This call is for candidates seeking NRF scholarships to fund PhD and MA studies in the visual arts under the supervision of Prof Brenda Schmahmann, the SARChI Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture, in 2023.

Prof Schmahmann is interested in supporting and supervising visual art candidates whose envisaged research fits broadly within one of the following research rubrics:

• Gender and Visual Culture
• Public Art, Curation and the Politics of Representation in the Public Domain
• Art and Design in the Context of Community Projects.

The NRF rules state that, to be eligible for a scholarship, an applicant must have obtained at least 65% for his or her prior degree. He or she may be no more than 32 years at the time of applying for funding for a PhD and no more than 30 years at the time of applying for funding for an MA degree. Candidates must be from designated groups (i.e. ‘African’, ‘Coloured’ or ‘Indian’).

While the NRF allows partial funding to be awarded to others, a candidate who receives full funding must be a South African citizens who has either achieved a minimum of 75% for the previous degree (or will do so for a degree he/she is completing in 2022) or must be able to reveal that the net family income of his/her family is no more than R350 000 per annum or must be living with a disability.

The value of the awards is as follows:

• Full funding for Master of Arts studies: R162 900 per annum for two years (+R10 000 study device)
• Partial funding for Master of Arts studies: R105 900 per annum for two years
• Full funding for PhD studies: R170 430 per annum for three years (+R10 000 study device)
• Partial funding for PhD studies: R94 430 per annum for three years