Welcome to Uppsala Africa Days 2026, taking place on 21–22 May 2026 and jointly organised by the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), Uppsala University (UU), and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

The event will offer a valuable opportunity to explore a wide range of ongoing research and higher education initiatives in African settings, as well as collaborations with African research institutes and universities.

Thursday 21 May 2026

9.15 - 10.00 Opening Ceremony

Anders Hagfeldt, Vice-Chancellor Uppsala University
Pär Forslund, Deputy Vice-Chancellor SLU
Therése Sjömander, Director Nordic Africa Institute
Chaired by Sten Hagberg, Director, Forum for Africa Studies, Uppsala University

10.00 - 10.30 Coffee break

10.30 - 11.15 Keynote: "From Equitable Partnerships to Transformative Collaborations: Repairing the Broken Global Research Ecosystem"
Divine Fuh, Director of HUMA - Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa

11.15 - 11.45 Interactive activity and Q & A

11.45 - 13.00 Lunch

13.00 - 13.45 Advancing Infectious Disease Diagnosis in Africa: Processes, Partnerships, and Progress

Ida-Maria Sintorn, Carolina Wählby, Department of Information Technology, Johan Elf, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Disciplinary domain of science and technology, Uppsala University

13.45 - 14.30 Research presentations from SLU

• The Properties and Relations of Maize - A multispecies study of agrarian change through the lens of maize in South African smallholder farming. Klara Fischer, Division of Environmental Communication, Department of Rural and Urban Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
• Presentation of the SLU-led project AgriFoSe2030, External link. which focuses on science into policy and practice and developing the capacity to achieve this. Robert Musundire, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe and Hub leader for AgriFose (via Zoom).

14.30 - 15.00 Coffee break

15.00 - 16.00 Roundtable on Transformative Collaborations: Reflecting on Experience
Moderated by Eleanor Fisher, Head of Research, the Nordic Africa Institute, with: Patience Mususa, Senior Researcher, the Nordic Africa Institute; Bo Lager, Senior Policy Advisor for Agriculture at the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC); Judy McCallum, Executive Director, Life & Peace Institute, and Viola Nilah Nyakato, Senior lecturer and gender/public-health researcher, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), Uganda (via Zoom)

16.00 - 16.45 Research presentations from the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Uppsala University

• The Politics of Violent Evictions in Urban Africa, Emma Elfversson
• Africa’s Peace Puzzle: Intrastate Peace in Malawi, Zambia and Botswana, Johan Brosché
• Refugee Inclusion and Host-Refugee Cooperation in Uganda, Kathleen Klaus

16.45 - 17.00 Technical break

17.00 - 17.45 Research and art collaboration: In(ter)vention: I felt like a human being
Through instructions in headphones, you become part of a collective choreography created by artist Anna Haglund and based on research from Uppsala University. External link, opens in new window. The session will start with a presentation by Anna Haglund, artist and composer, and Elin Inge, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University.
Funded by Uppsala kommun X Kulturlyftet External link, opens in new window..

17.15 - 18.15 Mingle with refreshments at the Foyer of the Evolutionary Biology Center.

Friday 22 May 2026

9.00 - 9.15 Arrival

9.15 - 10.30 Short research presentations from members of the Uppsala School for Africa Studies

• Ancient DNA perspectives on population continuity and change across the Great Zimbabwe civilization (1000-1700 CE), Andrea Soler-i-Nunez, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
• Genomic diversity, history and population structure of present-day Zambia, Bupe Kapema Kapema, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
• Rethinking Risk: Disability and Climate -Driven Disaster Risk Systems, Rosemary Nakijoba, Muteesa I Royal University, Uganda
• Framing maternal health in English and Francophone contexts: Insights from a two-week Twitter/X explorative analysis, Mahamadou Kante, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University
• A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Community Support for Terrorists’ Reintegration in Northeast Nigeria, Ikem Godspower Ujene, Criminology and Security Studies, Miva Open University, Nigeria
• Discovering evolution through text/document analysis, Seun Osuntoki, CoRE AI, Uppsala University
• Food safety and hygiene practices in the preparation of chicken meat and tomatoes in Harar, Ethiopia: development of a household food safety index, Meseret Bekele Alemayehu, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University
• Gender, Power and Online Electoral Violence Against Women in Politics in Zimbabwe- A critique, Gibson Nyikadzino, Stellenbosch University

10.30 - 11.00 Coffee break

11.00 - 12.15 Short research presentations from members of the Uppsala School for Africa Studies & SLU

• Potential barriers and facilitators to implementing social determinants screening in mental healthcare, Victoria Awortwe, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University
• “Dear Africa/You have many narratives” Emerging Forms of E-Literature Beyond the South African Novel, Jasmine Mattey, English Department, University of Bergen
• South Africa 2024 election and its aftermath: Dialogues in the midst of memory crisis, Gallous Atabongwoung, Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation, University of Pretoria
• The Food Security-Employment-Migration Nexus in post Land Reform Zimbabwe: A Transformative Social Policy Perspective, Newman Tekwa, South African Research Chair in Social Policy, University of South Africa
• Community fields in Karangasso-Sambla: Beyond agricultural production, what role do they play in preventing land disputes? (in French), Justine Ouoba, Dept. of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Forum for Africa Studies, Uppsala University
• How DNA Reveals Human Adaptation: Past and Present, Grace Kennedy, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
• Effect of Climate change on Cassava diseases (CMD and CBSD) Severity and Transmission in selected Cassava varieties in Tanzania, Veneranda Mlegi, PhD-student within the subprogram Food security, Bilateral research cooperation between the University of Dar Es Salaam and SLU
• Epidemiology study of Haemonchus contortus infection in sheep and goats in Dodoma Region, East-Central Tanzania, Rebecca Wambura, PhD student within the subprogram Food security, Bilateral research cooperation between the University of Dar Es Salaam and SLU

12.15 - 13.30 Lunch

13.30 - 14.15 Research on the development of new drug regimens for TB and TB-meningitis through clinical trials taking place in Southern and Eastern Africa (mainly South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda), Elin Svensson, Department of Pharmacy, Disciplinary domain of Medicine and Pharmacy, Uppsala University

14.15 - 14.55 Institutional research and Networks for Transformative Research Collaborations at Uppsala University, Emma Elliot, Helin Bäckman-Kartal from Uppsala University and Tendai Dhodho, African Student Association of Uppsala (ASAU)

14.55 - 15.00 Concluding remarks and closing

For questions, please send an e-mail to julia.falkerby@nai.uu.se