This is an application for a fellowship for six month's stay at the CGIAR centre, CIMMYT, in Mexico. The applicant is in the final phase of the PhD working on data analysis and writing. CIMMYT is a world leading research and development agency with a spec ific mandate for maize research. The applicants research project fits perfectly with a major new project at CIMMYT entitled "Seeds of Discovery". The applicant will be working in a team of maize geneticists with common research questions and methodologies . The project leadership at CIMMYT strongly supports this application and expresses that the applicant will be an important contribution to the project team. Brief description of research project: Agrobiodiversity and crop genetic resources are among th e most fundamental assets supporting rural livelihoods in Africa. At the regional African spatial scale, we will assess the genetic diversity within local varieties of maize from across the continent to look for associations between climatic variables and genetic make-up. At the local spatial scale, we will study of genetic diversity and gene flow between populations of local varieties of maize in semi-arid areas of Morogoro and Dodoma in Tanzania. The local scale study includes a socio-economic survey to reveal the constitution of the local seed systems in the area. The project relies on collaboration with several institutions in Africa, particularly in Tanzania. We use single nucleotide polymorphim (SNP) markers to analyze the genetic samples. The outco me of the genetic survey will be analyzed in collaboration with a leading public maize genomics programme at CIMMYT. The aim is to advance the understanding of the dynamics of adaptation to climatic stress in African seed systems, both at the biological a nd the social level, and thereby contribute to the analytical framework and toolbox available for researchers, practitioners and policy makers concerned with rural livelihood adaptation to climate change in Africa.