23Mar

09Jun
Call for Papers: Special Issue on Kenya’s 2017 elections
Kenya’s new constitution was enacted in 2010; the referendum which endorsed it showed wide popular support for reforms which were intended to make Kenya a more just and equitable society, and to end the ethnicized politics which had led to repeated violence. The constitution, which created new, elected, county-level governments with significant resources of their own, did not come fully into effect until after the 2013 elections; so Kenya’s 2017 elections will be the first test of the electoral consequences of devolution. This special issue, which will be reviewed by the Journal of Eastern African Studies, will bring together new research from a range of disciplines and perspectives to ask whether, and how, devolution really has changed Kenya’s politics. The collection will therefore be about much more than the country’s 2017 elections: it will analyse the most significant institutional change in Kenya’s post-colonial history; and the ways in which, and extent to which, such institutional change fosters substantive change in political culture, or is simultaneously undermined by the same.Possible themes to be explored in the collection include: the role of governors under the new constitution; the rise of very localized patronage networks around the members of county assemblies; the extent to which the new constitution has succeeded in its apparent aim of institutionalizing political parties and ensuring that they have a presence across the country; how elections reveal the effects of devolution on Kenya’s security agencies; and the workings of the judiciary under the new constitution. The collection will then be framed by an introductory essay in which the editors will draw on their own research, including comparative lessons from elsewhere in Africa. Please note that this means that we are unlikely to be able to accommodate general papers that provide an overview of the election, as these will duplicate the introduction. We are therefore looking for research papers that provide a more in depth analysis of a specific issue.
Those interested in contributing should send a 200 to 300 word abstract to Gabrielle Lynch (g.lynch@warwick.ac.uk) two weeks after the presidential inauguration, and expect to submit full papers of up to 10,000 words including endnotes and a bibliography by early December (with exact dates to be advertised dependent on the final electoral schedule). Please note that all papers will be peer reviewed, and that the selection process for which articles are published will be made by the editors of the Journal of Eastern African Studies. It is unlikely that every paper proposed can be accommodated. For instructions to authors see: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=rjea20&page=instructions

05Jun
Crossing Boundaries 3 – Conference on Global Health Systems
Thursday 7th December at Nelson Mandela Lecture Theatre, Said Business SchoolA conference to showcase Oxford’s multidisciplinary research informing health systems strengthening in LMIC
Invitation to propose a Plenary Presentation
A one-day conference is being planned with support from the Medical and Social Sciences Divisions and organized by a team from across the university . Its aim is to showcase research conducted by multidisciplinary teams from Oxford with partners in or with direct relevance to low and middle income countries’ health and social care systems. This conference aims to promote cross-divisional research collaborations in global health to help achieve the sustainable development goal agenda.
Individuals or groups wishing to present their work (20 minutes presentation, 5 minutes Q&A) are invited to submit a proposed title and up to 200 words description that illustrates the nature and value of their multidisciplinary approach. Joint presentations from individuals representing the collaborative approach taken to addressing complex health and social care systems questions are welcome.
Please download and email presentation outlines using this Presentation Outline Form to kim.monaghan@ndm.ox.ac.uk with the subject heading ‘Crossing Boundaries 3’ Submissions should be received by 30th June 2017
Rapid oral and poster presentations
Individual researchers, particularly those at an early stage of their career and DPhil students, will be invited to submit abstracts at a later date through a specific