The NIHSS has partnered with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) to develop the African Pathways Doctoral Scholarship Programme. The aim of the scholarship is in line with the mandates of the Institute and Council to promote and facilitate research in the humanities and social sciences, as well as to explore new vistas in pan-African scholarship.

A Doctoral Scholarship Call is opened to suitably qualified non-South African students to study full time towards a doctoral degree in the humanities and social sciences at any public university in South Africa. The scholarship programme is open to students whose research is focused on their country or a comparative study on the following broad themes:

• Pre and post-colonial states, institutions and local experiences  
• Histories and legacies of liberation struggles
• Regional integration, new development and economic alternatives
• International political economy and the role of African humanities
• Heritage, identity and culture (including literature, performance, art and musicology)