Seminar series
Advancing African epistemic leadership
PARC seminar series 2026
The Perivoli Africa Research Centre (PARC) is pleased to launch this seminar series as part of its mission to advance transformative partnership working with Africa.
Come along to find out more about how Africa is currently positioned within the global research ecosystem – and how it can assume a leadership role. We will look at how African knowledges and languages could be foregrounded, and what Northern universities can do to support this.
Who is it for?
The series is primarily aimed at African-facing research and practitioner communities in Bristol and the UK. It will also be of interest to Africa-based and global universities and institutions.
The seminars
We will run around four lunchtime seminars per term, all of which can be joined either in-person or online, beginning with the following:
Seminar 1: The global research space as both collaborative and performative
Professor Simon Marginson, School of Education, University of Bristol.
Chair: Dr Rafael Mitchell, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Bristol.
The seminar focuses on spatial relations and asymmetries in global research, teasing out the different spatial projects and the synergies and tensions between them.
The tendency to multipolarity is disrupting the old centre-periphery dynamic but the decay of Anglophone hegemony in published science is a slow process. Regional signification and collaboration and reciprocal multi-lingual publishing are primary space making strategies in opening up new possibilities.
Wednesday 4 February 2026, seminar at 13:00-14:00 GMT
Beacon House, University of Bristol
For in-person attendees, the event will be followed by light refreshments in situ.
For online attendees, please access via Teams.
Seminar 2: Title TBC
Dr Heide Hackmann, Director of Future Africa, University of Pretoria, and Chair in Science Futures, University of Stellenbosch. Chaired by Professor Isabella Aboderin, PARC Africa Chair
Wednesday 18 March 2026
More details to come.
Seminar 3: Title TBC
Speakers Dr Eyob Balcha Gebremariam and Professor Leon Tikly will speak about their work together on decolonisation.
More details to come for this April seminar
Seminar 4: The case and possibilities for African epistemic leadership **POSTPONED FROM JANUARY**
Professor Kenneth Matengu, Vice Chancellor of the University of Namibia, and Chair of PARC’s Advisory Board. The event will be introduced by PARC’s Director, Professor Leon Tikly and chaired by Professor Isabella Aboderin.
Exploring ways Africa can lead knowledge creation and shape its own future.
Please note: This seminar has been postponed. More details to follow once rescheduled.
We look forward to welcoming you to these seminars. If you would like to suggest a topic aligned to the theme of advancing African research that you would find useful, please contact us at parc-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk.