Antonia Witt has won a grant for an interdisciplinary research group at the Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA), which is based at the University of Ghana in Accra. The group, which will begin its work on August 15, 2023, consists of five scientists from Germany, Ghana, Sierra Leone and South Africa. They will work together for four months in Accra on the topic of sustainable regional peacebuilding. The group will focus on the question of what sustainable peacebuilding means for various local and regional actors in West Africa.and how sustainable peace can be achieved
Antonia Witt will conduct research on new regional peace initiatives for the Sahel and on popular understandings of sustainability and peace. Other members of the Fellow group are: Linda Darkwa (Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy, Ghana and co-convener of the group), Christof Hartmann (University of Duisburg-Essen), Chido Mutangadura (United Nations University-Centre for Policy Research/Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria), and Tony Karbo (N'Zarama Center for Peacebuilding, Sierra Leone). All members of the group will pursue their own research project during the four months under the common overarching theme of sustainable peacebuilding. To this end, they will undertake joint meetings with actors and institutions in Accra relevant to the topic, participate in the activities of the MIASA Centre, and give public lectures and colloquia on their research topics. Finally, the group will organize a scientific workshop to which they will invite other scholars and ECOWAS practitioners to jointly discuss the scientific and practical implications of their research.