ACT Africa Expert Directory

(created August 2020 AND periodically updated)

This is an alphabetical list of scholars in the Australian Capital Territory engaged in research on Africa, prepared with funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as part of a project to increase awareness of Africa and African studies in the ANU and the ACT.

This list of seventy scholars draws upon the public databases and public events listings of the Australian National University, the University of Canberra, and UNSW Canberra / UNSW at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

The vast majority of research on Africa is carried out by disciplinary experts, not area studies specialists, and Africa may not be the primary region of interest for many of the researchers listed below. The study of Africa is therefore woven into the everyday research culture of universities in the ACT in ways that may not be immediately apparent, especially to those more familiar with the area studies paradigm of African studies.

This list takes a broad approach to the study of Africa, including all parts of the continent, as well as the “old” and “new” diasporas. Nevertheless, this list excludes researchers who have not engaged with Africa since 2010, and also excludes “accidental Africanists” who have engaged with Africa only incidentally (e.g. in comparative statistical analysis on secondary data). Inconsistencies in this list reflect inconsistencies university databases, as not every researcher or department provides the same information. In redacting researchers’ biographies (where available), emphasis has been placed on information most relevant to the study of Africa.

Any researchers (including postgraduate students) who would like to be included in this list, or would like to have their entry altered, are welcome to contact Ibrahim Abraham, Principal Investigator of the project.

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / / I / K / L / M / N / O / P / R / S / T / W / X / Z

A

Dr Nick Abel (Visiting Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: Nick is an interdisciplinary scientist who works with stakeholders and policy makers on ways to understand and influence the direction and pace of change in social-ecological systems. His recent work is on systems impacted by economic and climatic change on Australia’s coast, in the Murray Darling Basin and Africa. His understanding of social-ecological change and inertia have been deepened by long term political activism and observation of social change in southern Africa, the UK and Australia.

Dr Ibrahim Abraham (Research Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, College Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Ibrahim joined the ANU in late 2018 as the Hans Mol Research Fellow in Religion and the Social Sciences, based in the Humanities Research Centre. His books include Race, Class and Christianity in South Africa: Middle-Class Moralities (Routledge, 2021). Areas of expertise: Sociology; Cultural Studies; Religion and Religious Studies. Region of expertise: South Africa.

Mr Adegboyega Adeniran (PhD student, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: Gboyega is a PhD student at the Fenner School of Environment and Society. He tutors and works as a research officer at the School. Gboyega’s research focuses broadly on the politics and governance of water infrastructure in Nigeria with an emphasis on state-society relationship and its impact on water governance. Areas of expertise: Water politics, power, water governance, water conflict, water policy, political ecology, political sociology, Nigeria, water infrastructure, transboundary water governance.

Mr Ernest Akuamoah (PhD student, School of Politics & International Relations, College of Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Ernest is a PhD student in the School of Politics and International Relations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies (First Class Honours) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana) and a Master of Philosophy in Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon. His PhD project is concerned with why some elections escalate into high-levels of violence but not others, focusing particularly on Africa. Areas of expertise: African Politics; Election Violence; Party Politics; Democratic Consolidation; Development Studies.

Professor Robyn Alders (Honorary Professor, Development Policy Centre, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: For over 30 years, Professor Alders has worked closely with family farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, SE Asia and Australia and as a veterinarian, researcher and colleague, with an emphasis on the development of sustainable infectious disease control in animals in rural areas in support of food and nutrition security. Areas of expertise: Sustainable domestic and global food and nutrition security/systems, health security, one/planetary health, gender equity and science communication.

Dr Richard Armstrong (Senior Fellow, Research School of Earth Science, College of Science, ANU)

Areas of expertise: The temporal, geochemical and physical evolution of the Kaapvaal Craton and surrounding terranes;Flood basalt volcanism, with special interest in the Karoo volcanic province; Geochemistry; Geology; Archaeological Science, etc. Region of expertise: Southern Africa.

