Brenda Schmahmann, the SARChI Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture, invites applications for NRF postgraduate scholarships for candidates seeking to study full-time for Ph.D. and MA by research degrees in the visual arts under her supervision, commencing in 2021. She is interested in supporting and supervising candidates whose work 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.
Applicants from designated groups (i.e. who are “African”, “Indian” or “Coloured”) will be at an advantage, as will those who envisage degrees with an exclusive focus on art history and theory. The NRF rules state that, to be eligible, 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 apply for funding for an MA degree. While the NRF allows partial funding to be awarded to others, those who receive full funding must have either achieved a minimum of 75% for the previous degree or must be able to reveal that the net family income of his/her family is no more than R350 000 per annum.
The value of the awards is as follows:
- Full funding for Master of Arts studies: R 167 000 per annum for two years
- Partial funding for Master of Arts studies: R 100 000 per annum for two years
- Full funding for PhD studies: R 175 000 per annum for three years
- Partial funding for PhD studies: R 90 000 per annum for three years