Research & Expertise

Vsevolod Sviridov, Deputy Director of the HSE Center for African Studies took part in the session «The Policy of Leading Extra-Regional Actors in the Sahel» of the expert roundtable of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC). The event on the topic «The Alliance of Sahel States: Security and Development» was held on February 12, 2026, and focused on the issue of regional security and the terrorist threat to the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) countries, as well as the policies of various foreign powers in the region.

On November 20, 2025, at a special session of the International Conference on African Countries Food Sovereignty Ensuring in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a presentation of the report on food sovereignty, «Food for Africa: On the Way to Food Sovereignty», was held.

The report «Food for Africa: On the Way to Food Sovereignty», will be presented during the International Conference on African countries food sovereignty ensuring in Addis Ababa, November 20-21, 2025.

On November 10, 2025, «Rossiya Segodnya» international media group discussed the results of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation's election observation mission in Tanzania. The Tanzanian elections took place on October 29, 2025. Andrey Maslov, Director of the HSE Center for African Studies, took part in the event alongside with the observation mission's participants. 

On October 31, 2025, a workshop titled «Techno-Colonialism: Decolonizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) for African Identity» was held at Makerere University in Uganda. Nikolai Golovko, expert at the HSE Center for African Studies, participated in the event online.

On October 31, 2025, a roundtable discussion entitled «Africa-Russia. Joint Projects and Prospects: Geological, Economic and Social Factors» was held in St. Petersburg as part of the «Russian-African Raw Materials Dialogue» conference. The event, which focused on Russian-African cooperation in the field of using mineral resources and geological exploration, was organized by the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra). Andrey Maslov, Director of the HSE Center for African Studies, moderated the roundtable.On October 31, 2025, a roundtable discussion entitled "Africa–Russia. Joint Projects and Prospects: Geological, Economic, and Social Factors" was held in St. Petersburg as part of the "Russian-African Resources Dialogue" conference. The event, which focused on Russian-African cooperation in subsoil use and geological exploration, was organized by the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra). Andrey Maslov, Director of the HSE Center for African Studies, moderated the roundtable.

From October 15-17, 2025, the international forum Russian Energy Week 2025 took place in Moscow. It was organized by the Roscongress Foundation and the Russian Ministry of Energy, with the support of the Moscow Government. Vsevolod Sviridov, Deputy Director of the HSE Center for African Studies, participated as a speaker in the forum's session "Russia – Africa: Toward the Practical Implementation of Energy Projects."

From September 29 to October 3, 2025, Andrey Maslov, Director of the HSE Center for African Studies and Coordinator of the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program, participated in the Russia-Africa Energy Summit  in Cape Town, South Africa. The event took place within the African Energy Week 2025 organized by the Centre’s partner, African Energy Chamber.

On September 30, 2025, Director of the HSE Centre for African Studies Andrey Maslovvisited the National School of Government (NSG) of the Republic South Africa.

On September 18, 2025, the International Technology Congress, a platform for the development of ICT exports, hosted the session “From Cairo to Cape Town: Prospects for the digital market in Africa”, organized by the Center for Global IT Cooperation in partnership with the RUSSOFT Association. An expert of the Center and Deputy Coordinator of the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program Philip Grinin participated in the event.