The ASCL calls for applications for its Visiting Fellowship Programme in 2027. Applicants must submit a proposal that is in line with one of these two Collaborative Research Groups: ‘Conflict Continuities’ or ‘Planetary Health in and from Africa’. Preference will be given to applicants based in Africa. Deadline: 3 May 2026.

Organised by the final cohort of Research Master students of African Studies, the conference 'Mining Matters: Resource and Mineral Extraction Across Africa' was a huge success. It allowed both seasoned scholars and students to share their knowledge about resource extraction in Africa.

Describing almost 1400 Africa maps in three months: it’s no small task that student assistants Artemis Mantheakis and Beatriz Veiga have been working on within the joint ASCL-UBL Africa Maps Project. The aim is to describe a 20th-century map collection of the library of the African Studies Centre, that is housed in the Leiden University Libraries (UBL).

The jury of the Africa Thesis Award is delighted to announce that the 2025 prize has been awarded to Yonwaba Matshobotiyana of the University of the Free State, South Africa, with a thesis on Black women's poetry in South Africa. The jury was blown away by this strong scholarly contribution to Black feminist thought and the field of decolonial literature studies. 

On 2–3 March, the 'Green Hydrogen South–South Dialogue from Below' took place in Namibia. This event brought together community representatives, indigenous leaders, and civil society organisations from Namibia, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.

In this special section of the journal Conflict and Society, the authors call for attention to 'conflict continuities' to understand contemporary violence. They argue that past violent conflict may serve to generate new conflict, in reworked forms. The special section was initiated by the CRG ‘Conflict continuities’.