The Network

Objectives

Through shared values and initiatives, the project seeks to establish an academic infrastructure to redesign the EU-Africa relationships for next generations, allowing both regions to better address: region-specific critical issues with major spillover effects; regionaland trans-regional governance; economic, political, and decision-making interdependencies; ever-growing global challenges and quests for a multipolar international system. It further aims at strengthening African integration through a careful analysis of the experience of European integration.

Background and general objectives

EU-Africa relationships are strategic for both regions, in many respects. Asymmetric but complementary demographic dynamics and migration management, access to primary resources, enhancing resilience to global shocks, reducing inequalities, and many other issues are not only common (although in different degrees) to both continents, but might be better addressed through a jointly designed effort.

Political leaders, governmental and regional institutions, private companies, NGOs seem to be all aware that greater cooperation between the European and African continents is strategic for both.
At best, EU-Africa cooperation is left to un-coordinated policies, mainly aggregating EU national efforts and interests into (often) bilateral partnerships. Despite several attempts at multilateral dialogue, what is still missing is a genuine bottom-up infrastructure for scholarly research and policy advice for both the EU and Africa.
Reliance on the careful consideration of successes and flaws of the European model of regional integration might provide a promising approach to strength African regionalism, but acknowledging cultural and political differences is key to avoid further mistakes in economic and political integration.

The ambition of the CIDRA project is to establishing a research and advocacy centre on EU Africa relations that can:

Provide a new approach to information and education of and on the EU and Africa through teaching modules organized by EU Universities in their counterparts in Africa and by African Universities in their European counterparts

Set up a permanent infrastructure for regional academic research, dialogue, and advocay

Τo enquire into the impact, opportunities, and critical features of a massive investment project in
Africa that involves both African and European stakeholders (public – local, national, and
regional – institutions, major private firms, NGOs)

The Project

The project is also meant to prepare the ground for a major investment plan, jointly designed between the EU and Africa, that focuses on five main issues:

achieving inter-regionalenergy independence;
increasing digital, transport and resources-access infrastructures;
enhancing financial resilience and entrepreneurship, and boosting inter-regional value chains;
managing the green transition and promoting sustainable development through the adoption of ad-hoc adaptation and mitigation strategies;
improving education, a multilayered cultural identity, democratic participation and legitimacy in collective decision-making and human resource management.

Fabio Masini

Project Manager, Roma Tre University

MS in Economics and Business Science, PhD in History of Economic Thought, Assistant Professor in Political Economy (2005-2011), now Full Professor of Theories and History of International Political Economy at the Department of Political Science, Roma Tre University. Since 2018 he holds a Jean Monnet Chair on European Economic Governance. He was advisor for European and global policies to many local, national and international institutions. He is Director of a Master in The Economics of Interdependence and Editor of the journal History of Economic Thought and Policy. His main research interests are focused on the connections between economic theorizing and policymaking, with a special focus on the historical and theoretical dynamics of international economic and monetary integration. He is the Academic Coordinator of the CIDRA Project.

Meet Team Leaders

Prof. Ioannis Papageorgiou

Team leader, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

BA in Law (University of Athens). DEA in comparative politics (Paris I University). Licence Speciale in development cooperation (Université Libre de Bruxelles) PhD (2001) in regional integration (Université Libre de Bruxelles). He is currently Associate Professor in the School of Political Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, teaching European integration, political systems and Comparative Politics. He is a lawyer, member of the Athens Bar Association. He has worked as a lawyer for the Greek Council for Refugees and has sat, representing the Athens Bar Association, in the Asylum Appeals Board of the Hellenic Ministry for Public Order from 2004 till 2009. During the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second semester of 2012, he has acted as the Chair of the Asylum Working Party in the Council of Ministers and conducted the relevant interinstitutional negotiations during that period. Jean Monnet Chair in the “fundamentals of European integration – democracy, institutions and policies” (2020-23). Fulbright Visiting Scholar (2007 and 2021) Expert in several international projects on migration and asylum since 2003. His academic research covers issues of European political integration, immigration policy and international humanitarian and refugee law. He has published articles on the Greek and European asylum policy and a book on the role of regional courts in political integration.

Prof. Saïd Aghrib

Team leader, Cady Ayyad University of Marrakech

PhD in International Economic Law and Professor of
International Law and International Relations at UCAM.
Director of Laboratoire de recherche sur la cooperation
internationale pour le développement, Coordinator of the
Master in Droit international d’investissement et
développement territorial, Head of the Department of
Public Law, Faculty of Juridical, Economic and Social
Sciences of Marrakech. He is also responsible of the PhD
program in Public Law.