Mr Atem Atem (PhD student, College of Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Atem Atem is a PhD candidate at the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences. His thesis explores the settlement experiences of Sudanese families in Western Sydney with a particular focus on the role settlement services have played in helping Sudanese and South Sudanese adjust to life in Australia. The thesis also looks at centrality of the family in the South Sudanese community and how this plays out in the South Sudanese community in Western Sydney. PhD thesis title: “Settlement Experiences of South Sudanese Families in Western Sydney. Regions of expertise: Sudan, South Sudan, African diaspora.

Dr Florence Awino (Graduate of the Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra)

Profession: Environmental Science/Chemistry. Research interests/focus: waste management, contaminated environments/pollution, urban agriculture, food safety and groundwater quality, health risks, policy needs, environmental sustainability and climate change PhD thesis title: Assessment of uncontrolled toxic waste chemicals and human health risks from food crops in the Mbale Municipal Council Dumpsite, Uganda.

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Ms Vijetta Bachraz (PhD student, Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: My background in early childhood education has greatly influenced how I approach research with children, which primarily ascribe to qualitative methodologies. … My current PhD thesis is concerned with how every day practices imbricated in institutionalised contexts racialize children’s bodies and reflect the broader race and power relations produced by colonisation which configure access to educational opportunities and shape the life trajectories of children in Mauritius. Region of expertise: Mauritius.

Associate Professor Deane Baker (Associate Professor of International & Political studies, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra)

Biography: Dr Deane-Peter Baker was appointed to UNSW Canberra in August 2012. He came to Canberra from Annapolis, Maryland, USA, where he was an Assistant Professor of Ethics in the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law at the United States Naval Academy for two and a half years. Prior to that Dr Baker was Associate Professor of Ethics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, where he taught for eleven years. He was Convenor of the South African Army Strategy Research Group and part of the leader group of the Umvoti Mounted Rifles, a reserve armored cavalry regiment. A specialist in both the ethics of armed conflict and military strategy, Dr Baker’s research straddles philosophy, ethics and security studies.

Professor John Braithwaite (Distinguished Professor, RegNet, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: John Braithwaite is a Professor and Founder of RegNet (the Regulatory Institutions Network). His best known work is on the ideas of responsive regulation and restorative justice. Areas of expertise: Health Policy; Taxation Law; Public Policy; Police Administration, etc. Region of expertise: Libya.

 

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C

Mr Jonathan Chikankheni (Masters student, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: His expertise is in irrigation and drainage research. His current research is on exploring the benefits of simple soil-water and nutrient monitoring tools as an adaptive management in smallholder irrigation schemes in Malawi.

Associate Professor Long Chu (Associate Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Ongoing research projects: Research of fishery management policy in Nigeria and modelling research on the outlook of fishery sector in Egypt and Tanzania. Areas of expertise: Environment and Resource Economics; Applied Economics, etc. Regions of expertise: Nigeria, Egypt, Tanzania.

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Dr Yonatan Dinku (Research Fellow, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, College Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Yonatan obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Otago in 2018.  Prior to that, he completed a master’s in International and Development Economics at the Australian National University. Yonatan worked as a teaching fellow for seven years at the Department of Economics, Bahir Dar University. Yonatan’s research interests lie in the areas of human development, development economics and applied microeconomics. Areas of expertise: Econometric and Statistical Methods; Health Economics; Labour Economics; Applied Economics. Region of expertise: Ethiopia.

Dr Bruce Doran (Senior Lecturer, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: Bruce’s research is focused on social applications of Geographic Information Systems, particularly in the areas of (a) the impact of commercial gambling at a community level, (b) mapping fear of crime and (c) developing mapping approaches for Native Title decision making. Areas of expertise: Urban Sociology And Community Studies; Social And Cultural Geography; Causes And Prevention Of Crime; Human Geography; Urban And Regional Planning.

Dr Beyongo M. Dynamic (Australian Centre on China in the World, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: Beyongo Dynamic is a political economist focused on a range of Sino-African trade and investment issues. He completed his PhD in 2018.

