Mr. Jeremiah Oluwadara Omotayo, Research Fellow II in the Political and Governance Policy Department (PGPD) of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), has received a US$500 research grant following his participation in the inaugural IPSA-AAPS Africa Online Workshop Series (AOWS) held from 1–3 September 2026.
The Africa Online Workshop Series is a collaborative initiative of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) and the African Association of Political Science (AAPS), supported by the Nippon Foundation. The inaugural programme was designed to support graduate students and junior scholars affiliated with institutions across Africa through research development, professional training, mentorship and international scholarly exchange. The programme operated through separate English and French tracks, with each track limited to 12–15 participants, making the workshop a selective continental programme.
Mr. Omotayo applied for the English track following the open call for applications and was subsequently selected through a competitive process. His application included a curriculum vitae, research statement, work-in-progress and letter of recommendation, as required by the programme.
The three-day workshop featured professional development sessions, thematic research discussions, mentorship and dedicated research presentation sessions. On the final day, Mr. Omotayo presented his work-in-progress titled: “Agrarian Livelihoods and Rural Voting Blocs in Nigeria: Electoral Behaviour and Democratic Accountability in Kano and Anambra States.” The study examines how agrarian livelihoods, government performance, political parties, local political networks and clientelism interact to shape electoral behaviour and democratic accountability in rural communities in Nigeria.
The workshop provided an opportunity for Mr. Omotayo to receive intensive feedback from the workshop co-leaders and fellow participants working on related questions of democratisation, agrarian governance, rural politics and electoral behaviour.
Following the workshop, the co-leaders of the English track reviewed participants’ performance and selected Mr. Omotayo as one of the recipients of the programme’s US$500 research grants. The 2026 AOWS provided US$2,000 in total research funding through four individual US$500 grants, with two grants allocated to each language track. The grants are intended to support the further development of selected participants’ research.
This achievement reflects NISER’s commitment to strengthening research capacity and supporting its researchers to participate in national, continental and international scholarly platforms. It also highlights the Institute’s contribution to contemporary research and policy debates on governance, democracy, rural development and political participation in Africa.
About the IPSA-AAPS Africa Online Workshop Series
The inaugural IPSA-AAPS Africa Online Workshop Series was a 12-hour, three-day online programme held from 1–3 September 2026. The 2026 theme was “The Politics of Sustainable Development and Agrarian Governance”, with thematic areas including democratisation and rural voting blocs, the political economy of land governance, climate justice, conflict and resource competition, gender and agrarian reform, water governance, food security and the politics of agricultural commons.
The programme operated through English and French tracks, each accommodating 12–15 participants, and was designed to foster research excellence, professional development, mentorship and scholarly networks among emerging political scientists across the African continent.