Dr Ebrima Ceesay is a Research Fellow, International Development Department, University of Birmingham, UK, with a broad and diverse professional background in social science research, policy analysis and education, and issues that relate to equality, diversity employment, skills, and gender. A former BBC correspondent and an ex-editor of the Daily Observer newspaper in the Gambia, Dr Ceesay is a political scientist with more 15 years of experience and has mainly specialised in the fields of democracy and migration studies. His research interests are in the areas of governance, democracy, migration and development. He is particularly interested in democracy and freedom, electoral reforms, popular participation and political institutions, people’s perspectives on democratization, and trends towards authoritarianism in Africa. He has written on a variety of topics, particularly on issues surrounding the military, democratization, and migration and development in Africa. In 2001, Mr Ceesay earned a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Degree in African Studies and then completed a PhD degree in Political Science in October 2004. He studied at the University of Birmingham’s Centre of West African Studies and is acknowledged as ‘an expert on Gambian matters’ in the UK and further afield. He is the sole author of the book, The Military and ‘Democratisation’ in The Gambia: 1994-2003, published in 2006, and also co-editor (with Professor Abdoulaye Saine and Dr Ebrima Sall) of the book, State and Society in the Gambia Since Independence, 1965-2012 (Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2013). He has also served as a reviewer for academic journals, including the Journal of Modern African Studies (JMAS), globally, one of the premier Africanist journals devoted to the study of Africa.
Capacity Building Interests: Enhancing institutional capacity in Africa
Key methodological skills: Qualitative and quantitative methods
Current research: Co-Team leader (with Professor Alice Bellgamba) for the Gambia Work Package (WP2) as part of the MIGRATION-CHOICE project: ‘Testing the Impact of Interventions on Migration Choices in West Africa’ project’. Considerable funding of over £1.4 million has been awarded to the International Development Department at University of Birmingham, UK, for research on migration decision-making and development in West Africa. Funded by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the MIG-CHOICE research project is investigating the connection between development interventions and migration in and from three countries in West Africa: Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea.
Main Geographic area: Sub Saharan Africa