The Insecure Livelihoods fellowship (ILF) is part of the ProPaix research project, a GIZ funded project run by CRG that aims to contribute to a better understanding of security conditions and challenges in eastern DRC. The ILF responds to a yawning gap in the academic and research landscape in eastern DRC, namely the lack of both funding and time for researchers to embark on their own research projects and publish their findings. The programme offers early and mid-career Congolese researchers the opportunity to plan, conduct and publish their own, original research. More so, the ILF also works towards supporting a slowly emerging Congolese research landscape in eastern DRC able to provide robust, fieldwork-driven knowledge in the realms of security and conflict to national as well as international organizations. The ILF offers 10 Congolese fellows a six-month scholarship consisting of a tailored mentorship programme as well as several week-long seminars, The team of mentors come from CRG and elsewhere and accompany the fellows throughout the six-month cycle. The seminars follow the fundamental steps of research project from the literature review and formulation of a research question via the planning and conducting of fieldwork to data analysis and writing. The fellows’ research findings are expected to be published in the Insecure Livelihoods Series at the Governance in Conflict ITN website.