Inaugural Mastercard Foundation WESAF PhD Cohort
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We are proud to announce that the inaugural cohort of the PhD in Sustainable African Futures has now begun!
This cohort of 24 Mastercard Foundation Wits-Edinburgh Sustainable African Futures (WESAF) Fellows has recently completed an online MScR in Sustainable African Futures at the University of Edinburgh, where they gained research skills needed for doctoral studies. The cohort represents eight different higher education institutions across six different sub-Saharan African countries. The interdisciplinary research interests have a strong focus on sustainability on the African continent and span from mental health to artificial intelligence.
The Wits-Edinburgh Sustainable African Futures Doctoral Programme is a joint PhD program and will be supervised by academics from the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Edinburgh in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. The supervisors come from a diversity of Schools and disciplines, and will help support the development of the Mastercard Foundation WESAF Fellows’ interdisciplinary research ideas over the period of their PhD. Significant effort has been dedicated to aligning policies and processes between the two institutions.
In January 2025, we kicked the PhD off with an orientation session for the Mastercard Foundation WESAF Fellows and their supervisors. Fellows are currently in the process of preparing their research proposals.
We look forward to the upcoming Sustainability School in April 2025. This in-person gathering for the Mastercard Foundation WESAF Fellows and their supervisors in Edinburgh will provide the opportunity for the Fellows to meet with their supervisors from both institutions, socialise, build academic and professional skills, and finalise their research proposals.
We extend our sincere congratulations to our inaugural PhD cohort, and we are excited to see what the coming year has in store for their research ideas and their role in confronting complex challenges for sustainable development.,. We aspire for this work to serve as a model for other joint PhD programs.