Africa Oxford Initiative

Gill Wells is the Head of Research Services European and International Team and Strategic Lead on GCRF at the University of Oxford. Gill talks about the meaning of development research and funds available in the UK to form international research collaborations.

Professor Alan Stein, Head of Section, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Oxford delivered this talk at an AfOx insaka. Alan talks about the importance of using appropriate guidelines while talking to children about the diagnosis of life threatening diseases.

Jake McKnight talks about the failures and successes of projects he’s studied or been involved in, reflecting on the idea that ‘Africa Works’, and as researchers and implementors, it’s up to us to fit local cultures rather to try to ‘fix’ them. Jake McKnight is a Health Systems Researcher at the Oxford Health Systems Collaboration (OHSCAR). He was originally a logistician for MSF in Angola and Somalia, before conducting his PhD research in Ethiopia. He then read for the MSc. in African Studies at Oxford, before completing his PhD at Said Business School, where he concentrated on healthcare reform in Ethiopia.

Corruption is often bandied about in adult circles as the misuse of public influence for private gain. But, what if children could articulate how corruption is enmeshed in everyday human interactions? In this AfOx insaka presentation, Robtel Neajai Pailey uses her anti-corruption children’s books to argue that equipping children with verbal tools to question the confusing ethical codes of adults can revolutionise how we talk and theorise about corruption.

AfOx Visiting Fellow, Dr Aymar Bisoka from the Catholic University of Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo delivered this seminar co-hosted by AfOx and the African House at Christ Church College. During his fellowship at Oxford, he was based at the African Studies Centre. His research interests include the Great Lakes Africa in terms of post-conflict development and political ecology, peasantry, armed groups and politics, as well as rural public policy guidelines in Africa more generally. He is also interested in power relations, resistance and emancipation.

AfOx Visiting Fellow, Dr Rebecca Asare from the Nature Conservation Research Centre delivered this seminar co-hosted by AfOx and the African House at Christ Church College. During her stay at Oxford, she was based at the School of Geography and the Environment. Her research is focused on understanding the relationships between social and ecological systems, and exploring the question—why do people do the things they do? By understanding what drives peoples', communities’, and governments' decision making regarding natural resource management, and assessing the impacts, we are better placed to pursue ecological and social outcomes that are sustainable and equitable.

AfOx Visiting Fellow Professor Salome Bukachi, University of Nairobi delivered this seminar co-hosted by AfOx and the African House at Christ Church College. During her stay at Oxford, she worked with the REACH programme on water security at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. Generally, her research interests include understanding local contexts and social and behavioural aspects of development. Specifically, her research has been focused on infectious diseases, gender issues and community engagement.

AfOx Visiting Fellow, Dr Eniola Boluwaduro delivered this talk at All Souls College. Using the methodology of conservation analysis, Eniola examined the way in which doctors negotiate medical authority with patients during HIV consultations in Nigeria. Eniola also examines how this impacts the consultative procedure and a patients adherence to the treatment.

The discussion after the lecture, with an international guest panel on decolonising education and reimagining the higher education space in Africa and the Diaspora. The panel includes environmental justice activist, Running Grass, higher education specialist, Sizwe Mkwanazi and the women behind South Africa’s largest protest since the fall of apartheid, Shaeera Kalla and Nompendulo Mkatshwa.

The Oxford Africa Society will host an annual lecture delivered by the Director of the University of Oxford’s African Studies Centre and Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, Wale Adebanwi.