Nordic Africa Institute

Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet) serves as a research, documentation and information centre on modern Africa for the Nordic countries. The Institute conducts independent, policyrelevant research, provides analysis and informs decisionmaking, with the aim of advancing research-based knowledge of contemporary Africa.

The Nordic Africa Institute was founded in 1962 and is financed jointly by Sweden, Finland and Iceland. Denmark and Norway were also members of the original group of founding and funding partner countries, but they backed out in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Administratively, the institute functions as a Swedish government agency that answers to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It is located in Uppsala.

The Nordic Africa Institute is part of AEGIS, a network of African Studies Centres in Europe, and organized its 4th international conference (ECAS) in 2011. The institute is headed by a Director, and a Programme and Research Council has the task of monitoring and advising the Director. On 18 July 2019, the Swedish government appointed Therése Sjömander Magnusson as new Director of NAI, a position which she took up on 1 October 2019.

Previous Directors of NAI
The list is partly based on a report to the Nordic Africa Institute's 50th Anniversary in 2012.
 * Iina Soiri 2013-2019
 * Carin Norberg 2005-2013
 * Lennart Wohlgemut 1993-2005
 * Anders Hjort af Ornäs 1984-1993
 * Carl Gösta Widstrand 1962-1984