Prof. Munenge Mudage Florent

Team leader, Université Officielle de Bukavu

Mr. Munenge Mudage Florent holds a doctorate in international relations from the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has taught international relations at the Official University of Bukavu since 2008, in the Department of International Relations of this University. Responsible for the Chair of International Politics, he is also Director of the NgaziAfrika Study and Research Center whose mission, among other things, is studies, research on Africa and advocacy in order to absorb the development problems of the ‘Africa. He is the author of several scientific articles on Africa and a book on the problem of migrant integration in the Great Lakes region. All these publications touch on various fields and sub-fields, the most important of which are: regional integration issues, international migration policies, decentralization, peace and security issues, governance and local development, as well as international public policies. His research in these different fields has enabled him to participate at the African level in several international conferences, symposiums and conferences. Currently, he is the Academic Secretary General of the Official University of Bukavu.

Prof. Jerónimo Maillo

Team leader, CEU San Pablo University

He is Doctor in law (European Doctorate) with honors from CEU San Pablo University and was a PhD researcher at the European University Institute (Florence) for 2 years. He holds a Law Degree from Salamanca University, and a LLM with honors in EU Law from the College of Europe (Bruges). Full Professor of European Union Law at the Law School and Head of the Public Law Department at CEU San Pablo University. Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Institute for European Studies and Coordinator of the Center for Competition Policy and Market Regulation, both part of CEU San Pablo University. He is Jean Monnet Chair (Single Market & Competition Law in the Digital and Ecological Transition Era/ 1DIGMKT). He has been Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School (2017-2018). His main fields of specialization are the Single European Market, EU Trade Law, EU Competition Law, and market regulation. He is currently leading a Jean Monnet Network project on EU-China Relations in the field of trade, climate change, competition, and market regulation. Appointed as NGA in the International Competition Network (Mergers and Cartels Groups) and has been Judge in the European Law Moot Court Competition for more than 15 years.

Prof. Zemelak Ayele

Team leader, Addis Ababa University

Zemelak Ayele is a former director of, and an associate professor at the Centre for Federal and Governance Studies of Addis Ababa University and a research fellow at the Dullah Omar Institute of the University of the Western Cape.He is also co-convenor the African School on Decentralisation (ASD).With Prof Jaap de Visser, the South African Research Chair (SARCHi) for Multilevel Government, Dr Ayele co-convenes the African School on Decentralisation (ASD). He is also currently serving as a senior political advisor at the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD-Ethiopia). Dr Ayele received LL. B from Addis Ababa University, an Advanced Diploma in Federalism from the Institute of Federalism, Fribourg University, and LL.M and LL. Dfrom the University of the Western Cape (UWC). He has widely published in the areas of decentralisation, federalism, and electoral democracy in Ethiopia and Africa.

Dr. Stephen Kirama

Team leader, University of Dar es Salaam

Stephen Luke Kirama [Cert (Philosophy);B.A (hons); M.A in Economics; PhD (Economics); is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Consultant at the Department of Economics University of Dar es Salaam and a Research Fellow at the Environmental for Development Tanzania (EfDT) Centre with over 12 (12) years’ experience in the Public Sector Economics, Transport Economics (Roadway Pricing, Value for Money for Transport); Health Economics (health financing), Infrastructure (Energy (Natural Gas, Oil and Electricity), Social Infrastructure (Education and Health); Poverty Analysis; Monitoring Evaluation (M&E) and Impact Evaluation. Before joining the Department of Economics, Kirama worked as a Senior Economist at the then Ministry of Communications and Transport in the Government of Tanzania (2003 – 2005. Currently, Dr Kirama is a locally based Researcher and Senior Consultant with extensive experience in organizing, conducting and implementing field work, data management and report writing in Tanzania. Dr Kirama interest on Research and Consultancies is but not limited to: Political Economy, Public Spending and Growth, Energy (Natural Gas, Oil and Electricity); Impact Evaluation, Natural Resources (Exhaustible and Renewable); Poverty Analysis, Wildlife and Tourism. Dr Kirama’s teaching subjects are currently Transport Economics; Health Economics, Energy Economics, Public Sector Economics, Monitoring and Evaluation and Quantitative Methods.

