Purpose
The creation of the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa strengthens LSE’s long-term commitment to placing Africa at the heart of understandings and debates about global issues.
Through the Centre for Africa, LSE will forge new links with African scholars and institutions, and increase the visibility of Africa in the LSE’s teaching, research and policy engagement.
Why an Africa Centre at LSE
More than 100 scholars at the School currently work on Africa, based in a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, development studies, economics, geography, health, international relations, politics, social policy and social psychology. The Centre will be at the forefront of producing rigorous social science research and evidence-based analysis, to illuminate world affairs and interrogate local circumstances. The Centre will do what the LSE as whole is committed to doing. It will look into the causes of things.
The Centre will emphasise public dissemination, engagement with policy-makers and a determination to enhance the quality and availability of evidence. It will promote teaching about Africa and the continent’s changing significance in the world both at LSE and internationally, and will uphold robust independent scholarship on Africa.
Activities
The Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa builds on a wide range of ongoing programmes and activities such as the Programme for African Leadership (PfAL), the LSE Africa Summit, the Africa Talks series, the African Visiting Research Fellowship Programme and, the Africa at LSE blog.
Other activities include the LSE-UCT July School and PhD student exchanges through the academic partnership between LSE and the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Research includes work on health, South-South relations, justice and security, economic growth, environment, decentralised governance, grassroots organisations, urbanisation, public administration, conflict and humanitarianism.
The Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa is part of the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE.