The American Political Science Association (APSA) is pleased to announce a Call for Applications from early-career scholars who would like to participate in a four-day in-person workshop that examines the theme of participatory and engaged research in the MENA region. Organized in partnership with the Doha Institute (DI), the program will be held from January 5-8, 2026, at DI in Doha, Qatar.
The organizers will cover participation costs, including travel, lodging, and materials for up to 20 qualified applicants. Following their full participation in the program, fellows will receive a one-year membership to APSA.
The deadline for applications is Sunday, September 14, 2025.
The workshop is part of a multi-year effort to support political science research among early-career scholars in the MENA region and to strengthen research networks linking Arab scholars with their colleagues overseas. More information on APSA’s MENA programming can be found online here: MENA | APSA MENA Workshops.
Eligible Participants
Applications are open to advanced doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career scholars (those who received their PhDs within the past 5 years), as well as early-career PhD holding practitioners who are citizens of countries in the MENA region. The program is tailored for scholars in political science and other social science disciplines—including peace and conflict studies, international studies, development studies, and adjacent fields—undertaking research that seeks to consciously employ participatory and engaged research methods in the MENA region, particularly those working on projects that use in-country fieldwork, rely on original data collection, and explore methodological, ethical, and practical challenges of social science research in applied settings. Priority will be given to scholars currently based at universities or research institutes in the region. Professional fluency in English is required.
Workshop Theme
The workshop will be led by Drs. Lara Khattab (Doha Institute), Stacey Philbrick Yadav (Hobart and William Smith), Sarah E. Parkinson (Johns Hopkins University), and Ammar Shamaileh (Doha Institute). Together with selected workshop fellows, co-leaders will focus on enhancing social scientific interest in participatory and engaged scholarship in the MENA region. This workshop builds on growing interest in the methodological, practical, and ethical questions that arise from the use of political science research in non-academic or academic-adjacent contexts. An increasing number of political scientists practice or will practice forms of participatory and/or engaged research over the course of their careers (see, e.g., Bullock and Hess 2021).
For some, this might entail working as an expert consultant for an intergovernmental agency or national government. For others, it can mean full-time employment as researchers for civil society, advocacy organizations, or other community-based organizations and social movements. Few graduate programs integrate this reality into the way they teach research methods or ethics. Political science graduate students need to seek out such training; yet many may not even realize they will need it until they find themselves in applied research settings.
Learn more: MENA | APSA MENA Workshops
Apply here: https://apsa.wufoo.com/forms/z14bkm9h1y8rafd/