Scholarships & funding

CoSS PhD Scholarship – Agricultural cooperatives and market supply chains

The PhD is jointly supervised at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), with support from the non-academic partner Just Trading Scotland (JTS).

As in many African countries, agriculture in Malawi represents 34.7 percent of the GDP while generating over 53 percent of the country's export earnings and employs 87 percent of the total labour force. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 50.7 percent of the population living below the poverty line and 81 percent of these poor residing in rural areas. Agriculture for development is widely recognised as a promising strategy for poverty alleviation. Despite its significance, investment in agriculture has been lagging, hampered by extensive market and government failures. Supply-side interventions aim to overcome constraints to adoption, while demand-side intervention creates incentives to modernise value-chains. The supply-side approach has benefited from extensive research but met with limited success. In contrast, the demand-side approach is promising but has received insufficient attention and needs rigorous research.

Since 2007 Just Trading Scotland (JTS) and Kaporo Smallholder Farmers Association (KASFA) have come together with an intervention to eliminate constraints on both supply- and demand-side. JTS is a not-for-profit fair-trade organisation based in Scotland, while KASFA is a Malawi farmers' association. Working closely with JTS, farmers connect to global output markets, receive extension services, and access subsidised input markets through interest-free loans. JTS launched a certified-seed-multiplication scheme, which has created a surplus seed bank, thus enhancing members' capacities and resilience to external shocks. JTS purchases certified rice produce, providing a broader market for Kilombero Rice across Europe. A rigorous impact evaluation of this program remains elusive. In collaboration with JTS and KASFA, the proposed PhD project will investigate the effect of the program on both supply- and demand-side and examine its impact on poverty and household welfare. The study will generate impact and make novel contributions to the literature by examining the dual side agricultural intervention on crop productivity, market access, and household welfare. 

For full informaton on the School/Research Group and Project details, see here.

 

Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria

• An honours degree at a first or upper second class level or a good Master’s degree (or overseas equivalent) in a relevant discipline e.g. economics, statistics, data science etc.
• A demonstratable interest in development, and knowledge of statistics or econometrics.
• Relevant skills in data management, data analysis and/or interviewing or participant research. Experience with STATA or other statistical software.
• Applicants should be able to evidence their capacity to undertake the advertised PhD project through a combination of their academic, professional and life experience.

Please note that all applicants must also meet the entry requirements for the Economics, PhD. 

Value

The scholarship is available as a +3 programme only. The programme will commence in October 2022. The funding includes:

• An annual stipend at the UKRI rate
• Fees at the standard home or international rate
• Students can also draw on a Research Training Support Grant, usually up to a maximum of £750 per year

How to apply

Please see the CoSS Postgraduate Funding page, for full information on how to apply.

Closing Date: 2 May 2022

 

For more information contact: Arjunan.Subramanian@glasgow.ac.uk