Research Fellowships

The Open A.I.R. project offers Research Fellowships, of between three and six months in duration, for Fellows to live in Cape Town and be based at the University of Cape Town (UCT) IP Law and Policy Research Unit to do work on Open A.I.R. research, outreach and training activities. The Fellowships also include a period of work back in the Fellow's place of residence. Responsibilities for Open A.I.R. Research Fellows can include conducting research on a case study within one or more of the project’s thematic areas, contributing to the development of outreach strategies and training initiatives, and helping to solidify and grow Open A.I.R.’s pan-African network. The Fellows interact closely with Project Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Tobias Schonwetter and Prof. Jeremy de Beer, and with Project Manager Nan Warner, who is based at the UCT IP Unit in the School of Law.

After their time based at project headquarters at UCT, Research Fellows are expected to provide support to Open A.I.R.'s activities in their home countries/regions. For example, Open A.I.R.'s first Research Fellow, Milton Lore of Kenya, after completing his stay in Cape Town, was integral to the successful Open A.I.R. Interim Workshop in his home city, Nairobi, in March 2012.

Fellows are from the African continent and hold a postgraduate degree (master’s or doctorate) in law or another discipline closely connected to intellectual property law, the economics of innovation, and policy. Fluency in English and excellent writing, analytic and communication skills are essential. Proven experience in research, outreach, and training activities is also sought.

You can link up with the Open A.I.R. Research Fellows, and a community of over 50,000 development-oriented experts (many of them working in trade, policy and business-oriented fields in Africa) by joining the Fellows & Friends of Open A.I.R. Group on the Alumniportal Deutschland (hosted by project partner GIZ).