Prof. Nicasius Achu Check is a Golden Key scholar, a Chief Research Specialist and Acting Director of Research in the Governance, Peace, and Security research programme of the HSRC's Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA). He was recently appointed as an Extra-Ordinary Professor in the Faculty of Humanities, North-West University, South Africa. Check holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Studies from the University of Johannesburg. Check specializes in de-colonial politics, France-Africa relations, African post-colonial state-building initiatives, genocide studies, African philosophy, humanities on the African continent, and African development initiatives. Before joining AISA, Check was a junior lecturer in the Department of History at Vista University Distance Education Campus where he taught modules on the spread of Islam in West Africa, Pan-Africanism, and decolonization.
He has led several research projects at the HSRC, all of which have culminated in co-edited books. These include Cooperative Diplomacy, Regional Stability, and National Interests: The Nile River and Riparian States (2012), Regenerating Africa: Bringing African Solutions to African Problems (2017) and Franceâ??s Africa Relations: Domination, Continuity and Contradiction (2019).
During the past decade, he has mostly conducted his research in the area of Governance, Peace, and Security with a specific focus on African peace and security architecture, governance reforms within the African Union and related institutions, and post-colonial nation-building initiatives.
Check has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal papers, several book chapters, edited books, policy briefs, and 6 occasional papers. He has also presented papers at several international conferences. He currently sits on the editorial committee of Africa Insight, a peer-reviewed journal accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training. He is a steering committee member of the African Peer Review Mechanismâ??s School of Governance, a member of the Board of the Department of Politics and International Relations, at the University of Botswana, and a board member of Riara University and United States International Universityâ??s International Relations Departments, Nairobi, Kenya.
