Dr Nicasius Achu Check is a Golden Key scholar and a senior research specialist in the governance, peace and security research programme of the HSRC's Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA). He holds a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy (Political Studies) from the University of Johannesburg (2016). Check specialises in decolonial 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 decolonisation.
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 France'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 produced more than 25 peer-reviewed publications, including 16 chapters in edited books, 14 journal articles, 9 policy briefs and 6 occasional papers. He has also presented papers at more than 12 international conferences. He currently seats 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 Mechanism'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's International Relations Department in Nairobi, Kenya.