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Mr Ian Edelstein (PhD student, Research School of Humanities and Arts, College of Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

PhD thesis topic: Interrogating myths, misconceptions and propaganda in South African history. A radical re-appraisal of the Sharpeville Massacre and the legacy of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe using theatre and virtual history as constructs. Region of expertise: South Africa

Assistant Professor Nawal El-Gack (Assitant Professor, International Studies, Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra)

Biography: Nawal El-Gack is an Assistant Professor in International Studies and the Master of International Development program at the University of Canberra. Nawal is the author of Rural Development and Microfinance Project in Sudan (2013) and a winner of several awards and research grants.

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Ms Edwina Fingleton-Smith (PhD student, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: Edwina is currently completing a PhD on energy access in developing countries based on qualitative research conducted over three years in Kenya. The research looks to reassess our assumptions about the value of energy for improving development outcomes.

Mr William Fisher (Visiting Fellow, Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: Mr William Fisher was the Australian Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism until joining the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy in 2014. He was previously the Australian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to La Francophonie and to the Francophone States of Africa from October 2010. Mr Fisher served for many years as a career diplomat with the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Associate Professor Jolyon Ford (Associate Professor, College of Law, ANU)

Biography: I re-joined the ANU as an Associate Professor in July 2015 from the UK, where I was an Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute for International Affairs, London (Chatham House) and a Research Associate of the Global Economic Governance programme at the University of Oxford. From Zimbabwe, I hold degrees from South Africa, the UK and Australia. Research interests: [include] regulation of responsible business activity, especially in fragile and conflict-affected states; emerging regulatory frameworks on ‘business and human rights’; law, governance and development (especially in sub-Saharan Africa). Areas of expertise: Law and Society; Conflict of Laws; Human Rights Law; International Law, etc.

Dr Richard W Frank (Lecturer, School of Politics & International Relations, College of Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Richard Frank received his PhD from Binghamton University in 2009. Prior to joining ANU, he was a research fellow and manager of the Electoral Integrity Project at the University of Sydney and an assistant professor at the University of New Orleans. Dr Frank’s research centers on the domestic effects of international politics and the causes of political violence and human trafficking.

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G

Associate Professor Luke Glanville (Department of International Relations, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: Luke Glanville is an Associate Professor (Senior Fellow) in the Department of International Relations. His research is currently focused on the historical development of duties that states have to protect the vulnerable beyond their borders. Areas of expertise: International Theory; History of International Thought; Responsibility to Protect; Refugee Protection, etc. Region of expertise: Libya.

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Associate Professor Eleanor Hancock (Associate Professor of History, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra)

Biography: Dr Eleanor Hancock is a graduate of the Australian National University and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. From 1979 to 1984 she was a diplomat with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs before taking up a position as a tutor in history at the University College of the University of New South Wales. Areas of expertise: Imperialism, including German models for Africa’s economic development and the inter-relationship between imperialism and National Socialist Germany 1939-1949; Nigeria 1914-to the present; capacity to supervise in African history and more contemporary research projects on West and Southern Africa.

Ms Yasmin Hassen (PhD student, Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: Yasmin commenced her doctoral studies at the National Security College in February 2017. She holds a BA (Global), Post Graduate Diploma in European and International Studies as well as a Master of Arts by Research from Monash University and a Master of Diplomacy from ANU. Yasmin has professional and voluntary experience working in the delivery of programs and development of policies in the humanitarian, multicultural and multi-faith space. PhD thesis title: The Foreign Aid and Terrorism Nexus: Analysing the Cost of (In)Security in Somalia. Regions of expertise: Somalia, African diaspora.

Dr Paul Hayes (School of Archaeology and Anthropology, College of Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Paul Hayes received his PhD in social anthropology from the Australian National University in 2022, and is a visiting scholar at the French Centre for Social, Economic and Legal Studies (CEDEJ) in Khartoum, Sudan. Areas of expertise: Visual and material culture, visual and sensory ethnography. Regions of expertise: Arabic-speaking Sudan.

Dr Sandra Heaney-Mustafa (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra)

Biography: Sandra has an extensive background in nursing and in primary health care in developing countries as nurse-midwife, health educator and community development worker. Sandra spent two years the Sudan managing a primary health care and community development project. Sandra completed her doctorate at the University of Newcastle in 1995 which explored the reconceptualisation of health education as education for health based on notions of empowerment and the liberatory pedagogy of Paulo Freire.

