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FLIA Research Strategy 2026-2029

For the last decade, the Firoz Laji Institute for Africa (FLIA) has put the continent at the heart of The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) whilst ensuring multi-disciplinary research informs public debates on Africa. FLIA’s new three-year research strategy will continue to do this by building on previous and ongoing projects and relationships, whilst launching new thematic trajectories that respond to pressing global challenges.

Uniquely within LSE, FLIA combines ethnographic research, which starts from the lived experiences of Africans, with methodologies from diverse disciplines such as political science, geography, economics, sociology, and data science. The Institute has a track record of conducting research in challenging and overlooked places and with marginalised communities. This has led researchers to ask difficult questions of those with power and to tackle issues ranging from social, economic, and political exclusions to gendered cultural practices, governance, and the consequences of armed conflict.

FLIA will also continue to seek out comparative research with sites beyond Africa to stimulate knowledge exchange and dialogue with global centres of power. This approach has fostered cross-disciplinary research on areas such as humanitarianism, health and pandemics, security and justice, human-animal relations, and public policy. It has also led to collaborations and partnerships with research institutions across Africa, the UK, North America, and Europe. Throughout, the focus has been on impact through publications in leading journals, monographs, and engagement with diverse stakeholders and policymakers.

Over 2026-29, FLIA will build on these strong foundations by consolidating its ongoing and emerging projects through key thematic areas, each led by experienced researchers. FLIA is excited to further integrate its work within the wider School through established and emerging research collaborations with centres, departments, and external institutions engaged with Africa. Our five key research themes are:

  • Trade and Industry: Led by Dr David Luke, FLIA will build on its successful programme examining how African agency is being exercised at various levels to shape economic transformation within the continent and engage with a changing global geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape. This is a pressing issue given Africa’s youth as a demographic dividend, vast potential for growth, and competition for its resources. FLIA anticipates this programme will expand through engagements with philanthropic donors and think tanks beyond 2026.
  • Women, Peace and Security: Led by Professor Joanna Lewis, the Centre for Women, Peace and Security conducts research, training, and policy briefings around strategies to promote justice, human rights, and the participation of women in initiatives to address conflict and reduce inequalities. Combatting gender-based violence will remain a core focus. As part of the Centre's continued integration into FLIA, all future grant applications under this theme will orient towards or have a comparative African element.
  • Sustainable Multispecies Futures: Led by Dr Martha Geiger, this stream broadly examines multispecies relations in a changing climate in African contexts, while drawing on comparative work outside Africa. Attention is paid to how diverse knowledge systems and practices shape and reshape relations between humans, non-human animals, and environments. Current funded work focuses on multispecies relations of care, cohabitation, and ecological labour. Future work will expand to include explorations of animals as agents of environmental sustainability, the politics and ethics of multispecies flourishing and loss, and the advancement of interspecies methodologies. The theme welcomes researchers who have an interest in contributing to multispecies studies in Africa in compelling ways.
  • Activism, Influence and Change: Led by Dr Duncan Green and Dr Tom Kirk, this stream examines how citizens can intentionally bring about change by understanding power and political economies, building narratives and coalitions, and picking the right tactics and moments to act. This includes using information, data, and emerging alternatives to outdated governance models to hold the private sector, states, and international actors to account. Current research focuses on activism in African democracies and how transnational cooperation supports it. The theme also co-produces training for partners such as the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office politics course, the Asfari Foundation, and the United Nations on how to be more intentional change-makers.
  • Digital Cooperation and Sovereignty: Provisionally led by Dr Tom Kirk and Dr Gedion Onyango, this theme focuses on the societal transformations enabled by digital public infrastructure, how citizens may shape them, and what they may mean for how we understand the individual, state, and global governance. To enable research in these areas, FLIA has recently submitted two grant applications: one as part of a Horizon consortium exploring the prospects of a health data sharing space between the EU and African states; a second on the notion of ‘digital sovereignty’ for small African states. FLIA also hosted a meeting in January 2026 with those working on relevant research from across the School and in Europe to scope further funding opportunities.

These thematic areas of FLIA’s research strategy recognise LSE’s commitment to using the social sciences to address five key global challenges, with a focus on political economy, inequality, sustainability, future technologies, and democracy. They also acknowledge Africa’s place within a multipolar world that is fast realigning itself around new threats and opportunities. They engage Africa in the world, as a continent experimenting and succeeding with innovations. And they ensure that the LSE is a platform for, and is learning from, those shaping Africa’s future.

The broad goal of the themes is to act as clusters for academics from across the School and elsewhere working on related subjects and with an Africa focus. FLIA’s strong grant application team will support joint funding opportunities, with the aim of cross-disciplinary collaborations. As clusters coalesce around specific missions, we will also seek opportunities to compete for larger grants to ensure sustainability.

To kick-start this agenda, FLIA plans to hold one-day workshops inviting academics at LSE working on any of our key themes, either on Africa, its diasporas, or comparative areas to attend. We also invite experienced researchers wanting to establish a theme at FLIA to get in touch with Dr Tom Kirk, FLIA's interim head of research, or one of the theme leads. Over the next three years, FLIA will convene seminars for LSE staff and students focused on the themes and will facilitate conversations about ways to advance the research.

Looking ahead, FLIA is well-positioned to grow its ambition as a hub for world-leading, Africa-centred research that speaks to the defining challenges of our time. By deepening partnerships across LSE and with organisations across the globe, the Institute will continue to pursue the bold, interdisciplinary collaborations that have always been central to its identity. As a rapidly changing world demands ever more nuanced and grounded perspectives on Africa, FLIA is committed to ensuring that those perspectives - rooted in lived experience, rigorous inquiry, and genuine partnerships - are heard at the highest levels of policy and scholarship.