13 November 2025#18
UGent
afrika Platform
"

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

Nelson Mandela
 

NEWS

Verslag oor die Leerstoel “Suid-Afrika: tale, letterkundes, kultuur en samelewing” - 31/10/2025

Prof. Stephanus Muller (Stellenbosch Universiteit): “Ek het my verblyf en werk as houer van die Leerstoel “Suid-Afrika: tale, letterkundes, kultuur en samelewing” aan die Universiteit Gent tussen 22 September en 31 Oktober 2025 as uiters professioneel, goed gereël en sonder enige praktiese of administratiewe probleme ervaar. Die reëlings deur prof. Yves T’Sjoen (akademies) en me. Katrien de Clercq (administratief), sowel as die akkommodasie by Residentie Loop 5, was uitstekend. Alle logistieke en akademiese ondersteuning is met groot sorg en aandag hanteer.”

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CATTLEFRONTIERS Lecture Series “Livestock Histories: Regional and Global Perspectives" - October-December 2025
 

CATTLEFRONTIERS explores how European colonialism, global capitalism and multiple forms of local agency transformed cattle economies in Southern and Central Africa during the colonial and early postcolonial period (1870s–1970s).

This fascinating lecture series deals with topics such as colonialism and global connections, often directly related to Africa.

 
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Seminar: "Health, Inequity, and Public Discourse: Rethinking Mental Health and Healthcare Access" - 19/11/2025
 

Join us for a thought-provoking exploration of two pressing challenges in contemporary healthcare and society. Dr. Ama Kissi will present research revealing how racial bias continues to influence healthcare systems. Following this, Prof. Kris Rutten will examine how media narratives and public discourse construct our collective understanding of mental health—shaping everything from stigma to help-seeking behaviours.

 
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Nomineer jouw held voor The Positive Club, het positiefste feestje van het jaar - 24/11/2025
 

Wanneer de barista’s van Komaf Koffie in de straten van Gent staan, ontmoeten ze voortdurend warme mensen die klaarstaan voor elkaar. Mensen die een helpende hand bieden, een glimlach delen of gewoon even luisteren. Kleine, positieve daden die onze stad groot maken.

Die positiviteit willen Gent Fair Trade en Komaf Koffie vieren. En dat doen we niet met zomaar een feest.

The Positive Club is een ode aan al wie goed doet.

 
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Lecture series: Anthropology, the Anthropocene, and Africa - 17/10 - 28/11/2025

Join us for the CARAM Lecture Series, “Anthropology, the Anthropocene, and Africa,” organised by Nick Rahier and Koen Stroeken as part of their new elective MA in African Studies course on the Anthropocene.

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Swahili book club - 18/11/2025
 

 

Tuesday 18/11 (17:00-19:00): Swahili book club for students, graduates and other Swahili language lovers.

 

To attend: send an e-mail tor Tineke.Deduytschaever@UGent.be & Maud.Devos@UGent.be

 
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CRG Book Launches 20: "Fractured Pasts in Lake Kivu’s Borderlands Conflicts, Connections and Mobility in Central Africa" by Gillian Mathys - 25/11/2025
 

The Lake Kivu region, which borders Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has often been defined by scholars in terms of conflict, violence, and separation.

In contrast, this innovative study explores histories of continuities and connections across the borderland. Gillian Mathys utilises an integrated historical perspective to trace long-term processes in the region, starting from the second half of the nineteenth century and reaching to the present day.

 
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BantUGent research seminar with Alena Witzlack Makarevich (UBremen): "Linguistic Repertoires of the Kusua of Semuliki Forest, Uganda" - 28/11/2025
 

In this talk Alena presents a recently launched language documentation and description project on the endangered Kusua language (D.22) spoken by a group of some 150 forest foragers. The group has been resettled multiple times in the last 30 years and currently resides in two settlements in the Bundibugyo district of western Uganda. In addition to providing the overview of the sociolinguistic situation the talk will present some tools and techniques the team adopted to manage this large-scale documentation initiative.

