He is also the School Director of Research and Faculty Coordinator of the Distinguished Speakers’ Series. He earned his PhD at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham UK. Most recently he was a visiting Fung Global Fellow, at Princeton Institute of International and Regional Studies, Princeton University and previous winner of the Lord Bryce prize of the Political Science Association. His research mainly looks at democratic transition and democratization processes in deeply divided societies, ethnic and nationalism politics, conflict analysis, electoral studies and China-Africa contemporary political relations. He is a published author with a major academic press and a number of discipline journals. He is a political commentator who has been often quoted in a number of leading presses around the world.