News

MIASA Call for Application - Rethinking Forced Displacement in Africa
26-28 March 2026, LASPAD, St. Louis, Senegal

Conference Objectives and Themes: The conference is organised within the framework of the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa's (MIASA) outreach programme. MIASA is based at the University of Ghana in Legon, Ghana, and the conference is hosted by the Laboratory for the Analysis of Societies and Powers / Africa – Diasporas (LASPAD) at the University Gaston Berger in Saint-Louis, Senegal.

The conference is organised in cooperation with the Laboratory for Studies and Research on Social Dynamics and Local Development (LASDEL) in Niamey/Niger and Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany. The conference aims to bring together different multidisciplinary perspectives on the subject of 'forced displacement', with the objective of analysing emerging and complex forms of displacement in Africa. 

More broadly, the conference will study the social changes underway in the Sahel and beyond in connection with the current waves of displacement. The conference invites empirically rich and theoretically grounded studies papers.

Application

• An abstract of your paper in English or French (500 words). In this abstract, please describe your topic and explain how it relates to one or more of the above axes. Also, please describe your disciplinary perspective, whether you have used primary or secondary data, and the current phase of your research.
• A CV (max. 2 pages) containing information about your academic profile, such as your disciplinary background, research interests and regions, your current academic position and institutional affiliation, and especially your research projects and publications relevant to the topic.
• Applications should be send as a single Pdf to: scholze@em.uni-frankfurt.de, or marschol@web.de
• Submission deadline: 15th January 2026
• Any enquiries should be directed to scholze@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Selection & Participation

• Applications will be reviewed by the committee of conveners until End of January 2026,
• The conference will be bilingual (English-French), simultaneous translation will be provided,
• All costs (including flight ticket, accommodation, catering, transport, visa fees etc.) for those selected will be covered by MIASA,
• All arrangements for your travel and stay in Senegal will be made by the Goethe University in collaboration with LASPAD.
• The conference is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) through MIASA.

For more information on your application, please refer to: https://miasa.ug.edu.gh/event/cfa-thematic-conference-intraregional-migration/