 
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Oratie by Dr. Jolyn Phillips - Leerstoelhouder: Zuid-Afrika: Talen, Literaturen, Cultuur en Maatschappij - 5/12/2025
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Transferable skills seminar - "From Theory to Practice: Positionality & Active Reflexivity in Research" - 9/12/2025
 

In this seminar we will explore and critically reflect on the concept of positionality in research—that is, who we are, the contexts we work in, the relationships we build, and the methodological choices we make together shape the research process and its outcomes.

We are honored to welcome Prof. Sarojini Nadar, a renowned critical feminist scholar from the University of the Western Cape, whose work on social justice, reflexivity, and research methodology has inspired scholars across disciplines

 
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Public Lecture: "Sub-imperial Power in Arabia: The Gulf Arab States and their Precarious Regional Role in Sudan and Beyond" by Isa Blum - 11/12/2025
 

Prof. Dr. Isa Blumi is a renowned US scholar and specialist in Middle East Area Studies. His recent book on Yemen has raised awareness about one of the most severe humanitarian disasters of the 21st century.

 
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CALLS & COMPETITIONS

Call for projects Fairest Faculty - application deadline: 21/11/2025
 

Since last academic year (2024-2025), Ghent University has given the faculties a degree of autonomy in organising activities during Ghent University's Fair Trade Week.

Following a successful previous edition, we are continuing this project under the guidance and supervision of the Green Office. This year, the week has been renamed “Sustainable and Fair Trade Week at Ghent University” and will take place from 23 to 27 March 2026.

 
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Call for Abstracts - ANSER Conference 2026 "Leveraging evidence to safeguard sexual and reproductive health and rights on the policy agenda" - abstract submission deadline: 30/11/2025

In a time of growing global instability, from climate-related disasters to political polarisation and humanitarian crises, the urgency to protect and promote Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) has never been greater. The ANSER 2026 Conference brings together researchers, policymakers, practitioners, CSO representatives and private sector actors to foster collaborative action toward safeguarding SRHR as a policy priority.

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Call for papers: 11th International Conference on Bantu Languages (Bantu11) - deadline for abstract submission: 1/12/2025
 

The BantUGent team is happy to welcome you to the city of Ghent (Belgium) for the 11th International Conference on Bantu Languages (Bantu11). It will take place from August 18 to August 21, 2026, just before the 55th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics (CALL 2026) in Leiden (the Netherlands) from August 24th till August 26st, 2026. 

 
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Call for Papers: Panel on "Filth, Fertility, and Flux: Interrogating Body Waste in African Societies" - abstract deadline: 1/12/2025
 

We invite submissions for a panel for the 10th Annual Conference of Lagos Studies Association, and for an Afrika Focus special issue exploring the complex diverse cultural, social, political, religious, and economic perceptions of human body waste across the African continent.

This theme seeks to understand how traditional beliefs, modern practices, and policy interfaces shape the meaning, management, and ultimate destiny of body waste in various African communities.

 
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AEGIS Summer School 2026 - deadline for submitting proposals: 7/12/2025

The 2026 AEGIS Summer School, which will convene in Cagliari (Sardinia) in May 2026, is aligned with the theme of the 2027 European Conference on African Studies (ECAS), which will take place in Lisbon in 2027.

The purpose of the Summer School is to prepare early-career researchers so that they will be in a strong position to volunteer panels and papers at the conference. The theme of the Summer School and ECAS 2027 is "African Prisms".

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Call for contributions: "Work and Masculinities in (Post)Colonial Contexts: Debating the Endogeneity of Gender" - proposal deadline: 15/12/2025

This special issue of Cahiers du Genre is an invitation for critical examinations of masculinity through the lens of labor, drawing on insights from research on colonialism and postcolonial societies—or, put differently, from a theorization “from the South” (Comaroff & Comaroff, 2012).

