May 2, 2024

The Dorcas Muthoni PhD Fellowship 2024 is now open for applications. This fellowship honors Dorcas Muthoni, a Kenyan engineer and entrepreneur who was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa by a university in Spain in recognition of her contributions to the advancement of engineering studies among young women in Africa, youth mentoring, and her social commitment to the fight against poverty.

This fellowship aims to support gender equality and high-quality education, with a particular emphasis on African women. It is in line with the university’s institutional commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Call for Applications: Dorcas Muthoni PhD Fellowship 2024

The PhD Fellowship in Dorcas Muthoni honors our Doctor Honoris Causa Dorcas Muthoni. On December 15, 2017, our university awarded Dorcas Muthoni, a Kenyan engineer and entrepreneur who founded and serves as CEO of OpenWorld, its highest honor for her noteworthy contributions to the advancement of engineering studies among young women in Africa, youth mentoring, and her social commitment to the fight against poverty.

The Dorcas Muthoni PhD Scholarship intends to support gender equality and high-quality education, with an emphasis on African women. It is in line with our university’s institutional commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

This PhD Fellowship opened for applications in two editions: one in 2018 and the other in 2020. We are glad to present our 2024 third edition.

The following are the fellowship’s primary goals:

To encourage gender parity and help close the gender gap in ICT by removing obstacles that prevent more women from pursuing professions in STEM fields and encouraging more women to pursue careers in science, technology, and engineering.
To impart top-notch research findings to female African academics pursuing doctorates. More than 20 research groups in our ICT department are actively involved in worldwide research initiatives, and we are the only engineering university department in Spain to have received the Maria de Maeztu seal of Spanish research excellence twice. The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness funds the four-year Maria de Maeztu Strategic Research Program, which aims to advance artificial and natural intelligence for ICT and beyond both within our university’s Engineering ICT department and elsewhere.
To make a contribution to the social influence of Africa in the future. After completing their PhD studies, the candidates are expected to return home to Africa in order to pursue careers in information and communication technology there.

Fellowship for Call for Applications: Dorcas Muthoni PhD Fellowship 2024

They offer a predoctoral contract with a minimum gross monthly salary of 1, 470.98 Euros for the 1^st and 2^nd year, and a gross monthly salary of 1,576.05 Euros for the 3^rd
PRC includes a teaching assistance load of 45 hours per academic year. These teaching hours are a compulsory pre-requisite to be able to enter the fellowship selection process.
The fellowship will also include a startup/Landing Fund to facilitate the fellow’s initial expenditure. The fund will be for the amount of 2,500 Euros.
The “Dorcas Muthoni” fellowships/PRC include the annual tutorship fees, but neither the administrative fees nor the fees for validations of degrees issued by a university outside the European higher education area (EHEA) without homologation.

Evaluation Criteria

Outstanding academic background of the applicant.
Motivation letter: expected contributions to advance gender equality in ICT for candidates. Expected social and economic effects in the future.

Eligibility Criteria for Call for Applications: Dorcas Muthoni PhD Fellowship 2024

This PhD fellowship seeks doctoral applications from talented African female students (only African nationality applicants will be considered) with strong research interests.
Candidates for PhD positions must hold an M.Sc degree or equivalent.

Research Areas for Call for Applications: Dorcas Muthoni PhD Fellowship 2024

Research Areas: PhD candidates will pursue one of the department’s ICT Research Areas, which include: Artificial Intelligence and Theoretical Computer Science, Natural Language Processing, Computation and Robotics, Cognitive Multimedia Technologies, Image Processing and Computer Vision, Sound and Music Computing, Human-Computer Interaction, Graphics and Educational Technologies, Network Technologies and Strategies, Wireless Communications, Cybersecurity, Information Theory and Coding, Computational Neuroscience, Instrumentation and Biomedical Electronics, Computational Imaging and Computational Physiology, Analysis of Biomedical Data, and Non-Linear Signal Analysis.

Application for Call for Applications: Dorcas Muthoni PhD Fellowship 2024

Applications must be submitted by May 2, 2024, at 23:59 hours Central European Time (CET), for the Dorcas Muthoni Fellowship (details in point 2 below) and the UPF-ICT PhD program (details in point 1 below).

Application for the Ph.D. program in ICT at UPF (with a letter of support from a possible DTIC @ UPF supervisor)

Kindly carefully review the eligibility requirements found on this website.
It is mandatory to provide a letter of support from your prospective DTIC supervisor with your application.
Please fill out this application for UPF’s PhD program in ICT.

Application for PhD Fellowship in Dorcas Muthoni

Fill out this application form completely to be considered for the Dorcas Muthoni Fellowship.

Motivational letter

The applicant should include an explanation of why she applied for the fellowship as well as the anticipated effects on ICT gender equality and social impact in Africa following the completion of her PhD studies.

Subjects of preference for instruction

Because the contract calls for 45 hours of instructional assistance every academic year. Kindly fill out the attached form by downloading it, filling it out completely, and indicating the subjects you would want to teach from the list of subjects after the form. After completing the form, please make sure your prospective PhD supervisor signs it.