Gender challenges in knowledge production in West Africa

Women early career academics in universities in West Africa face major challenges when it comes to writing and publishing in leading journals in the humanities and social sciences. Structural inequalities in global knowledge production combine with gendered hierarchies in West African universities to constrain women researchers in developing their research independence. Our workshop proposal seeks to address these issues. There will be a six-day writing workshop for sixteen women researchers from West-Africa based universities which will be combined with ongoing mentorship and support in areas of grant writing, public engagement and academic networking. A concluding workshop will also provide an opportunity to share our research with wider audiences, bringing the voices of women early career researchers to critical debates in the humanities and social sciences. Over the course of the award each of the early career researchers will submit two single-authored articles to peer reviewed journals from our target list.

Workshop team: Professor Nitya Rao, University of East Anglia; Dr George Bob-Milliar, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.