Based at: United States International University Nairobi- Africa (USIU-Africa), Department of International Relations.
United States International University Nairobi- Africa (USIU-Africa) invites qualified and motivated candidates to apply for a fully funded PhD in International Relations position under the WATERSHED research program. Applicants should hold a graduate degree in a Social Science discipline such as Political Science, International Relations, Sociology, Gender Studies, Human Geography, Anthropology and Development Studies. The applicant’s project will focus on flooding and community and gendered activities relating to climate adaptive measures in informal settlements in Nairobi.

WATERSHED is a Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC) funded project that explores informal climate adaptation in relation to flooding in Nairobi. The project investigates the tension that exists between policies, interventions, and government actions that increase urban climate vulnerability at a structural level, and the everyday climate justice actions of community activists in informal urban communities. These tensions play out in the context of intensified climate disasters, explosive urban growth, and an ongoing global shift in development funding, where ordinary people’s everyday actions are often overlooked for being too granular or inconsequential in comparison to the scale of the climate change vulnerability that the world faces.

WATERSHED seeks to understand how local adaptation and climate activism can contribute to climate change governance and decision-making amidst these global transitions. Specifically, the project investigates perceived vulnerabilities, concrete climate justice actions, and local adaptation initiatives with regards to increased risk of flooding in three densely populated informal urban settlements along the rivers in Nairobi (Mathare, Pumwani and Korogocho).