Pius Langa Memorial Fellowship - call for applications 2023 - 2024
The Pius Langa Memorial Fellowship is intended to benefit young lawyers in South Africa committed to forwarding constitutional and human rights law in South Africa and / or Africa. Named in honour of the former Chief Justice and launched in 2021, this fellowship will afford one early career lawyer per year the opportunity to study towards a LLM at University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom, one of the top ranked universities in the world.
The fellowship award will be for £20,000 to cover travel and living expenses for the fellow, funded by the CCT’s kindred organisation, the UK-based charity, the South African Constitutional Court Trust - United Kingdom (SACCT-UK). UCL Faculty of Laws will generously be providing a full tuition waiver to the Pius Langa Memorial fellows selected by the CCT.
APPLICATION PROCESS
One fellowship will be awarded for the 2023 – 2024 academic year.
It will be tenable at UCL Faculty of Laws in London.
The fellowship includes a full tuition waiver from UCL and an award of GBP20,000 which is specifically intended to cover travel and living expenses associated with studies.
Fellows must include at least one module relating to human rights or constitutional law as part of the LLM studies they undertake at UCL pursuant to the Pius Langa Memorial Fellowship.
The award is conditional on the prospective fellow being offered a place on the fulltime LLM programme at UCL Faculty of Laws in the academic year for which the award of the Fellowship is made. For the avoidance of doubt, the prospective fellow will need to apply to the fellowship programme, and for admission to UCL Faculty of Laws LLM, separately, which LLM application will be considered under the normal admissions procedure and criteria.
Who is eligible to apply?
Applicants must be nationals of an African country who are either law clerks or former law clerks of the South African Constitutional Court, or early career lawyers active in South African civil society, working for a South African NGO in a legal programme focused on constitutional and human rights law.
Applicants must have demonstrated a commitment to human rights and an intention to continue working in the area of human rights and / or constitutional law as it relates to South Africa and / or Africa.
Preference will be given to applicants who:
- do not already hold an LLM degree;
- have not had the opportunity to study abroad;
- will be no older than 35 years of age at the start of proposed studies.
How to apply
Applicants must send their applications to PLMF@concourttrust.org.za by email by Sunday, 14 August 2022
Applications should include the following:
- A 1 – 2 page motivational letter on why you should be awarded the fellowship.
- A curriculum vitae (CV) no longer than 3 pages.
- University transcripts for all higher education qualifications, noting that an excellent academic record is a prerequisite for consideration as a fellow.
- One example of written work, relevant to your application, and demonstrating your ability to excel in a top tier LLM programme. The indicative length for writing samples is 2000 – 3000 words – please do not submit longer pieces of writing. Contextualised extracts are acceptable.
- Two recent, professional letters of support – at least one should relate to work undertaken by the applicant in South African civil society, or at the Constitutional Court in South Africa. If listing a current Constitutional Court Justice as a referee, the name of the judge will suffice - no letter is required.
Interviews of shortlisted candidates will take place at the Constitutional Court in September 2022. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.