​​The African Doctoral Academy (ADA) continues to lead efforts to strengthen excellence in doctoral education on the African continent. Celebrating a decade of doctoral training, the ADA welcomed more than 200 prospective, current and postdoctoral candidates to Stellenbosch University (SU) for the ADA Summer School from 3 to 18 January 2019. Delegates from 17 African countries attended the two-week programme.

The ADA, housed within the Africa Centre for Scholarship at Stellenbosch University International, serves to coordinate and strengthen excellence in doctoral education at SU and across the African continent. Since its inception in 2009, leading scholars have presented courses to doctoral candidates on topics ranging from PhD preparation, key concepts in methodology and academic writing skills to the use of qualitative and quantitative tools (SPSS and ATLAS.ti). Doctoral candidates get the opportunity to meet and network with peers at two doctoral schools hosted during the first and second semester. The Schools are open to PhD candidates, their supervisors and researchers. The main aim of the doctoral schools is to support knowledge production in Africa by increasing the number and the quality of doctoral graduates in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent.

For its 10^th doctoral school the ADA awarded a number of scholarships to participants from universities in Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Senegal, Botswana and South Africa to attend this semester. The successful candidates represent partner universities within the African Research Universities Alliance network of which SU is a member. Delegates hailed from disciplines as diverse as Urban Forestry, Chemical Engineering, and Nursing and Midwifery.

Travelling from Nigeria to attend the summer school, Deborah Oluwafunminiola Adeojo registered for the Productive PhD course presented by Prof Sebastian Kernbach from the University of St Gallen in Switzerland. In her second week, she attended the Mixed methods in research design workshop presented by Prof Tim Guetterman from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the United States.

Deborah, who is studying for a PhD in Gender studies at Ibadan University Nigeria, said the ADA Summer School broadened her perspective on research and equipped her with the necessary skills to complete her doctoral studies.

Peji Lunyili, a linguistics lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, said all her expectations were met and that ADA courses expanded her skills set. “I gained new knowledge and skills on how to go about producing a successful dissertation and how to develop my career as a researcher."

​In addition to academic workshops, delegates also had the opportunity to attend a range of extra-curricular workshops. These included an excursion to the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town and a braai at Middelvlei Wine Estate to conclude the Summer School.