Africanist Graduate Forum

A Forum event facilitated by Prof Amanda Hammar and PhD fellow Johanne Mailund Rebsdorf at the Centre of African Studies

Dear Africanist PhDs and PhDs working in African contexts

The Centre of African Studies hosts the Forum every semester for Africanist PhD students - that is, all PhD students working in African contexts - across academic institutions in Denmark, Southern Sweden region and beyond, including those visiting for limited periods. The Forum provides a space in which Africanist PhDs can:

  • share your thesis work (in progress or more developed) and receive informed and constructive feedback
  • learn about other Africanist research, research networks and research funding opportunities in the region and beyond
  • generate/ discuss ideas for new collaborations (research, workshops, teaching, conference panels, etc)
  • explore experiences of and possibilities for publishing, support for writing, and so on

Most Africanist PhDs have other institutional fora in which to share their academic work. However, there is no specific Africa-focused PhD graduate school in any universities in this region, nor are there any sustained cross-institutional or cross-disciplinary spaces for Africanist PhDs to present their research and connect with others working on Africa.

Lunch and refreshments are served during the meeting.

Invitation to present your work

We are inviting all Africanist PhDs (primarily in the Social Sciences and Humanities) to attend the Forum. More concretely, we invite PhDs who would wish to present your work in this forthcoming event. If you would like to be among those taking up this valuable opportunity to profile what you’re working on and get constructive feedback from an interested and informed scholarly community, we ask you to submit the following information to us by Tuesday 6 October 2026:

  • Name
  • Institutional location
  • Name of supervisor/s
  • How far you are in the PhD process
  • Working title for presentation, and brief abstract

The Forum event will be facilitated by Prof Amanda Hammar and PhD fellow Johanne Mailund Rebsdorf. You should send your proposal and/or address any queries to Johanne on jmr@teol.ku.dk

There is room for three main presentations. If there are more than three submitted proposals we will select from among these. Those not selected may be prioritised to present in the next meeting in the Spring. Each of the three presentation slots are structured as follows:

  • The PhD candidate will have up to 20 minutes to present their own work.
  • A written version of the presentation can be circulated one week before the event, but this is not required. Participants are encouraged to read anything shared beforehand.
  • There will then be at least 25 minutes for general discussion.

Do you not have the time to propose/prepare a full presentation, but would like more informal feedback on your work? If so, send your name and the title of your project to Johanne to be selected for a maximum of three brownbag presentations during lunch. No posters, no slides, just a 10 minutes presentation over lunch followed by open feedback.

Registration to join the event

In order to plan for lunch, please register your participation for the Forum meeting, by Friday 30 October 2026.

We look forward very much to seeing many of you for an interesting exchange!