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The  University of  Central  Asia  (UCA),  through  its  Mountain  Societies  Research  Institute(MSRI), is seeking mentors for research fellows from Central Asia and Afghanistan.   Central Asia and Afghanistan  Research  Fund (CAARF) offers fellowships to strengthen  the capacity of researchers from Afghanistan,  Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan  to conduct original research that is focused on learning  from  and informing sustainable  development in mountain  areas. This includes mountain societies in the Tien Shan, Pamir, and Hindu Kush mountain ranges. The topics   of   research   projects   supported   by the   Fellowship   will   address   the   following interconnected  themes related to mountain economies:•        Environmental change and natural resource governance associated with land degradation, climate change, biodiversity loss, and natural hazards;•        On-farm livelihoods such as agro-pastoralism and all aspects of food security;•        Off-farm livelihoods such as  small and medium-sized enterprise development, mountain tourism, and labor migration;•        The economic, social and environmental impacts  of large-scale mountain  development relevant to mountain societies.  This includes hydroelectric development, mineral extraction, landscape-scale conservation, and other large development initiatives.CAARF provides substantial financial, technical and mentorship  support  to selected  fellows. The fellows will be able to advance their research careers through collaboration with peers and mentors. They will write and publish an academic journal article through a peer-review process.  The findings of their  studies  will  be  disseminated   in  a  policy-relevant format. Awards of research grants of $5,000-20,000 will be made to the selected social and natural science scholars.MentorshipApplications  are  solicited  from  potential  mentors,  who  will  then  be  matched  up wvith  the selected fellows  based on their  areas of expertise,  research  interests,  geography  focus,  and language skills. Mentors  are expected  to be recognized  experts in their fields and can come from both natural and social science  backgrounds. It is advised  that mentors have at least five years of post-doctoral  research  and previous experience supervising doctoral sh1dents.For more information 