Prof. Abubakar Maitama Yusuf Hotoro

Team leader, Kano University, Wudil

Abubakar Maitama Yusuf Hotoro is a Professor of Applied Geophysics in the Faculty of Science, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil. He holds a Ph.D from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria (2016). He was Director ICT (2015-2019). His current Research is on application of Remote Sensing for Groundwater Exploration of Kano State. He is currently supervising 2 Ph.Ds. He was appointed a full Professor in 2022. He has taught full-time for 22 years.

Prof. Henrik Barth

Team leader, Halmstad University

Henrik Barth is an associate professor in innovation sciences with a focus on innovation management, and he is currently leading several research projects addressing sustainable business model innovation, developed in close collaboration with client companies, students and researchers. Henrik’s teaching experience includes over 4200 hours at international universities, focusing on courses in innovation and entrepreneurship at bachelor’s and master’s levels in the disciplines of innovation management, business administration, and engineering. Henrik has also been awarded “Excellent teaching practitioner”1. Previously, Henrik Barth was Head of the Business Department and Dean for the School of Business, Engineering, and Science at Halmstad University for a total period of nine years. His research contributions include over 30 research projects and additionally 40 peer-reviewed publications. Henrik has published in journals such as Small Business Economics, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Rural Studies, Production Planning and Control, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, and Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension.

Dr. Ali Olow Jimale

Team leader, SIMAD University

Dr. Ali Olow Jimale has been an integral member of SIMAD University since 2011, where he currently serves as anAssociate Professor and Senior Researcher at the Faculty of Computing. Professionally, Dr. Jimale has served in numerous leadership roles, notably as Director of the Center for Research and Development and Head of the Department of Research and Developmentat SIMAD University, where he significantly expanded research initiatives, including mega and mini research grants, and established partnerships with institutions across Africa, Asia, and Europe. As a PhD holder in Intelligent System Techniques from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Dr. Jimale specializes in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Human Activity Recognition. He also possesses an MSc in Computer Science and a BSc in Computer Science. His research interests include the application of AI in education, health, and finance, assistive technologies for disabled individuals, and data science in societal development.

Prof. Siphamandla Zondi

Team leader, University of Johannesburg

Zondi is an expert on Africa’s international relations and strategic partnerships between Africa and other regions of the world including the European Union, Asia and the Caribbean. His research revolves around the African agency and its dynamics in international relations, investigating how Africa could strengthen its ability to shape the nature and logic of partnerships. His latest
work is a book currently underway on Africa’s strategic partnerships, asking the question, what is strategic about 16 partnerships chosen? Zondi is currently researching the relationship between the AU Agenda 2063 and the
Sustainable Development Goals. Zondi has two decades of experience working on Africa’s interests, having started as a Southern Africa researcher at the Africa Institute of South Africa in 2000 to head the Institute for Global Dialogue, to professorships at the University of Pretoria and now the University of Johannesburg. He holds a PhD in African history from the University of Cambridge.

Prof. Francisco Pereira Coutinho

Team leader, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Francisco Pereira Coutinho is an Associate Professor at NOVA School of Law in Lisbon, where he directs the Observatories of Portuguese Legislation and Data Protection Law, as well as the Moot Court Program. Specialized in Public International Law and European Constitutional Law, his research and teaching interests further encompass comparative constitutional law, data protection law, and media law. He is regularly invited in media and academic public debates on current international and constitutional law affairs, both in Portugal and abroad. His most recent books dives into the topics of secession and self-determination in Europe (Almedina, 2021) and European constitutional law (Petrony, 2023).

Prof. Fouad Ben Abdelaziz

Team leader, NEOMA Business School

He is is currently Distinguished Professor at NEOMA BS, and Head of the M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence for Business. He received his PhD in Operations and Decision Systems from Laval University, Canada. He was a Senior Fulbright scholar at the Rutgers Center for Operations Research, Rutgers University, NJ, USA. He is a leading researcher in multi-objective stochastic optimization. Aside from his publications in outstanding journals like EJOR, ANOR and FSS, he has served as Guest Editor of special issues of reputed international journals. Dr. Ben Abdelaziz has worked/visited many universities around the world such as the University of Tunis, the American University of Beirut, the University of Dubai, and Pace University NY. He has been consulting for the chemical industry in Tunisia for 6 years and was the co founder of the African Federattion of the Operational Research Societies. His recent research interests are in Supply Chain Optimization and Applications. He was appointed as the director oft he doctoral School in Tunisia and Director of the MSc in Supply Chain and the Doctoral School at NEOMA-BS.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.