Dr Brian Houle (Senior Lecturer, School of Demography, College Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: My main focus is in population health and disparities. I mainly research demographic-health outcomes in Africa. Areas of expertise: Mortality; Epidemiology; Demography; Applied Statistics. Region of expertise: South Africa.

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I

Dr Raihan Ismail (Senior Lecturer, Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies, College of Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Raihan Ismail is an ARC DECRA fellow and a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, ANU. She was the co-recipient of the Max Crawford Medal in 2018, awarded by the Australian Academy of the Humanities for ‘outstanding achievement in the humanities by an early-career scholar’.Her research interests include Political Islam, sectarianism, and the intertwining nature of religion and politics in the Middle East. … She is the author of Saudi Clerics and Shia Islam, published by Oxford University Press in 2016. She is currently working on a book project on the transnational networks of Salafi clerics in Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, under contract with Oxford University Press. Areas of expertise: Islamic Studies; Political Science. Region of expertise: Egypt.

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Ms Audrey Kalindi (PhD student, School of Demography, College of Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Audrey’s research topic on understanding the institutional and community factors associated with maternal mortality in Zambia is important in contributing to the scarce knowledge base about maternal and childbirth outcomes in poor and developing countries. Region of expertise: Zambia.

Floney Kawaye (PhD student, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: Floney is currently a PhD Scholar at the Fenner School of Environment and Society. She completed her Master of Environmental Management in the field of Natural Resource Management at the University of Queensland and worked as a lecturer at University of Malawi – The Malawi Polytechnic. She has extensive teaching and research experience and she has held leadership roles including Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of Malawi – The Malawi Polytechnic. PhD thesis topic: Assessing agricultural adaptation and performance under a changing climate in Malawi: Implications for the Green Belt Initiative and Farm Input Subsidy Program. Areas of expertise: Environmental management; Sustainable development; Water resources management; Climate change adaptation; Food security improvement.

Associate Professor Yohannes Kinfu (Associate Professor, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra)

Biography: Dr Yohannes Kinfu is a demographer and economist by training. Prior to his current appointment, he held academic positions at The Australian National University, the University of Queensland and Addis Ababa University, among others. He has also worked as a Statistician at the World Health Organization in Geneva, and also served as the Leader of the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance Site at the African Population and Health Research Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Areas of expertise: medical demography, global health metrics and the economics of health care in low-and-middle income countries.

Dr Elise Klein (Senior Lecturer, Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: Dr Klein has held various roles including working on the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Development and the Human Rights Committee within the United Nations General Assembly. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019. Her research interests include the rise of therapeutic cultures in policies, neoliberal subjectivities, economic rights, and decoloniality. Areas of expertise: Policy and Administration; Economic Development Policy; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy; Anthropology of Development. Region of expertise: Mali.

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Dr Jean-Nöel Patrick L’Espoir Decosta (Senior Lecturer, College of Business& Economics, ANU)

Biography: Patrick’s current research interest lies in the relationship between colonialism and tourism and is at the crossroads between social sciences and history. He is intrigued by multi-disciplinary knowledge systems and is particularly drawn to qualitative research methods. Areas of expertise: Marketing Communications; Tourism Management, etc. Region of expertise: Mauritius.

Dr Karima Laachir (Director, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, College Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Karima Laachir took up the position of Director of The ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies in January 2020. Prior to her appointment, Karima held a tenured position at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Karima’s broader research interests are located at the interface between Humanities and Social Sciences exploring culture/arts and activism under authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. Areas of expertise: The Politics of Culture in the Middle East and North Africa; Arab and Muslim Diasporas in the West and anti-racist cultural politics; Comparative Literature of the Global South (Arabophone, Francophone, Anglophone), etc. Region of expertise: North Africa.

Dr Michelle Langley (School of Culture History & Language, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Areas of expertise: Archaeology of Asia, Africa and The Americas; Middle and Later Stone Age Africa. Region of expertise: East Africa.

