Call for Sponsors Africa Journal of Management (AJOM) Junior Faculty Fellowship
I Purpose of Africa Journal of Management(AJOM) Junior Faculty Fellowship
The Africa Academy of Management is seeking sponsors to host an Africa Journal of Management (AJOM) Junior Faculty Fellow (AJOM-JFF) in 2019. The purpose of the Africa Journal of Management (AJOM) Junior Faculty Fellowship is to provide an annual award to a qualified junior (early career) Faculty member from an Africa-based university to attend the Academy of Management (AOM) annual conference or other appropriate international conference to present a paper co-authored with a senior academic from an international business school. The intent of the Fellowship is to assist a junior (early career) academic at an Africa-based university who has published in the Africa Journal of Management (AJOM) or presented a paper at Africa Academy of Management (AFAM) to undertake collaborative research with a senior academic through a mentorship relationship. The goal of the collaboration is a co-authored conference paper presentation and at least one journal article.
II Motivation
There is a continuing challenge to equip early career academics at universities in Africa with the requisite research skills to enhance their ability to produce, present and ultimately publish impactful research about management and business topics in Africa. The support of the Fellowship emanates from a mission to foster an inclusive, collaborative and entrepreneurial learning community dedicated to sharing values, knowledge, and skills to prepare current and future business and management academics to contribute successfully and responsibly to the growth and development of Africa.
The Africa Academy of Management (AFAM) was founded in 2010 as a not-for-profit association of academics and practitioners interested in advancing research and education about management in Africa. Since its founding, AFAM has focused on building a network of management scholars and building research capacity. Its membership is comprised of academics, students, and practitioners in all regions of Africa and the diaspora. In 2016, AFAM became an affiliate of the Academy of Management.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in management knowledge from and about Africa. A number of journals in the field have called for more scholarship from academics and practitioners in Africa about management in Africa and a few journals have emerged that are dedicated to management and business in Africa. Amongst these are the Africa Journal of Management (AJOM) initiated by the Africa Academy of Management in 2014. The journal is published by Taylor & Francis and publishes 4 issues a year. Improving the ability of African academics to prepare and publish quality articles is critical to increasing publications in management and business journals generally and Africa-focused journals in particular.
Despite the increasingly favorable climate for journal articles focused on topics relevant to management and business in Africa, non-Africa-based authors dominate current authorship. The AJOM-JFF aims to redress this situation by equipping junior or early career academics with the skills and competencies to conduct and publish high quality research. Potential benefits to senior academic mentors include: an opportunity to conduct research in an African context, contribution to the development of an early career academic, possibility of a long-term mutually beneficial research partnership, and access to the growing Africa Academy of Management research community.
III Funding Model
As the purpose of the AJOM-JFF is to enable African junior faculty to be mentored by a senior academic, we are seeking sponsorship from international business schools. The sponsorship consists of (1) support and mentoring from a senior academic, and (2) funds to cover the following:
• Participation in an approved quality academic conference with the senior academic:
(i) Return economy class airfare from the applicant’s home country in Africa to
the site of the academic conference
(ii) Accommodation, meals, and per diem for conference attendance dates
• Travel to the sponsoring university of the senior academic to work on a collaborative research project:
(i) Local transportation
(ii) Accommodation, meals, and per diem based on arrangements and
agreement with the sponsoring university.
• Identification of a senior academic mentor who has conducted research on a topic relevant to management in Africa or with a strong interest in pursuing research in this context.
In order to facilitate travel arrangements, the sponsoring international university will donate the funds for funding the AJOM-JFF to the Africa Academy of Management (AFAM) which will administer the funds and facilitate travel bookings on behalf of the participant.
IV Application Process
(1) Call for Applications:
AFAM issues a call for applicants annually. These calls will be sent to junior/early academics who have published in the Africa Journal of Management or submitted and presented completed papers at one of the AFAM biennial conferences. The application must contain the following materials:
a) A 5-page proposal for the research to be undertaken
b) Up-to-date curriculum vitae
c) Statement of how the Fellowship will support his/her academic career
d) Two letters of recommendation
e) A statement of support from the applicant’s university to grant permission for leave to visit the sponsoring university and to attend an identified international conference
(2) Eligibility:
a) Applicants must be a junior Faculty member at a university in Africa. Junior Faculty is defined as academics at the rank of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, or Assistant Professor but must have held a full-time academic position for no more than five years since completing their PhD;
b) employed at an African-based university on a full-time permanent or full-time
contractual basis; and
c) have published an article in the Africa Journal of Management or presented a scholarly
paper of merit at the biennial AFAM conference in the preceding four years.
(3) Application Review:
Applications will be reviewed by a selection panel consisting of 4 persons: a member appointed by the sponsoring university; the editor in chief of the Africa Journal of Management, and two members of the executive committee of AFAM. The selection panel will recommend the successful candidate to the Dean and the senior academic mentor at the sponsoring university for final approval.
(4) Timeline:
The Fellowship timeline can be negotiated with the sponsoring university so as to accommodate both the senior academic and the Fellow’s schedule.
V Fellowship Holder Requirements
The recipient of an AJOM-JFF must adhere to the following requirements:
1. Prepare a research topic and proposal for collaboration with an identified senior academic at an international business school. Work closely with identified senior academic mentor to prepare conference paper and journal article for submission.
2. Participate in the AOM conference or other appropriate conference and visit an international business school for three weeks or more as determined by the sponsoring university.
3. Submit a progress and final detailing achievements and outcomes of the Fellowship
to AFAM.
4. Acknowledge Fellowship funding in all presentations and publications generated through the funding. Acknowledgement should be as follows: “This work was prepared when the author was an Africa Journal of Management Fellow funded by (insert sponsoring university name).”
5. All conference papers and articles generated by the research must include the senior
academic mentor as co-author.
6. The funding received through the Fellowship must be used solely for the research
(and associated activities) approved in the applicants’ application.
7. Research must be presented at a high-quality accredited conference and submitted for publication in the Africa Journal of Management. Conference selection must be approved by the senior Faculty co-author.
VI Monitoring and Evaluation
The Africa Academy of Management will monitor and evaluate the outcomes of the Fellowship to ensure achievements of its purpose.
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