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Amid global polycrisis, the relationship between Africa and Europe is constantly changing, also reshaping the landscape of academic research and higher education. As global challenges intensify, the need for deeper and more transformative partnerships remains pressing. Yet vital questions persist: How can partnerships between the continents be deepened, diversified, and made genuinely equitable?
The KIWi Policy Talk, co-organised with the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), provided a platform to reflect on and reimagine collaborations in higher education between Africa and Europe. Participants were encouraged to view equity not only as a moral imperative but also as a practical strategy for addressing complex shared challenges. Discussions centred on the impact of global crises - such as climate change, geopolitical tensions, as well as social inequalities and their consequences - while exploring how innovative partnerships can foster more balanced and inclusive knowledge production.
Moderated by Yolanda Sylvana Rother, the event brought together distinguished scholars from diverse disciplines, each offering unique insights into the opportunities and challenges of global research and higher education collaboration.
Dr. Michael Harms is Deputy Secretary General of the DAAD and oversees the DAAD's Berlin Office.
Prior to assuming his current position in January 2022, Dr. Harms held various management roles within the DAAD, including Director of Communications (2015–2021), Director of the Program Department South (2014), and Director of the Regional Office Cairo (2010–2014).
From 2006 to 2008, he was Head of the Department for International Cooperation of the German Rectors' Conference. He also spent several years teaching at universities in Germany (Ruhr University Bochum, 1997-1998) and the UK (University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1993-1997).
Dr. Harms received his doctorate in Language Learning Research from the Ruhr University Bochum in 2003. He studied History, English Language and Literature, and German Linguistics at the CAU Kiel.
Yolanda Rother (she/her) is co-founder of "The Impact Company", a diversity, audience and culture consultancy. She moderates and speaks on topics related to digital society, politics and open government, diversity and sustainability. The Berlin native is a graduate (Master of Public Policy) of the Hertie School and has lived in Brazil, France and the United States.
Isabella Aboderin is Chair in Africa Research and Partnerships, Founding Director and Chair of the Perivoli Africa Research Institute (PARC); and Professor of Gerontology at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on understanding the nature, drivers and impacts of power dynamics and inequities in Africa – ‘North’ research collaborations, and on issues of ageing, intergenerational relations and care in African contexts. In other roles, Isabella is extraordinary professor at North West University (South Africa), co-chairs the advisory board of the Berlin Center for Global Engagement, and serves as member of the Lancet Commission on Long-term Care for Older Persons; the National Academies of Science Global Commission on Healthy Longevity; the advisory board of Future Africa, University of Pretoria, and the editorial board of Bristol University Press.
Prior to joining the University of Bristol in 2020, Isabella spent eight years at the African Population and Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi where, as senior research fellow, she established and led a research and policy engagement unit on Ageing and Development in Africa. Her work brought together major academic, practice and policy constituencies in the region- and shaped major continental policy frameworks on the issue. In earlier positions Isabella served as Associate Professor, Centre for Research on Ageing, University of Southampton and Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford; and scientist at the World Health Organization Ageing and Lifecourse Unit.
Dr. Herbert Grieshop started his career with Freie Universität Berlin as Director of the newly founded strategic Center for International Cooperation (CIC) in 2009; since April 2015 he has been in charge of the university’s division for International Affairs within the Central University Administration.
Among the tasks of the division are the strategic planning and organization of all university-wide international activities, mobility programs for students, staff and scientists, the responsibility for a global network of strategic partnerships and four liaison offices in Cairo, Delhi, Tbilisi and Sao Paulo, as well as the programs for threatened scholars, refugee students and the preparatory courses of the university’s Studienkolleg. Since 2018 a major task of the division has been the development of the European university network “Una Europa” which now comprises of 11 high profile research universities all over Europe and which received its second round of funding from the EU commission in 2022. Since 2020 Dr. Grieshop has been Freie Universität’s representative of the Steering Committee International for the Berlin University Alliance and since January 2024 he is also an elected member of the board of the DAAD.
Boris Heinz is Professor of Community Energy and Adaptation to Climate Change at the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. He also serves as Head of Programme at the NGO Hudara in Berlin. Boris Heinz combines his academic work with extensive practical experience, having previously worked for the United Nations in New York, first as an Associate Expert in Economic and Social Affairs and later as a Subject Matter Expert for Field Projects with various stays in countries of the Global South. He has also been a Lecturer at the El Gouna Graduate School in Egypt. He holds a PhD from the Technische Universität Berlin. His research areas include sustainable community energy, community-based adaptation to climate change in remote and displacement contexts, and bottom-up community approaches originating from local needs and requirements.
Juliet Thondhlana is Professor and UNESCO Chairholder in International Education and Development as well as Coordinator of the Association of African Universities Europe Regional Office at the University of Nottingham. She has wide-ranging experience researching and publishing in the interlinked fields of the internationalization of higher education, curriculum, research, and doctoral training; global partnerships; policy development, implementation, and review; decolonisation; and skilled migration. Her publications include several journal articles in high-impact journals, refereed book chapters, refereed edited books, special issues, conference papers, and policy documents. She is the lead editor of the ground-breaking Bloomsbury Handbook of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in the Global South, as well as lead guest editor of the Journal of the British Academy Issue “Repositioning of Africa in knowledge production: shaking off historical stigmas.” She is co-Editor of the Journal of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice and sits on editorial boards of high-impact journals.
