Oxford University’s African Studies Centre is one of the world’s leading centres of African Studies. Though the history of the study of Africa in Oxford preceded the founding of the Centre in 2004, the Centre has since become the focal point for graduate level work and faculty research on Africa in Oxford. Alongside a vibrant doctoral programme, the
MSc in African Studies, inaugurated in 2005, is already recognised as one of Europe's most prestigious and most successful training programme in the field. The Centre has trained graduate students who are now holding important positions in different spheres of social, economic and political life in Africa and the rest of the world. With particular strengths in the Social Sciences and the Humanities, the Centre enjoys a reputation for high quality, relevant research that plays a leading role in academic debates as well as public policy.
Apart from hosting and working with regional study groups and running frequent workshops and conferences to disseminate research findings and publicise topical issues, the Centre runs a weekly seminar on Thursdays where scholars and postdoctoral researchers in Oxford and from different parts of the world present their work. The Centre also regularly hosts prominent African statesmen, leaders, entrepreneurs, social activists, intellectuals, thinkers, scholars, writers, artistes, and others who are interested in Africa and African affairs.
Members of the Centre are affiliated to and teach in other faculties/departments in the university including Politics and International Relations, Social and Cultural Anthropology and History.