AFRIG promotes research and scholarly activity that draws on African knowledge systems and themes.
The group consists of, but will not be limited to, academic and research staff of African origin from across all ARU schools and faculties. Colleagues with an interest in African research will be welcomed as the group grows.
We also recognise that ethnic minority staff tend to be isolated, hence the need for a network that provides social capital and collaborative opportunities in research. The group will act as a collaborative network of academic and research staff of African origin.
Read about our annual conferences, including themes and keynotes.
For more information about AFRIG, contact Irine Mano at [email protected] and Tarisai Chikomba at [email protected].
We are currently working on 'Policy and Practice Dilemma in African Higher Education Institutions', an article submission to The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning.
We held our first Africa Day celebrations at ARU in Chelmsford, with a fun family day celebrating African culture, dress and contemporary issues. The day included discussions around the role of education in the African community.
We'll be holding our annual conference on 12 June 2025 in ARU in Cambridge (room LAB222). This year's theme is Africa and the Future of Education. One of the keynote speakers on the day will be Professor Prospera Tedam, with the main keynote being delivered by postgraduate students, who are obvious stakeholders in the future of education in Africa. There will also be interactive activities throughout the conference with attendees encouraged to participate.
In March 2025, the Africa Research Interest Group (AFRIG) celebrated World Book Day by showcasing some of our favourite books by Group members.
In September 2024, AFRIG was represented at the BERA Conference in Manchester. Having submitted an abstract, we were invited to present our paper, African Higher Education: The Dilemma between Policy and Practice. Representing AFRIG, Samson Tsegay, Irine Mano, Chinenye Ubah and Tarisai Chikomba presented their findings which were well received. In addition to presentation, we were also able to network and meet with other people who were interested in potential future collaborations.
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