We are pleased to invite you to the joint workshop Rethinking Legal Research in and with Africa: Legal Methods, Critical Perspectives, and Decolonial Approaches in the Context of Human Rights and Sustainable Development, which will take place at the City Campus of the University of Antwerp from 16 to 18 March 2026, in collaboration with the Chair of African Legal Studies at the University of Bayreuth.
The workshop is designed specifically for early-career researchers (prospective doctoral, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers) and aims to foster critical reflection on socio-legal research on human rights and sustainable development in the African context. It builds on the observation that international human rights and development research, despite longstanding legitimacy critiques from the Global South, often remains shaped by Global North paradigms and tends to overlook local lived realities and plural legal orders. The workshop responds to this by engaging with critical conceptual and methodological approaches and seeks, in particular, to provide early-career researchers with opportunities for exchange, self-reflection and methodological training. Central questions concern research methods, historical contexts, audiences and researcher positionality.
You can register for the event here.
We would be grateful if you could register by 10 February 2026, although expressions of interest will still be accepted afterwards. The full event programme will be shared with registered participants.
Practical information:
We would be grateful if you could share this invitation widely with interested colleagues. If you have any questions, please contact: martin.mitschker@uni-bayreuth.de and isabelle.zundel@uantwerpen.be.
Acknowledgement
This event is made possible through the generous support of the OJO grant from the Flemish Government, the Global Minds funding from VLIR-UOS and the dedicated commitment of our speakers.