Associate Professor Kamalini Lokuge (Senior Research Fellow, Research School of Population Health, College of Health & Medicine, ANU)

Biography: Dr Lokuge leads the Humanitarian Health Research Initiative at the Research School of Population Health. Dr Lokuge has provided medical care and epidemiological services over the last two decades in a range of humanitarian emergencies, including Guinea, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Darfur, Uganda, Nigeria, Myanmar, South Sudan, Zambia, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Areas of expertise: Epidemiology; Emergency Medicine; Infectious Diseases; Public Health and Health Services.

Dr Ibolya (Ibi) Losoncz (Researcher, RegNet, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: Her research on the relationship between individuals and institutions examines how policies and institutional processes that are unresponsive to human needs can lead to defiance, rebellion and a breakdown of social bonds between the people and the state. Areas of expertise: Refugee studies; Resettlement; African diasporas (with a focus on South Sudanese diasporas), etc. Region of expertise: African diaspora.

Rachael Lowe (PhD student, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: I’m a PhD candidate studying the effects of climate change induced drought on African elephants (Loxodonta africana). Specifically how their response may have a trickle down effect on their own survival and that of other vulnerable species and surrounding communities. My research is focused in key reserves in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana.

Dr David Lucas (Visiting Fellow, School of Demography, College Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Areas of expertise: Demography & Population; Immigration & Multiculturalism; Public Policy – Health.

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Dr Martine Mariotti (Senior Lecturer, College of Business & Economics, ANU)

Biography: Martine Mariotti received her PhD From the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. Her research focuses on the economic and social effects of discrimination in South Africa during apartheid, living conditions in settler South Africa and the economic effects of migration in Southern Africa. Areas of expertise: Economic History; Economic Development And Growth. Region of expertise: South Africa.

Dr Andrew Mathieson (Fellow, ANU Medical School, ANU)

Biography: Visiting Fellow Australian National University (Medical School) deployed to Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Jordan, Qatar, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Fiji, PNG and Vanuatu. Areas of expertise: Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety; Public Health and Health Services; Preventive Medicine. Region of expertise: East Africa.

Dr Bonnie B. McConnell (Lecturer, School of Music, College Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Bonnie’s primary research interests center on intersections between musical performance practice, gender, health and wellbeing. Additional areas of research include: Music of Africa and the African diaspora. Bonnie is the author of the monograph Music, Health, and Power: Singing the Unsayable in The Gambia (Routledge). Regions of expertise: Gambia, African diaspora

Dr Jean-Claude Meledje (Independent Scholar and Public Servant)

Biography: Jean-Claude has joined The Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis (IGPA), University of Canberra as Postdoctoral Visiting Research Associate from 2019-2021. He is currently working on China – Africa relations. Areas of expertise: Sociology; political, economic, and social conflict studies, nation building. Region of expertise: Cote d’Ivoire.

Dr Karo Moret Miranda (Associate Lecturer, School of History, College Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Her fields of research include African and Afro-Caribbean Studies, as well as Religious Studies, and she has also engaged in her academic work with the museum world in Spain. Areas of expertise: African diaspora.

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Dr Caroline Ng Tseung-Wong (Lecturer, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Canberra)

Biography: Caroline’s research focuses on multicultural identities, intergroup relations and diversity ideologies. For instance, her recent collaborative research has looked at the development of a scale to measure the strategies individuals can use to make sense of their dual (or multiple) identities, the Multicultural Identity Styles Scale and its relationship to identity consolidation and psychological well-being. She is also interested in understanding the ways in which people can get along in diversity contexts through the exploration of diversity ideologies, tolerance and intergroup relations. Region of expertise: Mauritius.

Dr Yandisa Ngqangashe (Research Fellow, School of Regulation and Global Governance, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: Her current research is on the regulatory and governance processes of food environment policies (food marketing, food taxes, food composition and food labeling) and their implications on policy outcomes. Areas of expertise: Population nutrition, food regulation, food media, food marketing, governance. Region of expertise: South Africa.