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Doctoral Scholarships for Candidates from the Global South - call 2026 - application deadline: 17/2/2026

With support from its “Special Research Fund” (BOF) Ghent University grants PhD “sandwich” scholarships to promising PhD students from Global South countries who wish to carry out half of their PhD research at Ghent University ('North') and half at a university in the Global South ('South'). Ghent University only finances the part of the research that will be carried out in Ghent (24 months). The candidate must have full-time funding for the other 24 months of research to be carried out in the South.

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VLIR-UOS TEAM 2026 - Call for project proposals - call submission deadline: 3/3/2026
 

TEAM projects are medium-term (5 years), impactful projects designed to explore, build, and deepen academic/scientific collaborations among diverse teams of academics and researchers focusing on sustainable development challenges.

 
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Announcement of the science awards of the Foundation fiat panis - application deadline: 30/4/2026
 

In 2026, the Foundation fiat panis will once again announce its two science awards dealing with problems of food security in the Global South.

The Hermann Eiselen Science Award is awarded for excellent dissertations and is endowed with 30,000€.

The Hans Hartwig Ruthenberg-Graduate-Award is awarded for outstanding Master's theses and is endowed with 7,500€.

 
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AFRICA PLATFORM INITIATIVES AND EVENTS

The Africa Platform takes part in the economic visit to Kenya - 10-15/11/2025

hub.brussels, in close collaboration with the Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (AWEX) and Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT), is organizing a Belgian economic and trade mission to Nairobi from 10 to 15 November 2025. 

The Africa Platform will participate in this trip, in the framework of which a UGent alumni event will be organised in Mombasa, on Saturday night 15 October. 

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Kenyan alumni chapter networking event in Mombasa - 15/11/2025
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Launch Africa Platform Fellowships 2025/Appel à candidatures - Bourses de la Plateforme Afrique 2025 - application deadline: 15/11/2025
Achille Assogbadjo & Rufis Tagne - 2024 GAP fellows

The Africa Platform fellowships are aimed at postdoctoral researchers (junior or senior lecturers & professors) who are affiliated with an African higher education or research institution. 

Five fellowships will be awarded in 2025.

Les bourses de la Plateforme Afrique sont destinées à des chercheurs postdoctoraux (chargés de cours juniors ou seniors et professeurs) qui sont rattachés à une institution africaine d’enseignement ou de recherche.

Cinq bourses seront octroyées en 2025.

 

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Ghent University alumni chapter Ethiopia: Join us in the Great Ethiopian Run! - 23/11/2025

After a successful edition in 2024, the Ghent University alumni chapter in Ethiopia will organises another alumni gathering on the occasion of the 2025 edition of the Great Ethiopian Run. Join us for the run on November 23rd in Addis Ababa.

After the run, the alumni ambassadors kindly invite you for a network buffet at Ras Hotel.

Our alumni ambassadors look forward to meeting you in person!

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International Conference GAPSYM18 - 4/12/2025
 

The Ghent Africa Platform is pleased to announce its 18th Annual Symposium (GAPSYM18), themed "Resources in Africa".

Resources in Africa are central to global discussions on sustainability, development, and equity. GAPSYM18 will delve into how resources shape Africa’s socio-economic, environmental, and cultural landscapes and define Africa’s position in today’s globalisation.

 
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Ghent University Nelson Mandela Lecture - 4/12/2025
 

The Ghent University Mandela Lectures have become established public events in the city of Ghent. This year's lecture with take the form of a panel discussion, with Belgian public intellectual David Van Reybrouck, professor in international politics and economic development Adebayo Olukoshi, former Namibian ambassador to Belgium Mekondjo Kaapanda-Girnus, and Lieselot Declercq, entrepreneur and director of d-teach.

They will discuss contemporary challenges related to geopolitics, trade relations, culture and entrepreneurship in Africa's relationship to Europe.

The discussion will be facilitated by journalist John Vandaele

 
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Want to learn more about the six Regional Platforms? Take a look at www.ugent.be/regionalplatforms
to find all the information you need.



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