J-PAL MENA Scholars Fellowship

J-PAL MENA Scholars Fellowship

Supports MENA region researchers in randomised impact evaluation through capacity-building opportunities for poverty-oriented policy insights.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The J-PAL MENA Scholars Fellowship is an annual two-year fellowship program designed to build the capacity of early-career researchers in the Middle East and North Africa to conduct rigorous randomised impact evaluations focused on poverty alleviation and social development. The program is co-funded by Community Jameel and the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, and is delivered through J-PAL MENA at the American University in Cairo. The 2026 cycle had a deadline of March 26, 2026 and was targeted at researchers enrolled in or affiliated with academic institutions in the MENA region.

The fellowship operates in two tracks: Track 1 accepts PhD students currently enrolled in economics or a closely related field (public policy, political science, public health, statistics, or social sciences) from any institution, provided they hold MENA-region nationality; Track 2 accepts scholars who have already completed their PhD and hold an affiliation with a MENA academic institution. Both tracks require fluency in both Arabic and English, and demonstrated commitment to impact evaluation focused on poverty alleviation or development policy in the MENA region. Proficiency in Stata or R is strongly recommended. Selected fellows receive a total stipend of USD 15,000 distributed over the two-year period, access to MIT MicroMasters courses in Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP), mentorship from J-PAL affiliate researchers, and participation in capacity-building workshops. In the second year, fellows may design their own evaluation project.

Applications are submitted via a Google Form linked from the J-PAL MENA program page at povertyactionlab.org — not through Community Jameel's portal directly. The annual cycle pattern indicates that the 2027 call is likely to open around January–February 2027. Competitive applicants should demonstrate prior engagement with randomised evaluation methods, ideally through coursework, co-authorships, or research assistant roles, and should obtain letters from academic mentors with J-PAL network connections where possible.