Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world

During the celebration of International Swahili Language Day (July 7) at the UNESCO headquarters, Paris, Ghent University has been awarded a prize to recognize and appreciate its unique contribution to promoting and developing Swahili in Belgium and Europe through teaching and research.

Zes UGent-onderzoekers ontvangen een prestigieuze ERC Starting Grant. Daarmee bevestigt de UGent haar sterke positie in het Europese onderzoekslandschap. Twee Afrika-gerelateerde projecten zetten we graag in de kijker:

• "LoLaSa" van Hilde Gunnink gaat over verloren talen van zuidelijk Afrika
• "HEATWAYS" van Nick Rahier probeert leven in een warmere wereld beter te begrijpen

It is our honor to share with you our newsletter of the IQ-GEAR project. In this issue, we focus on (i) the efforts to develop and evaluate an e-portfolio for monitoring the progress of PhD students towards the identified competencies, (ii) the donations of ICT equipment and ICT training, (iii) outputs of the Ethiopian SuperStars project and (iv) our annual workshop held at Jimma University. Finally, we would like to draw your attention to the academic mission led by the rector of Ghent University (November 21 – 25).

Upon invitation of Prof. Olorunshola Adenekan , Prof. Sebastian Dom & Prof. Koen Bostoen, Prof. Dr. Serawit Debele (Bayreuth University) will give the UGent Master of African Studies 2026 opening lecture.

In this talk, Prof. Dr. Serawit Debele explores how Amharic literary texts frame empire through the rural woman turned prostitute as a central site of moral and political discourse. She focuses on two novels published within twenty years of the end of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (1935–1941).

Graag nodigen we studenten, alumni en docenten uit voor een netwerkmoment van de opleiding Afrikaanse Talen en Culturen, op woensdag 23 september om 18u in het atrium van de faculteitsbibliotheek Letteren en Wijsbegeerte.

Aanleiding is de voorstelling van het recent verschenen boek "Afrika: Het abc van het cliché" van Barbara Rottiers en Annick De Rop. We gaan in gesprek met de auteurs om toe te lichten hoe het boek clichébeelden over Afrika onder de loep neemt.

Na de boekvoorstelling volgt een receptie — een uitgelezen moment om bij te praten, herinneringen op te halen of nieuwe contacten te leggen tussen studenten, alumni en docenten van de opleiding.

Climate change is redrawing the geography of infectious disease while simultaneously reshaping human mobility. This webinar will explore how these interconnected processes affect infectious disease risks along migration and displacement pathways, and what this means for surveillance, health systems and policy.

With this lecture series the ERC project CATTLEFRONTIERS brings together historians and anthropologists working on the history of cattle from regional, (trans)imperial and global perspectives.

The lectures will tease out human-animal interactions, commodification processes as well as regional and global trades with cattle and cattle commodities over the past centuries.

On behalf of African Studies and the History Department, we warmly welcome you to a Meet-the-Expert Lecture by Prof. David Maxwell (Cambridge University), kindly supported by UGent's Doctoral Schools:

"Church, State and Society in Post-colonial Zimbabwe: Sources, Methods and Concepts"

From UGent we are convinced that a strong alumni network contributes to a stronger collaboration with partner institutions, local industry and various official organizations.

The University’s Alumni Relations Office and our local alumni representatives kindly invite you to a social networking event on October 3, 2026. Our guest speaker is Prof. PLO Lumumba, a Kenyan lawyer of note, renowned Pan-Africanist and fellow alumnus of the University of Ghent.

The organizing committee of the 3CP Conference 2027, From Early Life to Healthy Aging - with 3CP referring to the Tri-Continental Partnership between the University of Missouri, the University of the Western Cape, and Ghent University - invites you to present your research.

This 19th multidisciplinary conference of the Africa Platform will be co-organised by Ghent University’s Human Rights Research Network and Conflict Research Group. Voices, Rights & Justice in Africa remain highly relevant today due to ongoing challenges related to human rights, environmental rights, rights to health & education, access to legal systems, etc. across the continent.

Studying these issues academically will inform policymaking, activism, and international engagement to promote accountability, equity, and sustainable development in African societies.

Under the theme “From the 1976 Soweto Uprising to Constitutional Democracy - Reimagining the Future of Youth” Professor and South African Human Rights Commissioner Tshepo Madlingozi will engage in an intergenerational dialogue with young people selected by the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.

Together, they will reflect on the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s Constitution and the 50th anniversary of the Soweto uprising, viewed through the lens of Nelson Mandela’s enduring legacy. The discussion will explore whether these milestones offer grounds for imagining a hopeful future for the country’s youth.