It’s Day One of our Computational Social Science Meets Qualitative Research workshop ✍️ We kicked things off with the first paper from @audreyalejandro.bsky.social @dandekadt.bsky.social 💡

Big questions. Brilliant speakers. This term at @EssexGov: 📊 Demographic change 🌐 Great power politics & the UN (with ModelUN) 🌍 Africa in multilateral organisations Join us! Link in bio. #PoliticalScience #EssexGov

🌍 The Africa Special Interest Group (ASIG) meets every Tuesday from 11:00 — the hub for Africa-focused research at Essex! Co-directed by Prof Hannah Gibson & Dr. Florian Kern, and open to all — staff, students, and anyone interested. Come say hi! ☕ #EssexGov #ASIG

MCCRA team members Angiachi Demetris, Hannah Gibson, and Fiona Tumusiime present research on language and conflict at Makerere University, Uganda. Most of the team will be in Kampala soon - stay tuned! @uniessexgov.bsky.social @africasigessex.bsky.social @universityofessex.bsky.social

Need support with fieldwork prep? Still time to register for our fieldwork course at the @essexsummerschool.bsky.social

🗺️Join our Methods for Fieldwork in Social Science course - 100% online, taught by experts from UCL & Essex. 🧠 Ideal for PhD students and researchers planning fieldwork 📅 2 weeks | 35 hrs | Learn from anywhere 🔗 Register now: essexsummerschool.com/application/

🚨Funded Writing Workshop on International Politics in Africa: Via the International Politics in Africa network, we are organising a Writing Workshop for early career scholars based in Africa. This is generously funded by @britishacademy.bsky.social. Share widely! sites.google.com/view/ipia/ca...

Really insightful workshop today on "The future of UK-Africa relations” @africaprog.bsky.social @chathamhouse.org bringing together academia and policy.

The Department of Goverment @uniessexgov.bsky.social is now on Bluesky!

The MA #ELT at London Metropolitan University invites you to a free, online talk! Denise Amankwah will explore the 'hidden,' 'invisible' reality of #African #languages in UK #education Wed 2 Apr, 1-2pm, via link on the flyer 🗣💬 #LangSky @universityofessex.bsky.social @africasigessex.bsky.social

Almost full house at our panel on the crises in DRC and Sudan and their regional and international embeddedness. With superb panelists @pierre-englebert.bsky.social @nihadaboud.bsky.social @tashlindstaedt.bsky.social, Prabin Khadka and Hervé Ali Mwanyo, moderated by @floriangkern.bsky.social

🚨Funding alert🚨: The British Institute in Eastern Africa - where I am part of the research committee - 2025 grant programme is now open for applications! There are opportunities for Writing Fellowships, Thematic Grants, Dissemination Grants, Workshop Grants, ... biea.ac.uk/call-for-app...

🚨New book alert: ASIG co-lead Hannah Gibson has a new book out on "African Linguistics after #RhodesMustFall", together with Jacqueline Lück, Kristina Riedel and Savithry Namboodiripad. The best part: the book is free to download here: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Afrique: Revue de presse de l'Afrique Francophone du 19 février 2025

As economic crises deepen, right-wing fearmongering and racial scapegoating thrive—masking the real struggle for economic justice. africasacountry.com/2025/02/race...

We try to meet regularly with monthly virtual seminar & plan to meet at workshops/conferences around the globe. Membership in IPIA is free (as free as a free lunch can be). If you are interested in joining IPIA, please fill out this very short survey. essex.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... 3/6

🚨New research network on Africa: Last year, we founded the "International Politics in Africa" (IPIA) network, w/ Mwita Chacha (Birmingham), Eniye Dubakeme (Baze University), Consolata Sulley (Dar es Salaam) & others, after ASAUK 2024. It's been fairly low key so far, but we want to expand: 1/6

Estimating new yearly measures of local GDP at the 1.00, 0.50, and 0.25 degree level using remote sensing data and a random forest model, from Esteban Rossi-Hansberg and Jialing Zhang https://www.nber.org/papers/w33458

In West Africa, which produces 70% of the world’s cacao, rising temperatures without increased rainfall will likely worsen droughts…and with it cacao supplies. Via @climatecentral.org

These African countries will be hit hardest by Trump’s USAID cuts www.semafor.com/article/02/1...

CFP ** Vatican II and Africa ** Conference in December 2025 in Praia, Cape Verde. Proposal deadline: September 30th, 2024. Proposals via email to: [email protected] Afrihistosky AfroLuso #Catholic #Africa #CapeVerde chsc.uc.pt/en/eventos-c...

Easing into the weekend. @chrisvick3.bsky.social @capemanchris.bsky.social @enghumbhini.bsky.social @debbs-flo.bsky.social @thamikantuli.bsky.social @fatfreddysdrop.bsky.social @bevfromcapetown.bsky.social @julianrademeyer.bsky.social @andrevlok.bsky.social @charles257.bsky.social

And yet there are reasonable grounds for anxiety (quite different from those being critiqued here) about the direction that research assessment is taking - away from assessing the quality of research towards the assessment of often very rhetorical documents and dubious 'evidence' of 'good practice'.

All but two of Africa’s planned 2025 elections fall in the final third of the year, leading to a busy end of year election season. Here are the issues to watch in each. africacenter.org/spo...

Just one case making headlines for us working on African news... In the #DRC with its conflict minerals crisis currently escalating... Background here: www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20...

Rwandan troops ‘dying in large numbers in DRC’, despite official denials of role www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

We hold our Africa Special Interest Group coffee mornings every Tuesday 9:30 to 10:00 - because we all need community right now! Not a research seminar, just like minded people discussing research on Africa, higher education globally, and how to remain engaged.

Hello! We are the Africa Special Interest Group, the hub for interdisciplinary studies focusing on Africa @universityofessex.bsky.social. The ASIG contributes to joint research activities, education, as well as student and cultural events on Africa. We will post here about our research & activities.