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The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) is pleased to announce a call for proposals for a study on the topic of “Promoting Sustainable Digital Entrepreneurship in Francophone West and Central Africa”. 

With a focus on the topics of entrepreneurship, platform regulation, and the use of digitalisation for climate resiliency, HIIG’s Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Global Digital Transformation (SET) research project works closely with local stakeholders to build application-oriented expertise and to create an international knowledge community. Against this backdrop, the study aims to promote sustainable digital entrepreneurship in Benin, and in Francophone West and Central Africa more broadly. The study will focus on the contextual (e.g., institutional, social, and technological) barriers to sustainable digital entrepreneurship as well as identify strategies and tactics entrepreneurs can use to navigate these challenges. Proposals from established and early career scholars are welcome. 

The full call for proposals with further information about the project and possible research questions can be found on our website, both in English and in French. 

General Information 

• Budget: EUR 16,000 (gross) 
• Scope of the study: maximum 15,000 words 
• Study should be written in French
• Timeframe for conducting the study: July to November 2022 
• Mid-term report on the current state of research up to September 2022
• Final feedback loop after editorial and academic review

All interested applicants are invited to submit their proposal (maximum two pages) and a short curriculum vitae through the website (EN and FR) by Sunday, 8 May 2022. For questions please contact Marie Blüml (marie.blueml@hiig.de). Applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process latest by the end of May 2022.

The research project titled ‘Long-term Human Rights Risks of Smart City Technologies’, the Legal Tech Lab of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki*, the Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies at York University and the City Institute at York University invite you to submit abstracts for the special issue ‘Future-Proofing the City: A Human Rights-Based Approach to the Governance of Algorithmic, Biometric and Smart City Technologies’ in Internet Policy Review.

As part of the project’s thematic focus “Digitalisation and Entrepreneurship”, the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) will commission a study to identify challenges and potential solutions of (de)regulation in order to enable a socially just gig economy. The initial perspective on digital platform regulation is broad, potentially covering areas of labour, e-commerce and innovation, and including aspects of market power regulation, workers’ rights or copyright protection. However, the authors may specify the focus of the study in light of the availability of materials and after having received input from a multi-stakeholder dialogue that will be hosted in Kenya in July 2022.