Analyst
Jolyon Ford
Senior Analyst, Africa
Joined Oxford Analytica in 2011. Holds a PhD from the Australian National University (ANU) on the regulation of business activity in post-conflict and fragile states and an LL.M degree (international law) from the University of Cambridge. Also holds a BA and an LL.B (history and law), both from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Has worked in government, civil society, an intergovernmental organisation (the Commonwealth Secretariat) and development consulting. Has also been a full-time academic teaching international and constitutional law at the University of Sydney, the ANU and the School of Oriental and African Studies London.
Jason Mosley
Senior Analyst, Africa
Joined Oxford Analytica in 2005. Holds an MA in African Studies from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, focusing on the Great Lakes region, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a BA in History and Linguistics from the University of New Hampshire. Previously worked as a Research Associate for the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region and Genocide Prevention, writing on land policy in Rwanda. Also spent approximately two years in Ethiopia as a volunteer with the US Peace Corps.
Region Heads
Professor David Anderson
Professor of African Politics, University of Oxford
Specialises in the history and politics of eastern Africa. His most recent book, The Khat Controversy, examines the global expansion of eastern Africa’s khat economy, featuring new research on the production, distribution chains, and consumption of this unusual commodity.
Jesmond Blumenfeld
Former Associate Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, Brunel University
Specialises in South and Southern African economic and business issues. Formerly Associate Research Fellow (Southern Africa), Chatham House, and Associate Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, Brunel University. Editor of South Africa in Crisis (Methuen/RIIA, 1987). Author of Economic Interdependence in Southern Africa (Pinter Publishers, 1992), and journal articles on South Africa.
Dr Nicholas Cheeseman
Hugh Price Fellow in African Studies, Jesus College, Oxford University
Specialises in comparative politics with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and processes of democratization. Interests include African history and politics, particularly in Kenya and Zambia, and the role of political parties in new democracies. Held the Sir Christopher Cox Junior Research Fellowship at New College, Oxford University, from October 2006 to August 2007. Publications have focused on state design and patronage politics in Kenya, the impact of electoral politics in Africa, and the use of opinion polls in the study of African political science.
Dr Ricardo Soares de Oliveira
University Lecturer in Comparative Politics (African Politics), St Peter's College, Oxford University
Interests include African politics (particularly West and Central Africa), comparative politics and international political economy, especially in the fields of natural resource extraction, organized crime, state decay and post-conflict reconstruction. Fellow with the Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin. Formerly the Austin Robinson Fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and an Associate of the Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge. Visiting scholar at the Centre d'etudes et recherches internationales (Sciences-Po) in Paris 2006-07. Joseph C Fox Fellow at the Centre of International and Area Studies at Yale University. Worked in the field of governance and the energy sector for the World Bank, the European Commission, Catholic Relief Services, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the French Ministry of Defence.
Professor John Toye
Former Visiting Professor of Economics, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University
Interests include public finance, the political economy of development, international economic institutions and the history of economic thought. Directed research in development studies at the universities of Wales, Sussex and Oxford. Served as a Director of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and consulted with the National Audit Office, the Department for International Development, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and many other agencies.
