Henning Melber studied Political Sciences and Sociology at the Freie Universität Berlin (1972-1977). He obtained a PhD in Political Sciences in 1980 and a Habilitation (venia legend: Development Studies) in 1992 at the University of Bremen.
He was Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Kassel (1982-1992), Director of The Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in Windhoek (1992-2000), Research Director at The Nordic Africa Institute (2000-2006) and Executive Director of The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation (2006-2012), where he remains employed as a Senior Advisor since then.
He is Extraordinary Professor at the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria since 2011 and Professor Extraordinary at the Centre for Africa Studies at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein since 2013.
He was the Swedish member of the Executive Committee of the European Association for Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) for more than ten years.
Henning is co-editor of the Africa Yearbook
, managing co-editor of Africa Spectrum
and editor-in-chief of the Strategic Review for Southern Africa
.