Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Human Capital Development Project
Call for Expression of Interest
For over 35 years, the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) has made remarkable strides in capacity building, advancing research, and graduate training to shape African economic policies. AERC’s mandate and strategic mission are founded on the belief that sustained development in Sub-Saharan Africa necessitates well-trained, locally-based professional economists. AERC is a highly integrated knowledge organization spanning research, training, and policy outreach with a vast network of universities, policymakers, researchers, educators, and international resource persons. The technical workshop will provide a unique opportunity to connect with this diverse group of professionals.
In line with its mission to build and strengthen capacity and generate policy-relevant economics research for informed policymaking on the continent, guided by rigor and evidence, AERC is organizing a technical workshop on panel and time series econometrics funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Human Capital Development (HCD) Project. The technical workshop aims to improve the researchers’ competency and provide an exciting learning opportunity, fostering growth and development. It supports informed policymaking in these countries by building the analytical capacity of researchers to conduct rigorous and policy-relevant research. It also aims to enhance the quality of the methodological execution and results obtained in their data analysis. The hybrid workshop will take place from 23 September to 4 October 2024 with physical and online participants.
The technical workshop will cover a comprehensive range of practical topics, ensuring the participants are well-equipped and prepared for their research. These topics include practical applications of time series and panel data, time series models and estimation methods, innovation in time series models, AI and ML in economics and econometrics, catastrophic modeling (within financial econometrics), economic forecasting, spatial econometrics, and Bayesian econometrics. Panel data: static models, dynamic models with short or long time series dimension, nonlinear panel models, synthetic control and inference, Bayesian Treatments for Panel Data Stochastic Frontier models.
Interested network members are hereby invited to respond to the call to express interest. A CV and a brief motivational statement should accompany the expression of interest.
To be eligible, one must satisfy the following criteria:
- Must have at least a PhD Degree in economics from a recognized university
- Must have submitted or plans to submit a project proposal under the AERC thematic research OR have an ongoing thesis (CPP) at the analysis stage.
- Provide a personal statement (of 500-1000 words) describing why they would like to take part in the technical workshop and indicate whether they have any experience of analyzing data using software (e.g. EXCE, STATA, R, EViews, or any other statistical package); and skills they expect to get at the end of the training).
Eligible females are encouraged to apply. Those who have participated in previous similar courses (in the last four years) do not qualify to apply.
The deadline for receiving the expression of interest is August 23, 2024. The expression of interest should be sent by email to research@aercafrica.org. Successful applicants will hear from the AERC secretariat by September 6, 2024.
Project Timelines
The breakdown of the timeline is as follows:
- 23 August 2024: Close of submissions.
- 6 September 2024: Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their Expressions of Interest.
- 23 September -4 October 2024: Panel and Time Series Technical Workshop