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Dr Mark O’Neill (Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra)

Biography: Dr Mark O’Neill is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in both the Public Leadership Research Group and the Future Operations Research Group in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra. Mark is also an Australian Army officer with operational experience in Somalia, Mozambique, Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been the Chief of Army Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Joint Operations Liaison Officer to the DFAT and a lecturer at the National Security College. From 2016 to 2018 he served in the Office of the Chief of Army as Staff Officer Strategic Analysis, assisting with strategic communications, research and policy development. Areas of expertise: security in sub-Saharan Africa, regional security capacity and capability building, and the development of strategy.

Mr Babatunde Obamamoye (PhD student, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: His ongoing doctoral research seeks to explore why the member states of the African Union launched the African Solidarity Initiative in 2012 as an ad hoc scheme for mobilising resources from across African countries for the reconstruction of post-conflict African states amidst limited capacities across the African continent. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in International Relations from Obafemi Awolowo University.

Ms Margaret O’Callaghan

Biography: Margaret worked for AusAID and the UN for twenty years. Following her seven year posting in Zambia she researched the socio-economic impact of mining and produced a book, Copperfields, and a number of related papers. She has also published on the role of the international community in the 2016 Zambian elections and colonial travel in Africa. She has been an Associate of the Southern African Institute of Policy and Research and a Visiting Fellow at ANU’s Crawford School. Areas of Expertise: Mining impact, Gender and HIV. Region of Expertise: Mainly Zambia.

Dr Victor Oguoma (Senior Research Fellow, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra)

Biography: Victor joined the Health Research Institute, University of Canberra in January 2020 as a Senior Research Fellow/Biostatistician. He has over 10 years of experience in public health, epidemiological, and applied biostatistics research across sectors – Non-governmental organisations and academia in Nigeria and Australia.

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Mr Augustus Panton (PhD student, Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: Augustus is a Ph.D. candidate in economics in the ANU Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis at the Crawford School of Public Policy where his research focuses on the design of optimal monetary policy towards macroeconomic stabilization in an environment characterized by climatic disruptions and heightened financial stability risks. Areas of expertise: International Economics and International Finance; Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Theory; Financial Economics.

Dr Collin Payne (Lecturer, School of Demography, College Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Collin Payne joined the ANU School of Demography following a post-doctoral fellowship at the Harvard University School of Public Health, and completed a Ph.D. in Demography at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an ANU Futures Scheme recipient, an Associate Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research, and a member at the Australian Centre on China in the World. Areas of expertise: Mortality; Population Trends and Policies; Applied Statistics. Region of expertise: South Africa.

Professor James Pittock (Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: Jamie’s research focusses on environmental governance, climate change adaptation, energy and sustainable management of water. Jamie manages a research projects on irrigation in Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe) and on energy and food in the Mekong region. Areas of expertise: Ecosystem Function; Ecological Impacts of Climate Change, etc. Region of expertise: East and Southern Africa.

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Associate Professor Chalapati Rao (Associate Professor, Research School of Population Health, College of Health & Medicine, ANU)

Biography: He is the Principal Investigator of a large-scale capacity building project to strengthen the Sample Registration System in Indonesia, and is also currently involved in field mortality studies in India, South Africa, and Viet Nam. Areas of expertise: Health Information Systems (Incl. Surveillance); Epidemiology. Region of expertise: South Africa.

Mr Ashton Robinson (Canberra resident, Honorary Fellow in Social And Political Sciences, University of Melbourne)

Biography: Ashton has a MA in African History (ANU 1976). He is currently a Canberra-based Honorary Fellow with University of Melbourne. He was formerly a senior officer with the Office of National Assessments (where he headed a Branch covering Africa), the Iraq Survey Group and the Defence Intelligence Organisation. He began his APS career in the then Department of Foreign Affairs. Areas of expertise: sovereign risk issues in Africa. Region of expertise: Seychelles, Africa in the Indian Ocean.

Dr Katrina Roper (Honorary Lecturer, Research School of Population Health, ANU College of Health & Medicine, ANU)

Biography: Prior to joining the ANU staff, I worked for six years with the World Health Organization … I deployed three times to Sierra Leone in 2014-2015 as part of the Ebola Viral Disease Outbreak Resposnse, during which time I provided Infection Prevention and Control training to nurses and other health care workers so that they could work safely in Ebola Treatment Units. Areas of expertise: Epidemiology; Infectious Diseases; Public Health and Health Services, etc. Region of expertise: Sierra Leone.

