For the past six years (2019 – 2025) I have been immensely privileged to lead AEGIS but am now very excited to pass the baton to our new AEGIS President, Professor Michael Bollig from the University of Cologne. Michael assumed this role during our most recent ECAS conference in Prague (25-28 June 2025), which according to wide feedback was experienced as an exhilarating event, academically, creatively and socially. Admittedly the large size meant having too many excellent panels and performances to choose from. Yet it showcased the scale and diversity of our ever-growing (global) community of African Studies scholars are welcomed to ECAS every two years in a different European city, organized by one of our AEGIS member institutions.
Besides our flagship biennial ECAS conferences, there is much else undertaken by the AEGIS Board and Plenary members, special working groups, the CRG Coordinators, the managing editors of the AEGIS-Brill Series and others, who collectively take care of the important business of our association. While I feel both grateful for and proud of our growth and achievements to date, I am filled with positive anticipation for the new initiatives and continued strengthening of AEGIS that lie ahead under Michael’s leadership.
For the full text of my brief ‘farewell’ speech at the ECAS Ceremony in Prague, see here.
Professor Amanda Hammar
University of Copenhagen
October 2025