In this presentation Dr David Mickler and Dr Nikola Pijović will examine the key challenges to and opportunities for widening and deepening reciprocal knowledge about Africa in Australia and Australia in Africa. They argue that due to a range of historical and contemporary political, institutional and resource contexts, such ‘Africa-Australia literacy’ remains low and underdeveloped on both sides, inhibiting deeper engagement between the continents and with diaspora communities. After establishing the wider context for Australia-Africa relations, they will suggest how innovations in the education sector could deepen mutual knowledge and develop platforms for enhancing relationships across the Indian Ocean.

Dr David Mickler is Director of the Africa Research & Engagement Centre (AfREC) at the University of Western Australia, Perth, and a Senior Lecturer in Foreign Policy & International Relations in the School of Social Sciences. His books include New Engagement: Contemporary Australian Foreign Policy Towards Africa (2013), The African Union: Challenges of Peace, Security and Governance (2016) and Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals (2019). From 2016-18 he was the inaugural co-chair of the Global Africa Group in the Worldwide Universities Network and since 2016 has co-hosted the Australia Africa Universities Network annual forum in Perth. His is currently a Visiting Fellow at CAS while teaching a collaborative short course at UP on ‘International Relations in the Indian Ocean Region’ developed under the 2018 UP-UWA MoU that he helped to facilitate.

Dr Nikola Pijović is an AfREC Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia and is currently based in Pretoria. He has a PhD in International Relations from the Australian National University and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His research focuses on international relations and foreign policy analysis and is the author Australia and Africa. A New Friend From the South? (2019). In 2018, he led a discussion at the South African Institute of International Affairs on the theme ‘What does Australia want in Africa?’. He has also published articles on comparative foreign policy-making, state-building and terrorism in the Somalia, and Australian foreign policy.

Date 17 July 2019
Time 16:00-18:00, followed by light refreshments
Venue Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, Old College House, Hatfield Campus
RSVP by 15 July 2019 with [email protected]