International Convening on Higher Education Capacity Enhancement

As a close-out event for the PERKA project, a high-level convening on early-career researcher development in the post-PhD phase was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from 6 to 7 December 2022. The convening aimed to facilitate conversations about the development of early-career researchers across Africa in the post-PhD phase. 

The six sessions included facilitated conversations focusing on topics such as challenges and opportunities associated with the early-career research phase; the design, planning, and implementation of high-impact programmes; funding these programmes; and understanding the impact of post-PhD programmes via effective monitoring and evaluation. The details of the sessions are outlined in the convening programme. All the presentations from the event can be found here.

The convening cumulated with the launch of a key output from the PERKA project – a set of guidelines based on the lessons learned throughout the PERKA project. The Designing and Implementing Impactful Post-PhD Support Programmes in Africa – Lessons learned from 10 African programmes guidelines intend to provide guidance for and share the experiences of African programmes in implementing such initiatives, describe partnership models for funding, and provide action points and recommendations for enhancing post-PhD support across the continent.