Biography Dr Ebrima Ceesay

International Development Department
Senior Research Fellow in International Development

Dr Ebrima Ceesay is a Gambian-born British citizen, researcher, and multidisciplinary practitioner with a broad and diverse background in social research, policy analysis and education, and issues that relate to equality, diversity employment, skills, and gender. He was a prominent Journalist who worked as the Editor of the Daily Observer, one of the most important newspapers operating in The Gambia during the period of military rule: 1994 – 1996. He also served as the BBC correspondent in The Gambia, from 1994 to 1996. In 2001, Mr Ceesay earned a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Degree in African Studies and then completed a PhD degree in Political Science – on contemporary Gambian politics in October 2004.

He studied at the University of Birmingham’s Centre of West African Studies, now renamed Department of African Studies and Anthropology, and is acknowledged as ‘an expert on Gambian matters’ in the UK and further afield. His expertise and knowledge about Africa are often sought after by Africa researchers in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), US State Department, United Nations, Amnesty International and the UK Courts. He has been invited, in the past, by the British Foreign Office (FCO) in London to take part in briefings organized by the FCO’s Africa Section for British Diplomats, taking up new assignments in Africa.

His academic research interests and expertise include the Political History of Gambia, African politics, democratic transitions and consolidation, party systems in Africa, African Militaries, Migration and development, Media Management in West Africa. 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, the premier Africanist journal devoted to the study of Africa

Qualifications:

• PhD in Political Science, University of Birmingham 2004
• M.Phil in African Studies University of Birmingham, 2001

Research Interest: Political History of Gambia, African politics, democratic transitions and consolidation, party systems in Africa, African Militaries, Migration and development, Media Management in West Africa 

Current Projects: Co-Team leader (with Professor Alice Bellgamba) for Gambia Work Package (WP2) as part of the MIGCHOICE ‘Testing the Impact of Interventions on Migration Choices in West Africa’ project’. 

Main Geographic Area:

Sub Saharan Africa