Deadline: 15 September 2019
GEAReD is inviting applications for the first offering of the prestigious Meryl Williams Fellowships to participate in a women’s leadership program, funded by the Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR).
The leadership program will support women in agriculture research and development to enhance their leadership skills and increase their impact through a combination of immersive learning, mentoring, networking and professional development.
The program will involve a variety of activities that take place across a 15-month period from January 2020 to April 2021
Purpose and Structure of the Fellowship Program
- The Fellowship recognizes that women face personal, social and institutional challenges to become effective leaders and have more impact. Fellowship holders will participate in a series of activities designed to increase their management, leadership and professional skills, helping them achieve their career goals and have greater impact in agriculture research and greater influence in agriculture development;
- The focus of the program is to strengthen the agriculture research for development sector of target countries in the Indo-Pacific region. And, through strengthening the R&D sector, to contribute to more effective development of agriculture systems, including the promotion of greater gender equity and social inclusion in agriculture systems and value chains;
- The Fellowship program involves a series of immersive and interactive learning processes where participants share experiences and learn from each other as much as from trainers. Fellows will identify and develop their own management and leadership approaches that reflect their own strengths and also recognize the reality of the social and institutional systems in which they operate. It includes analysis and comparison of the issues and constraints affecting women in the workplace, within and between the institutions and countries of the participating Fellows. This will allow Fellows to identify approaches to navigate constraints and to succeed in their professional development;
- The program also includes a mentoring program, where every Fellow will have a mentor in their own country plus an Australian mentor. The mentors will provide support and guidance to Fellows as they proceed through the program and build their personal development and career development plans;
- The Fellowship program also provides opportunity for additional professional development that is customized to the needs of each Fellow. This professional development might be in a technical research discipline or it might be in subjects such as research management, policy and strategy development. Depending on the Fellows needs and personal circumstances, it might include a placement of 1 to 3 months in a relevant Australian (or other international) institution. Or it might include participation in an international training workshop or conference.
Activities
The Meryl Williams Fellowship supports a 15-month program that includes the following activities:
- The program commences with a two-week immersive workshop in Australia to develop Fellows’ management and leadership skills to assist them to be more effective and have more impact in the agriculture research for development sector. To be held 20th January to 1st February 2020;
- Immediately following the immersive workshop, a six-day Mentoring Orientation Workshop will be held (3rd to 8th February 2020). This workshop brings Fellows and mentors together to explore the mentoring process and agree mentoring plans;
- 15-months of mentoring support from a mentor in their home country plus a mentor in Australia;
- Opportunity to participate in a professional development activity that may be an internship of 1 to 3 months in a relevant institution in Australia (or other country) or other professional development activities such as attendance at a relevant international conference or specific skills training workshops;
- A final five-day workshop to be held in April or May 2021 in Australia. This final workshop will include a scientific writing workshop plus a synthesis of what has been learned through the program.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicant must be a woman who is a citizen or permanent resident of Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos,Papua New Guinea and Vietnam;
- Applicants must be employed in the agriculture research for development sector. This might be as a scientist in an agriculture research and development institute or university. Or it might be as a position that has responsibility for research administration or policy and strategy development, within a research institution or a government department other agency that has responsibility for managing or overseeing agriculture research and development;
- Applicants must have at least a Bachelor degree in a subject relevant to agriculture research and development plus at least 2 years professional experience after their most recent qualification.
- Applicants with Masters or PhD are particularly encouraged to apply;
- Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they have management and leadership potential and that they will be able to apply the skills they develop to have impact in the agriculture research and development sector;
- Applicants must be committed to and available to participate in all activities in the Fellowship program;
- Applicants must provide proof that their employer supports participation in the Fellowship program and that they will release them from employment duties to participate in all the program activities.
How to Apply
Interested Applicants can apply online via given website.
For more information please visit https://www.geared.global/fellowships