Bridging the Gap between Policymakers and Academics in Africa
PANELISTS: Jok Madut Jok (Loyola Marymount University, California), Haley Swedlund (Nijmegen School of Management at Radboud University), Thomas Tieku (King's University College), 'Dapo Oyewole (Secretary General, Conference of Speakers & Presidents of African Legislatures/Snr. Special Assistant on International Cooperation to the President of Nigeria), and Folashade Soule-Kohndou (University of Oxford). MODERATOR: Emmanuel Balogun (Skidmore College).
FRIDAY, 12 JUNE 2026
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (ET)
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (UTC)
Sponsored by ISA's Research and Policy Section (RAPS) and Global Africa Section (GAS). Debates on “bridging the gap” in international relations have often focused on the ways in which academics try to influence policymakers in the USA and to a lesser extent in Europe, Canada, and Australia. There has been a tendency to overlook the nature of collaborations between academics and practitioners in other global spaces. This virtual roundtable brings together leading thinkers, who have engaged with and in policy spaces across several different African countries and across different issues areas, including peace and security, Sino–Africa relations, and development cooperation. The roundtable is based on the recently published forum in International Studies Perspectives titled: “Bridging the Gap between Academics and Policymakers in Africa.” Join us to kick-start a conversation on the status of academic and policy engagement across the African continent and beyond.
For more information, contact: ISA at programming@isanet.org