Key information Deadline date: 15 May 2026 Amount: Tuition Fees and Maintenance Stipend Department: Department of Politics and International Studies Scholarship overview SOAS University of London invites applications for one fully funded MPhil/PhD studentship linked to the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project Pan-African Frontiers: Reparative Futures and the Reimagining of Global Order, led by Dr Daniel Mulugeta and hosted by the SOAS Centre for Pan-African Studies (CPAS) i

by Tim Murithi, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar, Centre for Pan-African Studies (CPAS), SOAS University of London The United Kingdom (UK)’s relationship with Africa has evolved from a history of exploitation and colonial domination to an emergent partnership, which needs to be reframed as the post-Second World War (WWII) global order unravels and old certainties fade away. The UK foreign policy establishment has traditionally framed its posture towards Africa as a zone of extraction

Vigilante groups in the Lake Chad Basin region are pivotal yet precarious actors in the conflict against Boko Haram. While instrumental in providing security and countering the insurgency, they are also implicated in human rights violations, abuses of power, and occasional instances of tactical cooperation with Boko Haram insurgents. These realities blur the lines between violent actors and community protectors and show the risk of vigilantes devolving into regional security