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Professor Clifford Shearing (Professor, Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts & Social Sciences, ANU)

Biography: Shearing’s work, located within Criminology, focuses on identifying and understanding developments in governance through the lenses of security and justice. Areas of expertise: Social Theory; Law and Society, etc. Region of expertise: South Africa.

Dr Robert Sparrow (Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Areas of expertise: Applied Economics; Economic Development and Growth; Health Economics; Economics of Education; Labour Economics. Region of expertise: Ethiopia.

Professor Andrew Stewart (Professor of War Studies, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Biography: He is a modern historian who has authored more than thirty books, co-edited books, book chapters and articles. He retains an interest in contemporary security matters and international defence engagement. He has collaborated extensively with the British Army and Ministry of Defence supporting programmes across the Sub-Saharan Africa region, most recently from 2018-2019 delivering an eighteen-month package in Nigeria. Areas of expertise: Specialist Studies In Education; British History; Contemporary Security Issues in the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa.

Dr Helen Suich (Senior Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia & the Pacific, ANU)

Researcher’s projects [include] Investigating farmers’ decision making and propensity to adopt conservation agriculture techniques, Namibia [and] The history and impact of rainfed wheat farming in the Sneeuberg, South Africa. Areas of expertise: Natural Resource Management; Environment and Resource Economics; Economic Development and Growth; Public Policy. Region of expertise: Southern Africa.

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Ms Georgia Troup (PhD student, Fenner School of Environment & Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: Georgia is a PhD student studying human-elephant conflict in Tsavo, Kenya. Prior to beginning her PhD at Fenner, Georgia received a First Class Honours degree in Zoology from La Trobe University, Melbourne (2011). She has spent much of her time since then in Africa, both travelling and in wildlife research. Georgia’s primary research interests lie in the behavioural ecology and conservation of African wildlife.

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Dr Graham Walker (Convenor, Master of Science Communication Outreach, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: Graham convenes the Masters of Science Communication Outreach program. His research, teaching and engagement focuses on science communication and informal science learning. His current research and engagement investigates international capacity building and co-design in science communication. To this end, Graham founded the Science Circus Africa project which has trained 499 staff and reached 73,000 people in 10 African countries. Areas of expertise: Educational Psychology; Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies

Dr Tom Westland (Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU)

Biography: Tom Westland is an economist and economic historian of Africa and Asia, with a particular research interest in Senegal. He completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge on the history of structural change, labour coercion and industrialisation in colonial Senegal. He joined the ANU in 2021 as a Research Fellow at the Asian Bureau of Economic Research, located in the Crawford School of Public Policy.

Mr Clive Williams MG (Visitor, ANU College of Law, ANU)

Biography: Clive Williams had a career in Defence intelligence and security to 2002. He was Director of the forerunner organisation to today’s Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation and was Director of Security Intelligence. Since leaving Defence he has been based at ANU and has run Masters courses on national security-related issues at ANU and at other Australian and overseas universities. He works part of the year overseas.

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Dr Tingbao Xu (Senior Manager, Research, Fenner School of Environment & Society, College of Science, ANU)

Biography: I have been actively engaged in research/development in spatio-temporal and bioclimatic modelling and relevant fields since the early 1980s, and have gained extensive experience in climate change and climate data analysis. Currently I am involved in the project “Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network” and various climate change research and other projects in the School.

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Dr Bomikazi Zeka (Assistant Professor, Canberra Business School, University of Canberra)

Biography: Dr Bomikazi Zeka is an Assistant Professor in Finance and Financial Planning at the University of Canberra. Bomikazi has experience in teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level from the Nelson Mandela University and Hong Kong Baptist University. She has also contributed to the development of the financial planning programmes and has supervised several of research projects. Bomikazi’s research interests are primarily in the field of socio-economic gerontology. Areas of expertise: Retirement planning; Personal financial planning; Financial education; Financial planning; Professionalisation.

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