Dr Nayanka Paquete Perdigão is a Research Associate with the African Leadership Centre (ALC). Prior to this, she was the head of the ALC Peace and Security Fellowships programme and convenor of the annual ALC Africa Debates at King's.

Nayanka was educated at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) where she holds a BA in Politics and Development and a MSc at the London School of Economics (LSE) in Urbanisation and Development. Nayanka also holds a MRes in Political Science, also from the LSE. She holds a doctorate in Leadership Studies with reference to Security and Development from King’s. Her PhD thesis completed in May 2020 was titled: Leadership and State-Building in Guinea-Bissau: Binding and Unbinding Mutuality in State and Society Relations.

Nayanka has published peer-reviewed articles in the ALC Africa Comments Series and the ALC COVID-19 Op-ed Series. She has also organised and overseen numerous academic conferences and symposiums.

Nayanka has lived in several developing countries and is fluent in English, French, Portuguese and Guinea-Bissau Creole. She has commented on development, peace, and security issues for Lusophone and Francophone Africa on Radio France International and Al Jazeera. She was also a Guinea-Bissau freelance contributor for The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

She is involved in a number of on-going ALC research projects. She was part of the Cote d'Ivoire research team on the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) funded project, ‘Reframing Narratives of State-building in Africa: The role of Political Settlements in Peacebuilding and State-building', which will be published as part of a special issue in the Conflict, Security & Development journal in April 2021.

Research

• State formation and elite bargains
• Colonial legacies and conflict in Lusophone and Francophone Africa
• Leadership as process approaches to peace-building

Further details

See Nayanka's research profile