At ECAS10 in Prague, I had the honour of taking over the presidency of AEGIS from Amanda Hammar.
I am deeply grateful for the trust placed in me and look forward to continuing Amanda’s inspiring work together with colleagues across our vibrant network.In this role, I am committed to strengthening the vital role of Europe–Africa relations in advancing academic research and dialogue, particularly within the diverse disciplines represented by AEGIS.
I studied anthropology, history, African studies, and rural sociology in Cologne and Bonn, and received my PhD from the University of Tübingen in 1991. For my PhD I worked in third party funded project on the causes of militant conflicts in northern Kenya (1986–1991). I later served as Assistant Professor in Cologne, held a visiting professorship in Munich and in 2000 became a fully tenured professor at the University of Cologne’s anthropology department. My research has focused on environmental anthropology in Africa, and I have coordinated several long-term, interdisciplinary collaborations with thematic emphasis on the political ecology of adaptation, resilience and water management. Within the context of the Collaborative Research Centre Future Rural Africa I researched the socio-ecological consequences of large-scale conservation projects and human-wildlife coexistence.
The ERC Advanced Grant Rewilding the Anthropocene (2022–2026) has further deepened my engagement with global debates on conservation and human–environment relations.
In teaching, I focus on environmental anthropology (e.g. conservation, climate change, multispecies studies), conflict management and African regional studies—always with a strong commitment to international dialogue and partnership as well as to inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives.
As a founding member of the Global South Studies Center at the University of Cologne, I continue to promote collaboration and exchange between scholars in the Global South (and Africa in particular) and Europe.
From 2011 to 2015, I served as Vice-Rector for International Affairs, Academic Careers, and Diversity, where I worked to expand the university’s global partnerships and international profile.
As President of AEGIS, I will dedicate myself to fostering collaboration across our network and strengthening Europe–Africa partnerships in research and teaching.
Professor Michael Bollig
University of Cologne
October 2025