Prof. Dr Matthias Basedau takes over as director of the GIGA Institute of African Studies and the long-serving directors of the Institutes of Latin American and Middle East Studies Prof. Dr Detlef Nolte and Prof. Dr Henner Fürtig retire.
The GIGA’s Board of Trustees has nominated Prof. Dr. Matthias Basedau as the new director of the GIGA Institute for African Affairs. He will take up the leadership of the regional institute on 1 October 2018. Prof. Basedau has held diverse leadership positions at the GIGA since 2002 and has been an honorary professor of political science at the University of Hamburg since 2013. In his research, he focuses on resource-induced and religiously motivated conflict, civil-military relations, and political institutions in sub-Saharan Africa.
The GIGA thanks Prof. Dr. Jann Lay for his tireless engagement as acting director of the GIGA Institute for African Affairs. He played a particularly important role for the GIGA in light of the federal government’s increased interest in economic cooperation with Africa in recent years. Prof. Lay will continue to offer his expertise as head of the GIGA Research Programme “Growth and Development”.
The GIGA has seen two additional changes in its leadership team. In May, the institute bid farewell to Prof. Dr. Detlef Nolte upon his retirement. He had headed the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies since 2006 and led the GIGA in an acting capacity between 2011 and 2014. Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Henner Fürtig enters retirement as of 1 October. He helped build the newly founded GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies starting in 2007 and has headed the regional institute as a distinguished expert on the Middle East since 2009. The GIGA wishes its parting directors all the best and thanks them for their many years of commitment.
Political scientist, long-standing GIGA member, and recently appointed honorary professor at the University of Marburg Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach has taken up the role of acting director of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies. The GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies will be led in an acting capacity by Dr. André Bank, who has strengthened the team with his Middle East expertise since 2010. Both are taking over these duties until the respective positions are permanently filled through joint appointment processes with the University of Hamburg.
