MIASA – Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa

The Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) is dedicated to the topic of ‘Sustainable Governance’. Governance we define as the interplay of informal and formal rules for steering public affairs, embedded in social, material and cultural practices of everyday life. MIASA’s three research foci are: sustainable environmental transformation, sustainable conflict management, and sustainable democracy.

Overarching aims of MIASA are working towards a reduction of global asymmetries in knowledge production and bridging the cultural divide between anglophone and francophone Africa. MIASA will serve as a hub for exchange, networking and collaboration amongst leading researchers from Germany, Ghana, the African and European continent and beyond. It will also offer ample funding opportunities for early career researchers.

MIASA is based on the beautiful campus of the University of Ghana, Legon (Accra), with a secondary site located at the Centre de Recherches sur les Politiques Sociales (CREPOS) in Dakar, Senegal. It is thus the first Institute for Advanced Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa.

MIASA’s programmes are funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), while its local staffing, administrative and operational costs are borne by the University of Ghana. After a preliminary phase (2018-2020), German funding on an even more substantial scale is set to continue for another ten years of operation and transition (2020-2030), after which the University of Ghana (UG) will take full financial responsibility for the institute.