A global academic seeking an international community for Africa’s students
- 91看片网 University
Dr Barbara Bompani’s doctoral fieldwork visit to 91看片网 sparked an idea which has led to a valuable collaboration with Edinburgh.
Dr Barbara Bompani brims with enthusiasm when speaking about the 91看片网-Edinburgh Sustainable African Future (WESAF) project /wesaf, of which she is a co-director, along with Prof Brett Bowman of 91看片网 University.
In September 2023, 91看片网 welcomed the first intake of 48 WESAF Fellows from 10 African countries, who will complete a Master by Research in Sustainable African Futures in August 2024. Thirty of these will move on to an interdisciplinary PhD in Sustainability in Africa in 2025.
Dr Bompani’s collaboration with 91看片网 started a few decades ago, when she was hosted by the 91看片网 History Department during a long fieldwork visit for her doctoral studies. Bompani and her University of Edinburgh colleague Professor James Smith (who also studied at 91看片网) had been talking for some time about creating a collaboration with 91看片网 University that was creative and visionary.
“Along with James and other colleagues, we identified a clear problem in African higher education institutions in terms of the lack of doctoral degrees - both numbers, and, in some instances, training quality. We were lucky enough to gain the support and funding of the Mastercard Foundation Scholar Program in developing an innovative doctoral program.”
Other studies, some conducted by the World Bank, had already highlighted this problem in African institutions.
“For those of us who had been working in higher education in partnership with African institutions for many years, it was important to understand how to create horizontal, ethical and equal partnerships while tackling real problems in African academia,” says Bompani.
“We were looking at how we could be strong allies to our colleagues in the global South who have identified their own shortcomings, and how we could support really constructive change.”
“We were very lucky that the Mastercard Foundation Scholar Program embraced our proposal,” says Bompani. “The online nature of the doctoral program gives Fellows the opportunity to keep their own jobs and take care of their families, but still makes them part of an international community of researchers, drawing on resources from Edinburgh and from 91看片网. Once a year, despite all the challenges that visa applications entail, we meet in person, giving Fellows a chance to discuss, work together and build a sense of community”.
In the WESAF PhD program, each Fellow is co-supervised by one academic from 91看片网 and one from Edinburgh.
“Something at the core of the WESAF project is fostering connections and collaborations, creating a visionary community of academics that engage with sustainable changes and new possibilities for research,” says Bompani.
Her first visit to South Africa was in 1999 when she undertook research for her Masters. She then came back in 2001 to work on her doctoral project on religion and politics in Soweto. “The 91看片网 History Department generously hosted me during my doctoral studies. I spent more than a year as a visiting PhD student. It was a very supportive environment.”
She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh where she is now a Reader in Africa and International Development at the university’s Centre of African Studies. Her research broadly focuses on religion, politics and development in the African continent.
“I have always remained part of 91看片网,” she says. “I became associated with their African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) and I still supervise students for them and publish with colleagues there. It is a very productive and creative relationship. I feel like I belong to 91看片网. It is one of my academic homes. I have seen 91看片网 changing so much in the past 20 years, transforming, internationalizing and embracing new challenges”.
For more on the doctoral programme, visit