J-PAL’s MENA Scholars Fellowship 2026 for Researchers ($15,000 stipend) – YOA

Deadline: March 26, 2026

Applications are open for the J-PAL’s MENA Scholars Fellowship 2026. The MENA Scholars Fellowship creates a pathway for MENA area-primarily based researchers to construct expertise and expertise to design and conduct randomized evaluations of poverty discount and social improvement insurance policies and packages.

Over a two-yr fellowship, chosen students will construct networks, have entry to mentorship from the J-PAL affiliate community, take part in a devoted coaching program, and have the OPPORTUNITY to contribute to a randomized analysis with J-PAL MENA.

With help from Community Jameel and the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, the MENA Scholars Fellowship helps early profession researchers and students eager about increasing their analysis portfolio to incorporate randomized evaluations. Cohorts of MENA Scholars Fellows will assist form J-PAL MENA’s analysis portfolio and strengthen the native grounding and coverage affect of affect evaluations throughout the area.

Program Components

The fellowship consists of eight parts:  

• Work on randomized analysis: Fellows will work on a randomized analysis with a J-PAL affiliate, J-PAL MENA employees (for evaluations in Egypt), and implementing companions, studying about and experiencing the lifecycle of an affect analysis.
• Mentoring: Fellows will probably be paired with a mentor from the J-PAL affiliate community, J-PAL MENA Scientific Directors, or J-PAL MENA Post-Doctoral Fellows.
• Networking: Fellows will probably be a member of their cohort and a rising community of MENA Scholars Fellows, and can be a part of a bigger worldwide community of Scholars Fellows in different areas, along with gaining access to the J-PAL MENA community.
• Education: Fellows will enroll in and full two MIT MicroMasters on-line programs to construct expertise in randomized analysis design, econometric evaluation, and different associated areas.
• Capacity Building: Supplemental coaching focused on the cohort of Fellows will probably be delivered by J-PAL MENA publish-doctoral fellows and employees, centered on distinctive features of randomized evaluations within the MENA area, private web site improvement, proposal writing, and to supply deeper technical coaching.
• Media protection: Fellows can have the chance to obtain steerage from J-PAL and a public relations agency to extend media protection of their analysis and coverage implications.
• Event participation: Fellows will probably be invited to current and take part at J-PAL MENA coverage occasions within the area alongside J-PAL affiliated professors and management.
• Evaluation Design Project: Fellows can have the chance within the second yr of the fellowship to design their very own randomized analysis on a subject of their curiosity within the MENA area and with steerage from their mentors. 

Benefits

• Each Fellow will obtain a USD$15,000 stipend over the 2-yr fellowship interval. Stipends will help Fellows’ participation and dedication to fellowship program actions.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Fellowship, candidates should meet the next necessities:

• Candidates needs to be specialised in Economics and/or related disciplines (corresponding to public coverage, political science, public well being, statistics, and so forth.)
  • Track 1 – PhD Students: This observe is open for candidates which can be presently pursuing a PhD in economics or a associated self-discipline.
    • It consists of these whose nationalities are from the MENA area and are enrolled in PhD packages at universities in or exterior the MENA area.
  • Track 2 – Academic students: This observe is open for candidates who’ve accomplished a PhD in economics or a associated self-discipline and are affiliated with a MENA tutorial establishment.
• High-level of proficiency (fluent or native) in Arabic and English.
• Proficiency in Stata or R are extremely beneficial.
• Fellows ought to manifest an curiosity in affect analysis in coverage points associated to poverty alleviation and improvement within the MENA area.
• Candidates ought to be capable of contribute to analysis initiatives associated to utilized microeconomics and poverty alleviation in sectors corresponding to schooling, well being, local weather change amongst others. Candidates should be eager on operating randomized evaluations (however not essentially have prior expertise conducting them). Candidates needs to be motivated and arranged to work independently, and to ship on their tasks as part of a multi-yr analysis mission group.
• The candidate have to be dedicated to finishing all fellowship actions with J-PAL MENA for the period of the fellowship and actively collaborating in alternatives afforded through the fellowship.

Application

Each candidate should full this application type and supply a resume and a canopy letter explaining their motivation behind making use of for the fellowship.

Click here to apply

For extra info, go to J-PAL’s MENA Scholars Fellowship.