Dr David Harris

Biography

Dr David Harris specialises in West African politics, in particular in Sierra Leone and Liberia, but also in The Gambia and Ghana. His first book was published by IB Tauris in 2011; and a second book, Sierra Leone: A Political History, came out through Hurst first in 2013 and then in an updated second edition in 2020. Professor Will Reno wrote, ‘David Harris provides an insightful and nuanced focus on the deep history of governance in Sierra Leone — but his imaginative analyses are applicable well beyond that country alone’. Articles on several elections over the last two and a half decades in both Liberia and Sierra Leone have been published. Most recently, a co-authored article on the 2017 Liberian elections came out in 2020. Another strand of collaborative research has led to book chapters on India-Africa relations and an article in 2018 on India-Ghana relations. The authors secured a £50,000 grant in 2020 to undertake more research. A co-written article on fluctuating government-donor relations in Sierra Leone came out in 2020, and a collaborative pedagogical piece on the University of Bradford's Africa Study Visit emerged in 2016.

Formerly at the School of Oriental and African Studies, he became Lecturer in African Studies at the University of Bradford in 2013, Director of JEFCAS in 2018, and Senior Lecturer in 2019. He teaches African and comparative politics and has also taught courses at King’s College, London, University of Nottingham, London Metropolitan University and the Instituto Rio Branco in Brasilia. He has worked on numerous election monitoring missions in Liberia and Sierra Leone for the Carter Center and NDI. He has also undertaken work for various European government departments and NGOs, and written media pieces for Channel 4, Fair Observer and African Arguments. He is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies and was recently External Examiner at King's College London.

Professional activities