News & Events

The University of Edinburgh Centre for African Studies and the Global Development Academy organized the conference ‘Decolonizing the Academy’ on 21-22 April. The conference focused on African Studies and researching Africa, main questions being: How do our institutions reinforce unequal access to power, opportunities, and knowledge? What are our responsibilities as scholars and teachers to decolonize our work - and how do we do it? ASCL researcher Akinyinka Akinyoade participated, web editor Fenneken Veldkamp wrote a report.

The ASCL receives funding from the Nationale Postcode Loterij (NPL) through UNICEF Netherlands for a research project in the Central African Republic (CAR). The ASCL will carry out independent research on the outcomes of previous reintegration programmes for children formerly associated with armed groups. The programme is carried out by researchers from the Connecting in Times of Duress team in close collaboration with researchers and students from the University of Bangui.

Sport is used increasingly as an instrument for positive social change in Africa. But what exactly is it that sports (can) do and how can they effect change? Are some sports more likely to be effective for socio-economic advancement? And if so, why? These questions will be addressed during the 2016 NVAS Africa Day, 15 October in Utrecht. To mark this occasion, the ASCL Library has compiled a web dossier about Sport in Africa.

ASCL senior researcher Marcel Rutten was interviewed in a ZEMBLA investigative tv documentary about Dutch rose growing company SHER in Ethiopia, that carries the FairTrade mark. Rutten talks about the amount of water necessary for large-scale rose growing.

INCLUDE, the knowledge platform on inclusive development policies in Africa, co-hosted a side-panel at the African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Lusaka, 23 May, entitled ‘Jobs for women and young people – the transformative potential of agribusiness’. INCLUDE's Platform meeting takes place on 24 and 25 May, in which the results of INCLUDE's Research Groups so far are presented. Follow the events on Twitter and Facebook!