The Leadership Alliance International Research for Minority Scholars (AIRMS) program in the humanities and social sciences seeks to foster mentoring, promote networking and create better understanding of cultural differences by initiating collaborative research programs in the humanities and social sciences between the students and scholars of our member institutions and international scholars from six universities in five African countries.

The goal of AIRMS is to create opportunities for students and faculty from ethnic, cultural and gender groups that have not traditionally been a part of the mainstream. Our hope is to foster a better understanding of our global community by both groups. The program offers eighteen students and six scholars the chance to participate in team-oriented research that may be applied to M.A. theses, Ph.D. dissertations, tenure-oriented studies and scholarly publications.

The AIRMS dialogue begins with a 10-day orientation at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), one of the world’s most prestigious academic institutions devoted to the study of the languages and cultures of African societies. Following this orientation AIRMS participants will journey to one of the six Alliance-affiliated institutions in Africa for additional orientation and to research their area of interest.