In 2014, the Gerda Henkel Foundation initiated a scholarship programme supporting young humanities scholars from Africa and Southeast Asia in honour of the foundation's founder, Lisa Maskell. It is the largest international support programme for PhD students in the history of the Foundation. The Lisa Maskell Fellowships aim to strengthen universities in the partner countries, to counter the outflow of qualified young scholars and to ensure the doctoral students enjoy excellent academic training.
In this dossier, L.I.S.A. will publish interviews with the Lisa Maskell Fellows from Africa and Southeast Asia, in which they talk about their research projects as well as their experiences during their academic career and the Lisa Maskell fellowship.
This week, we welcome Patrick Okombo Lugwiri from Kenya. After graduating from the University of Nairobi, he started his PhD in Linguistics with the thesis Examining Kiswahili as a Tool for East African Integration: Historical Perspectives and Sociolinguistic Implications at Makerere University in 2017.