Research centres

Researching Africa : From individual efforts to structured programmes. The role of the Nordic Africa Institute

Upphovsperson:	Ståhl, Michael
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala, Sweden
År:	2012
Ämnesord:	Research centres, Research programmes, Research networks, Development research, SOCIAL SCIENCES

The Nordic Africa Institute started on a modest scale back in 1962by awarding three travel grants to young Nordic scholars with an interest in Africa. Fifty years later, the institute has become an internationally renowned centre of research, documentation, publishing and net-working. By coordinating coherent programmes spanning multiple researchers and several sub-topics NAI has helped to strengthen capacity among young academics in Nordic countries by providing travel grants for field research and an academic platform for communicating and discussing research findings. NAI has thus been a key catalyst in social science research on Africa. In this publication, Michael Ståhl contextualises, reviews and reflects on five innovative research programmes undertaken at NAI from the late 1980s into the 1990s. Through these thematic, collaborative programmes, NAI complemented its already established support for individual academic projects. In order to place the five programmes in larger context, brief accounts of the earlier research support provided by NAI are given as is an overview of the subsequent research profile and administration of NAI up to 2012.Michael Ståhl has had a lifelong academic and professional career in development issues. His research experience has been in rural development in Africa. He has held senior positions at universities and in the Swedish development cooperation community. From 2002 to 2010, he was the director of the International Foundation for Science.