Zainab Usman

 

YOUTH INTEGRITY CAMP FOR ANGLOPHONE WEST-AFRICA

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Transparency International, and other stakeholders, is organizing a 5-day Youth Integrity Camp (PDF) for youth leaders from Anglophone West African countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, the Gambia and Sierra Leone) in Lagos, Nigeria on the 23rd – 27th of September 2013.

The Youth Integrity Camp will bring together youth leaders from business, politics, public sector, civil society organizations, media, university, art, sports and religion, etc in order to:

• Empower the youth to use their dynamism and innovative minds to promote integrity and public accountability;
• Provide the youth with tools to enhance their efforts as agents of change in their respective communities as relates to fighting corruption and promoting public accountability;
• Provide a forum for exchanging innovative approaches, ideas and best practices from the different countries of the sub-region towards improving transparency, accountability and participation in their respective communities.

Criteria for Selection:

• Membership of a youth association/organisation from the following sectors: sports, music, politics, education, professional, private/public sector, civil society, media, universities and religious bodies/associations.
• Be between 18-35 years
• Proficiency in written and spoken English
• Have completed senior secondary school (minimum requirement)
• Female youth who satisfy the above criteria are strongly encouraged to apply.

Method of Application:

1. Evidence of membership of a youth association/ organization from the aforementioned sectors, such as a signed letter from a member of the association’s board on the official letter-head of the association.
2. A current and updated CV (max. 2 pages);
3. Scanned copy of certificate from highest level of education achieved;
4. A 1 – page document enumerating motivations and interests in participating; and
5. A 1- page proposal of a project on how integrity can be translated into action. In the course of the camp, project proposals will be discussed and information provided on how to translate proposed projects into concrete actions. Potential participants are encouraged to consider exploring creative ways of putting a “human face” on the sums of money lost to corruption. The use of research, information technology and available media tools is highly encouraged to paint a “before” and “after” picture of how funds that have been lost to acts of corruption could have been used to transform a local community/state or a particular sector (e.g. health, education, water resources, agriculture etc).

Applications from interested participants are to be submitted by email with the required documents as attachments to the following e-mail addresses. Please ensure that your application is sent to the e-mail address for your country:

Nigeria: youthintegritycamp2013@gmail.com  Ghana: ghana.youthintegritycamp2013@gmail.com  

Liberia: liberia.youthintegritycamp2013@gmail.com  Gambia: gambia.youthintegritycamp2013@gmail.com

Sierra Leone: s.leone.youthintegritycamp2013@gmail.com

The deadline for the submission of applications is Friday, 26th July 2013. The travel, feeding and accommodation of selected applications will be covered by the organizers. Only successful applicants will be contacted.

More information available on the ICPC website HERE

 

MASSIVE ONLINE OPEN COURSES (MOOC) LIST

This is a list of free online courses offered by a wide range of universities around the world. There are courses ranging from Art, Architecture and Design, to Social Sciences and IT. Check it out.

 

FUNDED PHD STUDENTSHIP IN LARGE-SCALE MOBILE PHONE DATA ANALYSIS, THE OPEN UNIVERSITY, MILTON KEYNES

Department of Computing & Communications, Faculty of Maths, Computing & Technology. Available from 1 October 2013, Based in Milton Keynes

Closing date: 22 July 2013

This is a full-time PhD studentship funded by the Open University (OU) and the Orange Labs. The studentship is available for exceptional UK, EU, and overseas applicants. The project is concerned with analysis of large-scale mobile phone data (location traces and communication patterns) to better understand the role of social factors on travellers’ decision-making and mode choice behaviour.

The studentship will be hosted by the Open University, UK, however it is expected that the student will spend approximately 70% of his/her time with the Orange Labs in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.

Requirements of candidate:

• General interest in social computing, urban computing, and pervasive computing.
• Strong background in data mining, machine learning, and statistics.
• Good programming skills in high-level language e.g., R or Matlab.
• Good command of written and spoken English.

Funding:

Studentship covers tuition fees and includes a stipend (approx. €1,700/month) and funding for research expenses and travel.

If you wish to discuss your application or receive advice on the research project please contact: Dr Santi Phithakkitnukoon, email: Santi.Phi@open.ac.uk or Dr Zbigniew Smoreda, email: Zbigniew.Smoreda@orange.com

To apply, email your CV and letter of interest to:

• Santi Phithakkitnukoon, email: Santi.Phi@open.ac.uk
• Zbigniew Smoreda, email: Zbigniew.Smoreda@orange.com

For more information: http://orange.jobs/jobs/offer.do?joid=33235&lang=en and The Open University website HERE